Thursday, February 2, 2012

Copyright for Designers

Copyrights may not be too particularly important to most of us in our everyday lives, it is vital to Graphic Designers. Though copyrights protect books, music, dramas, choreography, art, sculptures, movies, and many others, the main concerns within graphic design are images, content, fonts, and intellectual property. Graphic designers should always be aware of the parameters of the copyright laws which govern these works, because they will often be using elements which were not created solely by themselves. Knowing how one can and cannot use something in a design will prevent legal issues later on.

As far as images go, if you take the photo, you own the copyright to it. The exception to this rule is if you are taking photos under a contract with a client or employer. In this case, the copyrights to the images belong to the client/employer. Now, if the image contains a person or a trademarked, service marked, or registered product/image, the rules are a bit different. If the photo is of a person and is used for editorial purposes, permission from the subject is not required. Conversely, permission is required if the image is used for advertising, because the subject is entitled to some of the profit. Additionally, if the image contains anything with a trademark, service mark, or registered trademark, permission needs to be obtained before use.

How copyright applies to fonts really depends on where you are. First, the distinction must be made between typefaces and fonts. A typeface is the way characters are visually represented, such as serifs, sans serifs, Roman, blackletter, etc. This is not to be confused with fonts, which are more specific sets of characters. In the United States, typefaces cannot be copyrighted (though they can be placed under a design patent), while fonts can be copyrighted. Most font download sites give information on the copyright and licensing information for the fonts. It's important to read over this information before placing any of these fonts within your designs.

Use of content, particularly that of a website, would also be considered copyright infringement, and the same rules apply to literary works as well. Most people are under the assumption that online content is free of copyright laws, but this is not the case. If there is no information on the website concerning copyright usage, it is the best option to attempt to contact the owner to request permission. However, if that is not an option, take the high road and avoid using it altogether.

Copyright also applies to intangible property as well, known as intellectual property. This was created to give owners the rights for ideas behind their music, art, literature, discoveries/inventions, words, symbols, etc. These rights are held in patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Determining what can be described as intellectual property and how it may or may not be used can be quite difficult.

As I said earlier, not everything you find online, whether it be content, images, or fonts, are free of copyright restrictions. Just because it isn't something tangible in your hands or it wasn't officially published by the owner doesn't mean there aren't rights attached to it. In fact, all of the things you find online have rights belonging to someone. Depending on what you're dealing with, copyright laws and usage will differ. It is always, always, always in your best interests to take it upon yourself to get educated about the copyright laws for whatever content you're thinking of using. You can never be too safe when it comes this, and when in doubt, don't use it.

                                                                                                                  


Sources:
http://www.copyright.gov/
http://www.pdimages.com/web9.htm
http://www.ehow.com/about_5048507_copyright-laws-images.html
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/legalmatters/a/websitetheftjb.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain#Fonts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces

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