Author Topic: Who really owns the artwork? (Read 874 times)

SkyLinePrints · « **on:** June 09, 2011, 07:56:00 AM »

Fluid provided me a link to an article in Impressions magazine. Very interesting read. I know this topic has been bounced around here and other places so I thought I'd share the link.

http://www.impressionsmag.com/impressions/Off-the-Cuff-Who-Re-1557.shtml

Command-z · « **Reply #1 on:** June 09, 2011, 09:51:07 AM »

Mostly right, but kind of simplistic and misleading, especially this statement:

If you write on your invoice ?Art Charge? or ?Digitizing Charge,? your customer owns the art and the digitizing. If, however, you write ?Art Preparation Charge? or ?Digitizing Preparation Charge,? you/your company own it, mostly because you?ve clarified the matter with appropriate written policy.

The writer fails to mention the issue of copyright as the thing that is being sold, not artwork.
"Art Charge" is NOT appropriate written policy for copyright transfer.

The customer does not own full copyright unless it is explicitly written that way. The invoice would have to say something more specific like "Transfer of copyright" or "Sale of original art."

JBLUE · « **Reply #2 on:** June 09, 2011, 10:50:45 AM »

I like to keep it simple. If I create the art and charge the customer accordingly then I let them own it. I dont have the time or resources to fight with them over it if it were to become a legal issue. For me its a double dip when I do art anyways. I get to do the art and get paid for it, then I get to print the shirts and get paid for those as well.

stitch101 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 09, 2011, 02:31:33 PM »

One thing everybody forget to mention in these Who Owns What conversations is:
If You Use Clip Art or Stock Embroidery designs or non Commercial Fonts in You Art Work neither You or Your Customer Own It.
And most screen printer use both clip art and non commercial font to produce their art or they hire someone like Scott(who then owns the art)

So unless you actually draw the art yourself like Scott(Command-z) does you don't have to worry about it.

As for embroidery files they are usually a company logo or a team/school mascot ect that the client provides the artwork for and we do up for embroidery
So if push comes to shove you do own the embroidery file but you can't use it for any other client so what good is it to say you own it.

A lot of times people will come on the forums and say they did some art for a client's t'shirts and that client uses that art for his sign. What can I do?
If you do not complain to the client about using your art for his sign without permission as soon as you see it go up and wait until he goes some place else for shirts
There is nothing you can do about it. You have to defend your copyright or you lose it. All the person has to say in court is you created the art for him and he paid you
for it and he's been using it for shirts and his sign for years and you never said anything about it belonging to you. The courts will rule in his favor because you
didn't say anything about you owning the art up front.

Just my 2c

SBrem · « **Reply #4 on:** June 09, 2011, 04:24:07 PM »

Quote from: stitch101 on June 09, 2011, 02:31:33 PM

One thing everybody forget to mention in these Who Owns What conversations is:
If You Use Clip Art or Stock Embroidery designs or non Commercial Fonts in You Art Work neither You or Your Customer Own It.
And most screen printer use both clip art and non commercial font to produce their art or they hire someone like Scott(who then owns the art)

So unless you actually draw the art yourself like Scott(Command-z) does you don't have to worry about it.

As for embroidery files they are usually a company logo or a team/school mascot ect that the client provides the artwork for and we do up for embroidery
So if push comes to shove you do own the embroidery file but you can't use it for any other client so what good is it to say you own it.

A lot of times people will come on the forums and say they did some art for a client's t'shirts and that client uses that art for his sign. What can I do?
If you do not complain to the client about using your art for his sign without permission as soon as you see it go up and wait until he goes some place else for shirts
There is nothing you can do about it. You have to defend your copyright or you lose it. All the person has to say in court is you created the art for him and he paid you
for it and he's been using it for shirts and his sign for years and you never said anything about it belonging to you. The courts will rule in his favor because you
didn't say anything about you owning the art up front.

Just my 2c

About the clip art usage, I have a contract customer that brought us some designs to recreate about 10 years ago, since they had no copyright marks. Some of the art used some clip art from the Corel collection, though rearranged. Well, that customer was sued (we had to show them what we did as well) and it was determined by the lawyers that since he arranged the elements himself (the original artist) that he retained the rights. Whether that's completely legal or not, I don't know, but it was the experience we had.

Steve

stitch101 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 09, 2011, 09:46:09 PM »

The whole idea of clip art like corel is if you buy the disk or design you have the right to print it and sell the prints for a profit. What you can't do is sell the clip art to some one else so they can print it and sell the prints. So legally if you client
had purchased the corel clip art from corel he can have you print this designs and sell them. What he can't do is get copies of the clip art of the net or off other t-shirts and have you reproduce it and claim that it is his artwork.

A good example is the art work Scott did for Donny for the snake hunt. Donny can print as many as he want and sell
them. What he can't do is break the art down and sell it to you so you can print a similar shirt for one of your clients.

Scott the original artist who created the art can sell you pieces of the design or the whole thing with different lettering
and there is nothing Donny could do about it unless he purchased the copyright from Scott. Then he could sue Scott
for copyright infringement. In other words when you buy clip art you only buy the right to use it not sell the actual clip art files and it you create a design for a client using clip art and the client asks you for the file, if you give it to him you are breaking the law.

OldHeart · « **Reply #6 on:** June 10, 2011, 09:42:48 AM »

If it is pursued......it is really is in the hands of the judge. Two different judges may make different decisions from the same evidence.
The threat of a lawsuit is a very powerful tool. The only real winners in lawsuits are usually the attorneys. Very little is cut and dry.
Here is an interetsting link for reading......

http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/

Command-z · « **Reply #7 on:** June 10, 2011, 10:16:32 AM »

Good topic, very important stuff....

But Rick, just for the record, I didn't do the Snake Hunt art for Donnie. I think it was Josh Miles at 5 Ace Designs, but I'm not positive. Just like to give credit where it's due... Josh is amazing.

Thanks! Carry on....

dottonedan · « **Reply #8 on:** June 11, 2011, 10:51:45 PM »

The snake hunt art was from Steve Vesperman.

Good topic. I'm glad to see so many people becoming so much more educated on copy rights.

Z, you keep an eye on those Impressions people.

Command-z · « **Reply #9 on:** June 12, 2011, 03:32:24 AM »

Steve Vesperman... awesome! I think Josh did something for the Snake Hunt a year or two ago, though, right?
Donnie's got some talent on his team, that's for sure.

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Author Topic: Who really owns the artwork? (Read 874 times)

SkyLinePrints

Who really owns the artwork?

Command-z

Re: Who really owns the artwork?

JBLUE

Re: Who really owns the artwork?

stitch101

Re: Who really owns the artwork?

SBrem

Re: Who really owns the artwork?

stitch101

Re: Who really owns the artwork?

OldHeart

Re: Who really owns the artwork?

Command-z

Re: Who really owns the artwork?

dottonedan

Who really owns the artwork?

Command-z

Re: Who really owns the artwork?