The digital world we now live in has only made life harder for those in the creative industries when it comes to protecting their work. Whether you’re a musician, a photographer, or a graphic designer, it’s more than likely you’ve come across this problem and seen your work ripped off or stolen and used by someone else for their own financial gain.
So what can you do about protecting your copyright? After all, it’s your work that you’ve put your own time and money into it and having it used by someone else without your permission essentially amounts to its theft.
The first concept that you should be aware of is, in Australia you automatically own the copyright to everything you create; whether that be a picture you’ve drawn, a photo you’ve taken, or a piece of music you’ve composed. The sheer act of creating this work provides you with the copyright ownership of it and there is no need to register this copyright.
A good practical step to take to protect your work is to use the © symbol, along with your business name, or real name if you are a sole trader and also include the year in which you created the work. Whilst not a legal requirement, this is an easy way of informing others that the work is yours and you own the copyright to its use.
So what about dealing with client’s in a practical sense, and deterring them from stealing or copying your work?
In pitching a creative concept to a potential client a good practical tip is to require the potential client to sign a confidentiality, or non-disclosure agreement before showing them your work.
You should also not leave this potential client with any copies of your work; whether this be a digital, or hard copy. Only provide this once you have been awarded the job and entered into a contract to complete the work for the client.
Until you have been paid and provided the finished artwork to your client, it’s also a good idea to only provide them with low resolution copies of any artwork, or concepts, to deter the unauthorised use of these. You should also watermark any images to ensure they cannot be used without your permission.
In dealing with any client you should have a properly structured client agreement, or contract in place, and in this you should specify that you as the creator, retain the ownership of all of the intellectual property you create for them until such time as payment is received and the finished artwork provided to them. This is a good way of protecting yourself should the client discontinue your agreement and go on and use your draft concepts without paying you for them.
This way if a client does breach the agreement, or contract, you have entered into with them you have the ability to seek an injunction from the court to stop the unauthorised use of your work by the client.
What a lot of people don’t realise is that the stealing of something intangible, such as a digital photo, or piece of music, is exactly the same as stealing a tangible item, such as a person’s car.