Legal/Designer question about portfolios...

[Voodoo]

Hi,
I was wondering, if you design a site for someone else, and use the design on your portfolio, if the images used in the design turn out to be stolen, and the owner of the site gets a C&D order, are you required to remove the design example from your portfolio?

I've wondered this for a while. If you do have to remove them, how do so many designers get away with showing their portfolio w/o purchasing the content that was used in the design?

Just wondering.

Thanks!

[SubStandard]

It's not legal for you to post anything that you don't own the copyright to (or have permission to use). However, if you create a design for a client and do not transfer ownership of the design, you still own itÑthough that doesn't automatically give you the right to post it in your portfolio since often it contains materials that are owned by someone else (logos, photos, copy, etc.).

Think of copyrights like underage pictures. If your client gives you a bunch of teen content which you later find out to be underage, you can't leave it up just because someone else gave it to youÑit's still illegal. Same holds true with copyrights, if someone else owns it and you're using it without permission, it's illegal.

[Amputate Your Head]

Originally posted by Voodoo
Hi,
I was wondering, if you design a site for someone else, and use the design on your portfolio, if the images used in the design turn out to be stolen, and the owner of the site gets a C&D order, are you required to remove the design example from your portfolio?

answer to this first part is:
1. What moron is gonna shell out for a tour design and not the content?
2. If the owner of the site is required to change or remove their tour because of content issues, that's their problem.

Originally posted by Voodoo
I've wondered this for a while. If you do have to remove them, how do so many designers get away with showing their portfolio w/o purchasing the content that was used in the design?

It's generally accepted by content providers that the content be licensed to the site owner, not the designer. The designer isn't reselling the content. The site owner is.

[SetTheWorldonFire]

depends...is there a contract and license?

if yes... agreements should have been made.

If not... I would'nt worry about it. The designer (creator) still owns full rights. unlees you are using already copyrighted material,

[Voodoo]

Thanks guys. I suppose I could write the content producer, and ask their permission to keep the design in my portfolio. That can't hurt anything.

But, in any case, thanks for the info.

[Voodoo]

Originally posted by SetTheWorldonFire
depends...is there a contract and license?

if yes... agreements should have been made.

If not... I would'nt worry about it. The designer (creator) still owns full rights. unlees you are using already copyrighted material,

Hey Set...
Here's the situation:
I was commissioned to do the design work for a paysite.
Just today, I received a BCC: C&D order from the legal department for the content producer, stating that it is not licensed to the owner of the site. I just wanted to find out if I could use the design in my portfolio or not. I know there is some sort of "fair use" act or something, that states you can use portions of a copyrighted work, for demonstrations. But, I'm not really sure how this applies to designers.

Any info on this is greatly appreciated.

[SubStandard]

As it's been explained to me (by sources infinitely more qualified to comment than me), fair-use doesn't really apply to portfoliosÑat least not at a practical level. It's intent is to allow you to comment on the work of someone else in review form without repercussions. They don't want people who get bad reviews to sue for copyright infringement.

For example, you could say, "The book Carrie is great and Stephen King has a a great, short-quote in it, here's the passage:..." However, if you were the typist who actually keyed the book into Quark you don't get to reproduce chapter one on your website to show how good you didÑat least not without permission.

[Voodoo]

Originally posted by SubStandard
As it's been explained to me (by sources infinitely more qualified to comment than me), fair-use doesn't really apply to portfoliosÑat least not at a practical level. It's intent is to allow you to comment on the work of someone else in review form without repercussions. They don't want people who get bad reviews to sue for copyright infringement.

For example, you could say, "The book Carrie is great and Stephen King has a a great, short-quote in it, here's the passage:..." However, if you were the typist who actually keyed the book into Quark you don't get to reproduce chapter one on your website to show how good you didÑat least not without permission.

Ok, that makes sense. I suppose it is if you were to use an image, and write an article about the image, and the producer, you could probably get away with that, as it directly relates back to the origin. However, if you use the image in a design, and it is not directly related to the producer, it would be considered infringment.

Does that mean, that for the most part, designers should also own the license to the content used in their designs on their portfolio?

[BadBoyBill4281]

cover your ass with one of these and you'll be fine not to mention no one can take you to court for the content, logo, or anything else that might come up in court

AEDesigns terms of service

[SubStandard]

That only protects you from being sued by your clientÑnot the original content owner. You could probably turn around and sue your client if the content provider sued you.

Although, it's been my experience that this never really comes up as the copyright holder is wasting their money going after the developer in most cases. The real target is the person doing the damageÑyour client in this hypothetical situation.