I am writing this post after turning down yet another client on Copyright Infringement grounds.

It seems that a lot of my clients at the moment are asking for jobs to be completed that would infringe the Australian Copyright Act of 1968. This is usually due to a time or cost constraint. Whilst I understand that it is great to have a job completed fast and cheap, this cannot be done by cutting corners. This is saving both you and I, a potentially very expensive copyright suit.

I am extremely pedentic on designing solutions for clients the right way. From brainstorming, to testing, to documenting etc. This is included in that process.

Images

Generally speaking, images cannot be taken from an image search engine such as Google Images. In 99% of the cases, the photo that you wish to use in your project will be owned by a third party. Unless you get express written permission from the creator of that image, you cannot use it in your project, whether or not it is for personal, non-profit, or commercial purposes.

I am more than willing to communicate on behalf of a client to gain this permission, but it needs to be noted that this is the correct procedure.

A great trick to find legal images for your project: Go to Google Images and click on “Google Advanced Image Search.” There is an absolutely fantastic option on this page to solve ALL your problems with this issue. Under “Usage rights” you will see the options below.

Here you can choose to search for images that have already been labelled for Commercial Use or Modification. Usually these photo’s are licensed in a Creative Commons License. How easy is that? This trick has made my life as a designer so much easier, and it will do the same for you.

Video

Similar rules apply for Motion. 99% of the time, taking a clip from Youtube and using it in a video project will infringe copyright law.

I recently had a client who asked me to take snippets from multiple HD music videos, and edit them into one video to promote a local event. Again, this comes down to using other parties’ paid work, and adds plenty of endorsement issues. I am sure big shot music labels such as Sony Music, and EMI would choose to not to endorse a local paintball competition for example unless you pay royalties for the tracks.

Not only that, but this video was to be broadcast on Australian TV in the form of an advertisement. It comes down to priorities. Of course, I would absolutely love my work to be broadcast on National TV, it would be fantastic. But on-the-other-hand, I have chosen to protect both myself and my clientby declining this job. I would never ever get a client into strife over something they never even thought about, which is the reason I have posted this page.

This page is not so much a warning but an informational page to protect the clients and prospective clients which I am very grateful to work with.