Posted on 02/18/2016 12:23:10 PM PST by EinNYC
“Wrong attitude for a professional. It’s not a work of art with your name on it. It’s not a copyrighted piece that you own the rights to. They bought it, they can do what they want with it.”
You’d be wrong about that. Payment does not confer transfer of ownership. Those without knowledge of intellectual property law commonly make that mistake.
If a graphic artist I hired copyrighted their ad/brochure/website and I couldn’t modify it without their permission...
I’d fire them.
You may be correct legally, but out of work.
:)
“You may be correct legally, but out of work.”
The poster was already out of work.
Also, you can fire me but I can revoke your right to use my work, paid or not.
I understand your point, but suing your clients is not a good marketing plan.
:)
This was an excellent learning experience for me, both from a design standpoint and a nuts 'n bolts standpoint. I really enjoyed it. I hope this latest request of his is not going to lead to bad blood.
I've done freelance work as a photographer, technical writer, and programmer. Unfortunately you end up learning a lot of stuff the hard way. Some of my work has ended up in national advertisements and I never got a cent for it. I teach classes at the local college and one of them is centered around the business aspects of freelance photography. Most photographers can take great pictures, but end up frustrated because of the contracts and book keeping requirements.
A bad client is not one I intend to continue to engage. You seem to take the side that a client is always good but those of us in the consulting world know there are simply companies and individuals never to engage.
The OP described such a client: The client doesn’t want to continue the business relationship but wants the OP to assist the client terminating the relationship. The OP is under no obligation to do so. The client claims purpose of self sufficiency, however, it is often a ruse to take the work to a competitor. The OP is under no obligation to assist a competitor, either.
I understand your points and agree - up to the point of legal action against a client (previous or current) if at all possible. This usually is not a good thing for your business. And, I think it’s possible to avoid it in most cases, this one for sure.
>>”The client doesn’t want to continue the business relationship but wants the OP to assist the client terminating the relationship. The OP is under no obligation to do so. The client claims purpose of self sufficiency, however, it is often a ruse to take the work to a competitor. The OP is under no obligation to assist a competitor, either.”
I agree again. But the way I recommended to handle it was to: “Put a price on the file equal to what you would happy to sell it for and let the client decide if it’s worth it to buy the file or hire someone else to reproduce it.”
There is such a price. It may be a very high price, but there’s a price/value he can place on it, all things considered.
Either he gets his happy price or the client doesn’t buy it. This is, in my opinion, the better way to end the relationship without contentiousness or legal action.
Thanks for your reply.
No one is advocating immediate legal action. However, if the client persist in using copyrighted materials, that can be a very large payday that far exceeds the profit of the business relationship.
Illustrator can open PDFs.
Other than the client offering the flyer for resale, what circumstances would you begin legal action? If the client changes some copy for example?
I don’t get into that situation because I know intellectual property law and would never allow the rights to graphics not to be assigned to the client. They may not ask for it, but I ensure they get it. Most people have no clue how IP law works and do not use lawyers, but I find it is only ethical to ensure they understand their rights and that there is the specific assignment of rights to them.
One issue with trying to strong arm clients on artwork is that they also have trademark law on their side. It is simply best not to haggle in that area of law. Know the law, ethically engage the client with the law, and don’t ever try to strong arm someone over IP issues.
However, I did have software that I wrote that a client did not want to pay for because they wanted a million dollar software package for peanuts, and I had to exert copyrights in that case to get paid. That was a client I had otherwise refuse to engage but political concerns cause me to accept them against all better judgment.
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