Copyright Issue

[Redboat]

Hi all,

I wanted to run a situation past you. I cannot show you any of the associated files / designs as it may affect my case if go ahead and take action. Although if anybody wants to PM I can discuss it further.

My Issue:
I presented a client with 3 designs last year along with costs. It was decided that they were not ready at the time and would get back to me if they wanted to use me. Knowing their IT guy I heard that they were to use someone else earlier this year which was fine - Win some lose some as they say.

The website went live this week and out of curiosity I thought I would go and take a look and found the design to be remarkably similar to one I presented a year ago.

Now I am not sure where I stand with this - As no design can be said to be 100% original the fact is that I presented the design to them and they seem to have used it with another design firm. The chances of another firm coming up with exactly the same kind of concept has got to be very slim.

Anyway, has anyone else had any copyright / design theft issues.

Do I just let it go as taking it to court will no doubt be a chore.

Thanks for any help or guidance on this.

Paul

[Andy]

if you coding looks like yours and design then take action. if however it looks similar there is nothing you can do as you should have gotten an idea from the client of design styles which the other designer would have done.

[Redboat]

It never got to the code stage.

No design ideas were from the client.

They supplied a brief but all presented designs were first instances of design ideas we had. They never went forward with any design and had no input into them.

Paul

[kira_77]

Don't know if it helps at all, but from an artistic point of view there is an organisation called ACID (anti copying in design) which you can join:

ACID - Anti Copying In Design

There is an annual fee (I thinks it's about £200), but there is a lot of advice freely available on their website. There is a section on commissioned designs under 'Legal Tips'

hth

[Mack]

post the url and a link to your design. I dont think showcasing them here for opinion would effect your case at all

[Tool]

oh, seems like i hear about this situation way to often. was it a "free pitch" or did they approach you ?

[rossable]

i would threaten legal action for copyright infringement / intellectual property theft. even if the design firm didn't copy your layout, there is no guarantee that the client wasn't specific with them about making the design similar to the one you showed them. however if you were paid for the consultation and didn't give them a printed copy of the layout then you may not have much to stand on legally, especially if your color-comp had their name in the copyright instead of yours. internet graphic copyrights are still a new legal field so this one is tricky. from now on though.... take precautions!

[Redboat]

Sorry for the late reply, I didn;t get notified for some reason. I choose my words wisely in this post.

URLS EDITED OUT - Dropped Any Possible Legal Action.

I may have to edit this post if the general consensus is that it is not similar at all.

I feel the layout I presented is very close to the lower section of their site. It's a fairly generic layout these days to be honest but the fact that I presented it and another firm produced a very similar design strikes me as too much of a to me.

PS: I am not taking action but wanted your opinions.

Tool: They approached me but there was not charge for the pitch. Approx 3 weeks work went into the designs/concepts and it also had supporting files.

Similar or not?

[rossable]

boxed acid-art layouts are as common as concrete sidewalks these days so it is no wonder to me that they came up with a similar style.
it's trendy to be unoriginal apparently. (not referring to you)

if they would have unboxed the banner title and had a graphical background instead of the generic and overused gradient then i could understand you getting upset much more. as it stands currently... i would say you were just out bid. it is similar but not similar enough imho.

[Redboat]

Yeah I agree,

That particular design style is all too common really.

I forgot to mention in the above post that I am not planning on taking any action.

Many thanks for your opinons though, very helpfull.