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Tips to avoid copyright infringement(Graphic Design)


ilyosinn

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Hello,

In this post I’d like to advise buyers on how to determine if the product is not breaking any law.

In the past I worked with many graphic designers on various projects, most of the times I ended up redoing them on my own. Why? Because there are some designer claim that they can do everything. But the results they generate would involve so many copyrighted materials (Stock Images/Vectors, Premium fonts, CC with attribution licensed Images/Vectors without proper attribution, Pirated mock-ups and so on).

So the next time you get something designed and if they use some images, illustrations, vectors, ask for a screenshot of license if you really think it is from stock. If you’re not sure, don’t worry. Follow these steps:

  • Take a clear screenshot of the image/vector.
  • Go to reverse image search websites(google,tineye)
  • Upload the screenshot you’ve taken and search
  • If the results show stock websites then ask for a license from your seller.

How to determine if your Designer used unlicensed premium fonts.(Trust me sometimes they cost in average of 50$ per weight of the font).

If you’ve received the file in PDF(ebooks, presentations, lead magnets and so on)

-Open it in PDF viewer and go to properties->Fonts.

  • Write down/remember the font name and just google. Go through 1-2 websites and if they are listed in premium section then your designer doesn’t have permission to use and embed it unless he/she has license but still you will also need to purchase it to distribute the files e.g ebooks, PDFs and etc.

Recently I’ve worked on a flyer project and before me someone worked on this and he used 7 premium font weights and I asked the client if she wanted to pay for the font 568$ and the answer was obvious. Who pays that much for a font unless they run big companies.

Please appreciate hard working designers’ jobs, if you really want value for money. Everything cannot be done in $5!

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All those gigs are for hobby purposes. Just like the ‘professional’ Photoshop gigs.
I of a photo studio and were doing high end retouching (I’m into bigger projects now). I would never offer it here on Fiverr.
People don’t realize what kind of works goes into it. They come with a snap shot from a smartphone and think that it is possible to let it look as it where shot on a frigging Hasselblad.
Photoshop is never an afterthought. One has to think about post processing prior to the shoot. If one wants his photo’s to look like a Gucci advertisement it has to been shot like a Gucci advertisement in the first place.
This is why I always have to laugh when I see all this fools with their ‘professional’ skills offered for $5,-. I wouldn’t even pick up my pen tablet for that amount or even start the program.

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I absolutely appreciate that you really understand the process and efforts which need to put for simple retouching.
Retouching is also an art, all the software and hardware costs alot. So it is tough to stand in the competition where people offer an amateur job with cracked software versions.

Some buyers might think, why would i pay for a source file since the seller can just upload the file and that’s it. But in reality that’s wrong…This is the best way to pay off our monthly subscriptions by charging for source files.

I don’t get orders crazily, But I am happy most of my clients are very professional. They don’t bother to bargain with me.

And yeah, the main post was created after doing an extensive research in market. Too much of infringing. Seller themselves don’t even realize the fact it would get them in legal trouble. Just $5 and things would go very wrong.

I encourage buyers to improve their expectations on the basis of the money they are investing. Because the buyers request is full of " I want moon in $5" requests with 30+ bids on them.

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Yes, there is a lot to think of. We didn’t even started talking about model releases (what determines the scope how an image is allowed to use). In my studio, I didn’t even turn on my camera before the model had signed a release.

The funny part on the buyer side here in Fiverr is that they really don’t realize in what danger they bring themselves. I witnessed in the past that one, who used one single unlicensed image on his website was sued for $500,- a day that the image was online on his site.

99,9% of all the Photoshop gigs here on Fiverr are infringing copyrights and portrait rights right from the start. They use for example an image from Brad Pitt or any other celeb to promote their gig. They are so stupid that they don’t even realize that

  1. They infringe the copyright of the person who shot the image
  2. Even if they would have taken the image themselves, they are infringing the portrait right of that celeb. I don’t believe that they have a model release signed by Brad Pitt in order to use their portrait for the purpose of endorsement for their gig.

However, I think that people who are that dumb and doing things like that deserve to suffer once shit hits the fan.

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如果我要原創,我不會笨到以為$5就能解決,我會希望這是一段互利的關係,甚至可以延續。

[mod note: Google translation]

Quote

If I'm going to be original, I'm not stupid enough to think $5 will fix it, I'm going to hope it's a mutually beneficial relationship, maybe even a continuation.

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  • 4 years later...

 

Read if you don't want to end up paying thousands of dollars for what you have purchased in Fiverr. 

Very important and very dangerous if you ignore it. 

 

to any buyer, be very cautious about what you buy; if it says in a gig, "commercial use" , it means you only have a non-exclusive licence to use the Work (that you have paid for it), it means the creator can sell the Work (which you have paid for it) to as many people as he/she wants. 

 

You need to draft

1. A licence aggremnet

or 

2. An Assignment of intellectual property rights 

 

1. Licence 

You either need to draft a licence agreement:

Irrevocable, Worldwide, Exclusive, perpetual, sublicensable (through multiple levels of sublicensees) licence.

With the above option, you are not still the owner. 

2. Assignment of intellectual property rights 

You will become the owner when you draft an assignment of intellectual property rights. 

 

3. Wavier of moral rights 

When you go with any of the above options, don't forget to ask for all moral rights to be waived (available for some countries) and a moral rights consent. 

 

4. Source file 

Be very clear about what source file you want. 

Just saying that you want a source file is unclear; mention what type of file you want. 

 

5. "Work for Hire" myth. 

"Work for hire" agreements are not working in Fiverr; it is not acceptable in many countries and the USA; it only covers a few categories of works.

 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. 

Best Regards 

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5 hours ago, ms2468 said:

You need to draft

1. A licence aggremnet

or 

2. An Assignment of intellectual property rights 

 No, you can not. To sign those agreements you need to share names and address and contact details and that is not allowed on fiverr. On top of that all those points are covered by fiverr TOS. 

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On 7/5/2021 at 4:24 PM, ms2468 said:

if it says in a gig, "commercial use" , it means you only have a non-exclusive licence to use the Work (that you have paid for it), it means the creator can sell the Work (which you have paid for it) to as many people as he/she wants. 

As per Fiverr's Terms of Service, once the order is completed and paid for (as in, not cancelled for any reason), all the rights go to the buyer, unless otherwise specified in the gig description.

Of course, you have to pay attention to what you're buying; for example, if what you're buying is a customized template (like a template video where your company name and logo will be added), the seller can customize the same template for another buyer. It won't be completely same as the customized template that you got, because it will have the company name/logo/whatever of someone else, but the template itself will be the same.

Monetary damage typically happens when a seller sells you stolen goods (like a logo they copied from the internet and adjusted slightly) and you use it for your business; to avoid that, thoroughly check the delivery to ensure that it's not already in use somewhere. 

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15 hours ago, catwriter said:

all the rights go to the buyer, unless otherwise specified in the gig description.

This can't be accurate. You always retain the right to use it for portfolio reasons - otherwise Fiverr would not be allowed to automatically add it to your gig gallery, and you wouldn't be able to show past work to future clients at all. Since Fiverr, by default, adds your delivered work to your gig gallery, either they are breaking their own copyright rules, or the buyer does not get "all rights". All rights means all rights, including the right to be the exclusive distributor of said work, which is not the case if somebody else is able to show the work to others.

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10 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

This can't be accurate. You always retain the right to use it for portfolio reasons - otherwise Fiverr would not be allowed to automatically add it to your gig gallery, and you wouldn't be able to show past work to future clients at all. Since Fiverr, by default, adds your delivered work to your gig gallery, either they are breaking their own copyright rules, or the buyer does not get "all rights".

You are confusing things. It is a work of your creation and that is why you can show it in your portfolio but you gave the commercial rights to the client. Assigning the commercial rights does not mean that you are recognizing the client as the creator of that work, you are only assigning the rights so that they can commercialize it. If you want to sell the same work to other people you have to clarify that it is a non-exclusive commercial license agreement, otherwise it should be. This is already covered by Fiverr and if you do not want to grant an exclusive commercial license you just have to clarify it in the description of the GIG.

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5 minutes ago, maezma85 said:

You are confusing things. It is a work of your creation and that is why you can show it in your portfolio but you gave the commercial rights to the client. This is already covered by Fiverr and if you do not want to grant an exclusive commercial license you just have to clarify it in the description of the GIG.

I'm not confusing anything. I was replying to someone stating that the buyer gets "all rights". All rights include the right to not have the work displayed by anybody else for any reason without permission. If you have the right to show something in your portfolio, the buyer does not get "all rights". They are missing the "exclusive distribution and display" right, by definition.

There are indeed agreements where you grant all rights (usually under NDA's), and in that case you are not able to show the work, claim you even worked on it, etc. It's as if you've never worked on it. That's what giving up "all rights" means. Attribution is a right. If you can claim anything as "my work", then you didn't give up "all rights" to it. "All rights" and "commercial rights" are totally different things. By default, you give up commercial rights to the buyer. But you don't give up "all rights".

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7 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

I'm not confusing anything. I was replying to someone stating that the buyer gets "all rights". All rights include the right to not have the work displayed by anybody else for any reason without permission. If you have the right to show something in your portfolio, the buyer does not get "all rights". They are missing the "exclusive distribution and display" right, by definition.

There are indeed agreements where you grant all rights (usually under NDA's), and in that case you are not able to show the work, claim you even worked on it, etc. It's as if you've never worked on it. That's what giving up "all rights" means.

And it is thus, it has all the commercial rights but not of adjudication of the work. When you present a work in your portfolio you are not profiting economically with its distribution, you are only showing your work because the commercial license does not mean awarding the creation to the buyer. Those types of licenses that you are mentioning are special licenses and it is also something that must be agreed and clarified. Fiverr covers business licenses, not those kinds of special licenses.

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3 minutes ago, maezma85 said:

And it is thus, it has all the commercial rights but not of adjudication of the work. When you present a work in your portfolio, you are not profiting from it, you are only showing your work because the commercial license does not mean awarding the creation to the buyer.

Thereby you didn't give up attribution rights, since you can claim it was your work. Therefore you didn't give up "all rights", as was claimed on the post I was replying to. You give up commercial rights by default, you don't give up "all rights".  That was my point: commercial rights != all rights. You are the one confusing things, not me.

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4 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

And it is thus, it has all the commercial rights but not of adjudication of the work. When you present a work in your portfolio, you are not profiting from it, you are only showing your work because the commercial license does not mean awarding the creation to the buyer.

No, you are confusing because if you had read the Fiverr TOS you would not be proposing this type of special licenses because you would know that Fiverr does not interfere with special licenses.

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8 minutes ago, maezma85 said:

No, you are confusing because if you had read the Fiverr TOS you would not be proposing this type of special licenses because you would know that Fiverr does not interfere with special licenses.

Please don't insult me. I've read the TOS several times. I'm not proposing anything. I'm stating, quite clearly, that all rights means all rights, including the right to exclusive distribution and public display of said work. Since when you sell you retain the right to show the work in your portfolio by default (unless otherwise specified and agreed to), you're not giving up "all rights". End of.

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Just now, visualstudios said:

Please don't insult me. I've read the TOS several times. I'm not proposing anything. I'm stating, quite clearly, that all rights means all rights, including the right to exclusive distribution. Since when you sell you retain the right to show the work in your portfolio, you're not giving up "all rights". End of.

Dear partner,

You are confusing the "commercial" rights of a work with intellectual property. It is not an insult to tell you that you should read the TOS because you clearly do not understand the difference between intellectual property and commercial rights.

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4 minutes ago, maezma85 said:

Dear partner,

You are confusing the "commercial" rights of a work with intellectual property. It is not an insult to tell you that you should read the TOS because you clearly do not understand the difference between intellectual property and commercial rights.

1) Don't call me dear, or partner. 
2) Again, not confusing anything. I was responding to this sentence: "As per Fiverr's Terms of Service, once the order is completed and paid for (as in, not cancelled for any reason), all the rights go to the buyer, unless otherwise specified in the gig description." This does not distinguish between "commercial rights" and intelectual property rights. I understand the difference perfectly well. TOS don't make that distinction, therefore when they say "all rights", it must be reasoned it applies to both. And that is false. Conclusion - the TOS are written incorrectly. They should state "all commercial rights go to the buyer" instead.

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5 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

1) Don't call me dear, or partner. 
2) Again, not confusing anything. I was responding to this sentence: "As per Fiverr's Terms of Service, once the order is completed and paid for (as in, not cancelled for any reason), all the rights go to the buyer, unless otherwise specified in the gig description." This does not distinguish between "commercial rights" and intelectual property rights. I understand the difference perfectly well. TOS don't seem to make that distinction, therefore when they say "all rights", it must be reasoned it applies to both.

I'll call you whatever I want as long as I'm not insulting you, do you understand? Is it forbidden to say "dear" or "partner" somewhere? The only thing missing is that you give me directives of what I should call you. That you do not understand the differences of the TOS does not mean that they do not exist. 

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It's gettin' personal guys. Let's get back to the brass tacks of who owns what parts of the delivered items.

https://www.fiverr.com/terms_of_service#ownership
In the final paragraph of the Ownership section: "and the Seller waives any and all moral rights therein"

I dunno about everywhere, but in Canada at least, it is an option for an Author to waive their moral rights.

https://www.heerlaw.com/moral-rights-copyright-law

"Moral rights can, however, be waived in whole or in part at the discretion of the author who holds the rights. This waiver will extend to all entities licensed or otherwise permitted to use the copyrighted work. Once moral rights are waived, they cannot be reacquired by the author."

By putting it into the ToS, and an artist agreeing, then by promissory estoppel, a buyer can argue they have the option to decline attribution or portfolio posting by the artist. I'm not a lawyer, so I can't guarantee that's how it would go, but it would probably be easy to get help from Fiverr's lawyers else the sweater starts coming undone.

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24 minutes ago, moikchap said:

It's gettin' personal guys. Let's get back to the brass tacks of who owns what parts of the delivered items.

https://www.fiverr.com/terms_of_service#ownership
In the final paragraph of the Ownership section: "and the Seller waives any and all moral rights therein"

I dunno about everywhere, but in Canada at least, it is an option for an Author to waive their moral rights.

https://www.heerlaw.com/moral-rights-copyright-law

"Moral rights can, however, be waived in whole or in part at the discretion of the author who holds the rights. This waiver will extend to all entities licensed or otherwise permitted to use the copyrighted work. Once moral rights are waived, they cannot be reacquired by the author."

By putting it into the ToS, and an artist agreeing, then by promissory estoppel, a buyer can argue they have the option to decline attribution or portfolio posting by the artist. I'm not a lawyer, so I can't guarantee that's how it would go, but it would probably be easy to get help from Fiverr's lawyers else the sweater starts coming undone.

Hmm, in my country, for example, moral rights, unlike property rights, cannot be assigned or prescribed, but we should see what the US law says about this because Fiverr is a company based there.

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29 minutes ago, moikchap said:

 

By putting it into the ToS, and an artist agreeing, then by promissory estoppel, a buyer can argue they have the option to decline attribution or portfolio posting by the artist. I'm not a lawyer, so I can't guarantee that's how it would go, but it would probably be easy to get help from Fiverr's lawyers else the sweater starts coming undone.

Precisely. That being the case, it makes no sense for Fiverr to allow work to go on the portfolio by default. Yet they do. So, we have two options - either the TOS is written incorrectly, or Fiverr is breaking their own copyright rules on purpose.

This was my point all along. Fiverr does not act like you're giving up "all rights" when you sell - you retain the right to show the work. Regardless of what the TOS says, Fiverr's actions indicate this clearly. And actions speak louder than words. Even TOS words.

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