In this week’s episode we talk about the serious issue of people stealing your work. From Lisa’s terrible experience with a big corporation illegally sharing her work to the day to day theft that occurs in the design industry, we discuss how to keep a positive mind set, how to avoid losing your motivation and what legal steps you may have on your side.
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Show Notes for This Episode:
[1:00] Today we’re answering another listener question from Julie Lopez who is asking how to deal with other people stealing your work
[2:00] This is a serious issue and it can be really detrimental for designers and put them off creating
[2:30] Lisa has dealt with this quite a lot unfortunately and thinks that this is something that all designer will experience at some point
[3:15] This affected Lisa so much that she almost wanted to give up
[4:20] A big company has been distributing Lisa’s products for free, without crediting or asking for her permission to share these
[4:40] They were selling a CD including Lisa’s work as well as the work of 3 other designers nationwide in the UK
[5:30] This company believes that because they bought it from the marketplace they own the product and they can resell it
[6:20] The buyers still need to be educated when it comes to digital products
[7:20] Others will not even buy the product in the first place and will share it on other pirate websites for free
[8:20] It’s taken Lisa about 2 years to come to peace with others stealing her work
[9:15] Lisa knows that she can’t control theft but this is not stopping her creating and sharing her work
[10:00] Tom has seen this happen a lot with the work of other designers as well
[10:45] Tom thinks that Design Cuts has a moral obligation to shut down these companies who share designers work illegally
[11:30] Dustin believes that most people are not aware they are doing something wrong when sharing other people’s work
[12:15] He set Google Alerts and sees every time his name comes up and if his products are shared on other websites
[12:50] Having his work shared illegally caused Dustin a lot of stress, but he decided to continue focusing on his work and not letting this affect him
[13:30] He added links to the website in the PDF guides with the aim of getting some traffic back to the website since the products were shared widely
[14:00] The designers wish there was such a thing as a ZIP stamping
[15:00] Your personal life, your creativity and your business will suffer but it’s not worth it letting it consume you
[16:00] The big cases are worth checking as winning the legal battle could result in big financial wins
[16:45] Lisa gradually found a way to manage this and made the shift one day to not letting it affect her
[17:20] You’re only responsible for the work you create and there’s nothing you can do after you’ve shared it
[18:00] Dustin used to get stressed out about a lot of things regarding his work
[18:50] He decided one day not to pay attention to what others were doing and focus on his work
[19:40] Ask yourself how do you want to spend your energy every day
[20:40] People have been inspired by Lisa’s Personalised Portrait Creator and created similar products
[21:40] You can be inspired by other designers, but don’t follow their style so closely that people will believe it’s that designer’s work
[22:40] Lisa gets a lot of emails from people saying that someone stole her work, but she later finds that they’ve copied her style
[23:30] Tom sees this happen a lot on social media especially in the fashion industry
[24:10] With the help of social media the artist still gets credit for the work even though he can’t win the fight against the big corporations
[24:30] The hosts debate the current legal system in which the one with most money wins
[25:30] Dustin’s example of a designer who took a picture with a massive poster of his work shared by a pizza shop
[26:10] Tom loves the idea of a hero lawyer who could champion artists
[27:00] Lisa was told by the lawyer that it will be a long legal battle and she had lots of things to prove
[27:30] The questions the designer needs to ask themselves is: “are you ready to deal with this for the next year or more?”
[28:15] Lisa negotiated with the company and reached a settlement out of court
[28:30] Dustin’s friend Von Glitschka worked with a lawyer and released a series of templates on Lynda to help designers with their legal battles
[29:30] These templates should alleviate the stress of having to create a legal email
[30:50] Tom’s example of the shop selling masks with celebrity faces on them
[31:30] Lisa believes the current culture thinks that if something is on the internet then it is free to share
[32:20] People think celebrities have plenty of money and sharing their work for free won’t cause any damage
[33:00] Most artists struggle to make a living
[33:20] The host give a mention to Ian who wasn’t able to take part in this week’s episode
[34:00] People do make a living out of digital goods and these should be treated the same way as physical goods
[35:00] The case of people illegally downloading copies of Adobe and the company implementing a subscription system
[35:30] Dustin wonders how many people do steel as it takes a lot of effort
[36:15] There are lots of shops on Etsy which use a lot of stolen work and it’s quite an effort to get them removed
[37:20] It seems to be very easy to open a shop with stolen goods
[38:20] Dustin wishes there was something like a bounty hunter to help the designers
[41:00] When you’re feeling so anxious you’re almost not yourself
[42:00] Your work might be shared but they won’t be able steal your talent or your customers
[42:40] Concentrate on getting your mind in a healthy space – the only weapon you have is how you feel about it
[43:20] Focus on the stuff that really matters
[43:40] If you’re experiencing anything like this do let us know by tagging the honest designers or using #honestdesigners on social media
[44:15] Thank you for listening to this week’s episode
“A must for every creative freelancer (or those aspiring to freelance). Thank you for being so… honest! Such a wealth of information from people I admire who have ‘been there and done that’. Listening to the podcast every week feels like I’m among friends. Can’t wait for more episodes!” – AG_GD
Great podcast, guys. So here’s my issue: I purchase a LOT of graphics resources, illustrations, etc. because, first of all, I love certain designers and can’t resist their illustrations (that would be a hat tip to you, Lisa) but using them – especially in saleable items is just a struggle for me. Am I missing something here? The reason for the graphics in the first place is for their use as a resource but where does one draw the line? I cannot bring myself to design a downloadable digital product using another designer’s illustrations. For example, I go through Etsy and there are about a dozen of Lisa’s bears and ducks sprinkled all in the baby shower invitation and thank you notes section plus one very questionable use of scrapbook papers. And they have hundreds of sales and some have a thousand+ items in their shops. What’s the solution? Give absolute credit? Link back to the artist? Just not use them for anything but inspiration? Even with a generous license… the struggle is real.
Hi Pamela, thanks for the feedback on the podcast and for your inquiry. The resources are provided by the designers for use under the provided licensing terms, so you can use these for saleable items. Please refer to our licensing terms for any products bought from Design Cuts: https://www.designcuts.com/licensing/ and ensure that the resources used are part of a wider design. Our license doesn’t require you to credit the designer. Hopefully this will bring some clarify and help you feel more at ease about creating designs to sell ?
Hi there! This was a GREAT podcast…thank you for this. My heart and thoughts are with Designers regarding this subject. Being a “self taught” designer – my journey (began several years ago) has been a true learning experience. I feel the same as you 3 do – that most people do NOT mean to be pirates (for lack of a better term) with other designers’ work; however and speaking for myself, I have always had a “nudge” in the beginning of my journey within my heart that something just wasn’t right about all this material that I would find for “free” (broad term here). I feel that although most folks are not mean spirited and deliberate about this, they are pretty smart and if you are going to run a business in this industry you should be learning EVERYTHING about said business…to include copyright, creative commons, royalties, licensing, etc., etc., etc. One thing that we have nowadays is a plethora of means, or venues for learning with the internet and all. I realize that you can’t trust all/everything you find on the internet…trust me I get this (hence this whole subject to begin with ;) ), but at the same time you really have many options to learn right from wrong when delving into this (and many other) industries. Love you guys…thanks for all you do <3
Hey there Christine, thanks so much for getting in touch and for sharing your experience with us. It’s unfortunate that we most of us have had to deal with this but hopefully people will become more aware of the correct use and licensing for design resources and think twice before sharing “free” resources. Best of luck with all you creative endeavours ?