Unit 30 - P6

P6 - Explain some of the legal pitfalls in using and editing graphics.

Essentially, this is about copyright issues and gaining permission to use copyright products.

There are quite a few legal pitfalls in using and editing graphics. First of all, all graphic images are made by someone and the creators of an image or piece of work will have some sort of protection and this is called Copyright. Copyright is used by creators to prevent someone using their work then claiming that it is theirs. Having this protection of copyright is useful for the creators of the images because it doesn’t allow anyone to use their images and work on them without their permission. So this is something that everyone has to be careful with when using and editing graphics, because they could be using someone’s work when it is under copyright and this could end up in them breaking the law.

The copyright is mainly there to protect the images and work that have been created by people and to protect them from other people wrongly using their work when not granted permission. There are lots of examples of people breaking the copyright law in the UK, such as when downloading a song, if people are downloading a song when they don’t have to pay for it then they are downloading it illegally, the correct way to do it would be to pay for it when downloading it, but lots of people do it in a way where they don’t have to. If anyone is caught doing something like this then they would have to face something serious, even though that It isn’t such a big thing. Plagiarism is a problem basically caused by the user of the image because it just shows that they haven’t got it properly protected, because if they did no one would be able to use it and edit it.  

When the user wants to edit images, the first thing they should do is find out the ownership of that graphic and whether it can be used or not. Most of the time this can be done quite quickly without any troubles because owners print their names or copyright on or close to the image. If there is no name printed on the image, then the image isn’t protected and can be used because most likely it is on the webpage or book where the image can be found.

If you break the copyright law by using and editing a graphic image when not allowed, the owner of the image is allowed to sue you, and this normally ends up in the person paying a fine. But sometimes this is only a let off for the person who has broken the copyright law, it mostly depends on what damage you have done to the persons work and how much success you have got from it, because in some cases the person who has broken the copyright law can face a prison sentence of a maximum of 10 years, or even a massive fine, they are both things that no one wants to get done to them so it is very important that people take care when they are using graphical images. 

There is also the intellectual law that users need to look at before they edit graphics. There should be a contract with this law and any contract should clearly state what the client is purchasing rights to, what those rights are, and what the designer is retaining. Most designers never sell rights to sketches or notes, they are always retained and the client is purchasing the final image/design only. The designer will sell the rights to the final product if it's negotiated, and this is mainly for files such as Photoshop or Illustrator.

People editing graphics also have to look at the Trademark law. The main purpose of a trademark is to entitle the source of goods or services. The trademark is the substitute for someone’s signature. To have protection, a trademark must be distinctive rather than descriptive or generic, also it has to be attached to a product that is actually sold in the marketplace and it has to be registered with the Trademark Office.