02.10.08
Ideas, infringement, inspiration

noys_t

Designers, photographers and creatives often have a keen sense of right, wrong, ownership, theft and, increasingly, copyright.

But there are two significant problems with protecting your copyright. Firstly, you can't copyright an idea. Yes, you read that right, an idea is nothing, in the eyes of the law, the way the idea is done is everything. Secondly, creatives are notorious for borrowing ideas from other sources and re-working them into their own ideas. So when someone finds a possible appropriation, you are, in the eyes of the law, buggered, and your case will fall apart.

To give you an example of an idea that's hard to protect, consider this thought for an edible spoon. Neat idea isn’t it?

spoons_2

Now consider the edible spoons that followed it.

spoons_1

Now go to Google images and tap in ‘edible spoon’.
google_grab

Whilst the first image may have been first to market, the second was sufficiently different in shape and decoration to not infringe. And, guess what, the world is full of edible spoons already – the idea is inherently unprotectable. (This came up as an example at a copyright seminar last week where I joined lawyer Margaret Briffa, Kjell Ekhorn from Non-Format and Paul Cohen from AMV BBDO).

The speakers revealed surprising facts almost from the word go. Cohen admitted that there could be an unwritten ad-man’s code, something like ‘steal what you like as long as it’s not from another ad’. Shocking though this was to hear, he was at least being honest about his industry’s tendency to borrow heavily from other sources. And we already know that ‘Balls’ may once have been a sketch on Letterman, that ‘Cog’ may have been inspired an art film, that Bravia’s rabbits may well have once been Kozyndan’s bunnies, and so on.

But, somewhat against type, Cohen proved to be eloquent in his analysis of the issues of ownership. In his previous life as a designer he had felt so disenfranchised when some book covers designed whilst freelance ‘influenced’ an entire ad campaign only months later, he developed his own side project where he re-worked famous logos into other, equally famous logos, to make a point.

adidas_tick

tick_adidas

Unsurprisingly he eventually received ‘cease and desist’ legal letters, but you get the feeling he got some of his anger out of his system. And interestingly, he’s now moved over to advertising himself, perhaps in the hope of producing more that is original and less that is familiar.

Kjell Ekhorn admitted that once Non-Format’s signature ‘styles’ reached boiling point, he and his partner were happy to change - “when we feel we’re in a crowded space, we just move on.” So both their butterflies/leaves/swirls style…

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…and more recently the 'big/blocky typefaces' style…

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…have been borrowed the world over, but he’s remarkably sanguine about this. Luckily, on several occasions large blue-chips have queued up for one or more of these maturing styles so they've been able to make the most of something, fiscally, before upping sticks.

Interestingly, he was quick to admit their own influences, such as their continued determination to use Mickey Mouse ears in as unusual a way as possible. Or their recent work for art-disco-indie-darlings The Chap which freely takes Jeff Koons’ Balloon dogs and remixes them with chocolate noses and cake decorations, or turns the dog into er, hedgehogs.

the_chap

Just before Koons’ lawyers pick up the phone, remember, the idea of a balloon dog can’t be copyrighted, only the way you do it (and Koons of course is a famous appropriator too).

As for us, well I’m the first to admit that when we suggested clocks to the British Council, Tibor Kalman’s watches immediately ran through my mind.

bc_tibor

And when I have to draw something simple, graphic and irrefutable I often wish I were Shigeo Fukuda (sadly mine never turn out anywhere as good as his).

fukuda_globe

But most of the time we’re searching for the new, not the me-too. Partly because it’s a lot more interesting, and partly because in an ever more litigious, trade-mark checking environment, the unusual stands a far better chance of being cleared rather than sinking into a copyright quagmire.

There are occasions when things are strikingly similar. This example cropped up in British design magazine Design Week only recently, where property development company Homerun unveiled an ‘h’ as a house logo, with more than a passing similarity to the one we designed for Shelter four years ago.

home_run

shelter_400

But, because the ‘h‘ is drawn differently, is a different colour and isn’t in the word, there’s not much we can do. Apart from smile to ourselves at this fantastic quote from the Homerun’s ‘creator’, James Pyott: ‘we explored lots of symbols, and by combining the letter with the product symbol came up with the h-house. It was one of those ‘eureka’ moments; that you always look for, but rarely ever happens’. Yes James, absolutely.

When so much work is easily viewed and copied on-line and in books, strange examples such this for the London borough of Tottenham will continue to happen. Some might describe it as the illegitimate offspring of Wolff Olins’ Unilever logo and our Think London logo, but we can’t really comment.

unilever_bastard

But there is a happy ending to all this. You can sue, if it’s close enough. These discount German bus-cards appeared recently, but the blur filter effect wasn’t enough to stop Non-Format realising that someone sneaky had simply scanned their record sleeve for Barry 7, done several years previously. And yes, they were compensated, substantially, by an embarrassed bus company.

bus_card
barry_7

It is possible to make a claim stick, just as long as the similarity is much more than just a passing one. But for the rest of us, a subtle re-draw, a change of colour and a change of context might be all that someone needs to borrow virtually anything that’s out there. Worried?

Michael Johnson was a panellist at an Own-it/D&AD intellectual property event last week. There’s more information and links to speakers here.

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