Hey, that looks familiar too...

So, yet another talentless "designer" has decided to plagiarize my work and post it online. And on a site where I've had the original logo posted already. This person posted the ripped-off logo on May of this year and I've had my logo on the site since February of 2007. I originally created this design in 2003 for a local photography business.

Now, this is the second time I've caught someone plagiarizing this logo. The first time was last summer by a web design business in Pittsburgh, Pa that was using it as their own company identity. They vehemently denied that they stole the design right up until I had my lawyer send them a cease and desist letter. They promptly removed the logo and not long after changed their business name and redesigned their entire site.

This just goes to show that you really have to be careful with who you hire to do graphic design work for your business. Something like this can end up costing a substantial amount of money. Infringing on work that has been copyrighted can cost up to $30,000 to $150,000 or more for each infringing copy of the registered work. In Copyright infringement cases you also have to pay the company or individuals legal fees whose work was infringed upon. These are not made up numbers. The information is available to anyone that wants to research it at the U.S. Copyright Office website www.copyright.gov.

Unfortunately, pleading ignorance is no defense. The fine may be reduced if it is proven that you did not know the work was plagiarized but in either case you will be held liable for copyright infringement. Now that's something to think about.

Hey, that looks familiar...

This past Monday I ventured over to LogoPond.com, a website where designers post logo designs they have created for review or just to show off their latest work. After a short while of looking through pages of logos I instantly recognized an image as one that I created about six months ago. It turns out that a member of the site named Julie Kapral, AKA JulieK, a 16 year old "designer", decided that she was going to take credit for my work. And take credit she did. With seemingly jubilant excitement she thanked people for posting compliments for the illustration she claimed to have created.

I posted in the thread and in the site forum that I was the real creator of the work. A rebuttal was quickly posted by JulieK stating that she did not steal the work. Then admitting she did not make the illustration but got it from a book and then implying that perhaps I did not create the illustration either and probably used the same source that she got it from. After promising to show a scan of the book she got the illustration from the next day she was not heard from again. I later went on to find other work on her site that was created by other artists. It's almost certain that every piece in her portfolio was plagiarized. Her work has since been pulled from LogoPond.com and her personal website is no longer up on the web.

The worst part of this is that She actually sold some logos on a website where pre-made logos can be purchased. These logos were most likely other designers work and were probably trademarked by the companies that are originally using the designs. That means that there are some companies out there that can potentially be sued for copyright infringement even if they did not know the work was plagiarized.

Do I feel bad for calling out a 16 year old? Hell no I do not. I wonder if that's her real name, if she's really 16 or even a girl.