Ownership in design

Ownership
in Design
Prateeba, Taysia, Vivian & Melley
SOCS-411-F001 2015
Except where otherwise noted, this slide is licensed under
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Disclaimer
We’re design students,
not lawyers.

A form of creative endeavour that can
be protected through a copyright, patent,
trademark, industrial design or integrated
circuit topography.
Canadian Intellectual property office
http http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/cp/cp_main-e.html

4 Main Pillars of
Intellectual Property
2
Trademark
3
Copyright Trade Secrets
41
Patents

Other Forms of
Intellectual Property
6
Plant
Breeders’
Rights
7
Industrial
Design
Patent
Personality
Right
85
Integrated
Circuit
Topography

ACTIVITY
What is the difference
between Trademarks,
Copyrights & Patents?

Identify the
copyrights,
trademarks,
trade secrets,
and patents.
Use the handout after each explanation to
guess which is which!
Ex. After copyright explanation, guess
which parts of the image are copyrighted.

Source:
http://store.starbucks.com/starbucks-brezza-
blend-011036744.html

The Right to Copy
Copyright means the sole right to produce or
reproduce a work or a substantial part of it in
any form. Copyright exists automatically when
an original work or other subject-matter is
created. Applies to original “works”, typically
literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.

Lasts for life
plus 50 years
Arise from
creation
No Register
Author RightsStatutory Rights
The Right to Copy

Duration of Copyright
Life plus
50 years
Last author’s life
plus 50 years
< 50 years from
1st publication
1 Author 2+ Authors Anonymous

…the purpose of copyright
law (is) to balance the
public interest in promoting
the encouragement and
dissemination of works of the
arts and intellect and obtaining
a fair reward for the creator.
“
— Chief Justice McLachlin

Basic Concepts
Copyright protects the expression of ideas; It
does not protect the ideas themselves
Copyright gives the author of a work the
exclusive right to copy and exploit the work
Moral rights give the author of a work the
exclusive right to be associated with the
work and to the integrity of the work
•
•
•

Ownership of Copyright
First ownership may be changed by
simple contract.
Freelancers often retain their copyright;
contract only grants an implied license
» Business photographer
» Software developer
» Architect
•
•

Copyright
1
2
3
4
51. Packaging design
2. Graphics on package
3. Starbucks wordmark
4. Bezza logo
5. Starbucks logo

What is Trademark?
Arise from
source of wares
or services
Perpetual RightsCommon Law +
Statutory Rights
Enhanced
though
Registration

Trademark Law
A trademark may consist of any sign
capable of being represented graphically,
like words, including personal names, designs,
letters, numerals, the shape of goods or their
packaging (combinations of) colours, sound.

Trademark
1
2
3
4
1. Brezza logo
3. Starbucks logo
4. Packaging design

Patents
Apply to newly developed technology as
well as to improvements on products or
processes. Patents provide a time-limited,
legally protected, exclusive right to make, use
and sell an invention. In this way, patents serve
as a reward for ingenuity.

Patents
Apply to newly developed technology as
well as to improvements on products or
processes. Patents provide a time-limited,
legally protected, exclusive right to make,
use and sell an invention. In this way, patents
serve as a reward for ingenuity.

Patent Rights
New, non-obvious +
useful inventions
Statutory
rights
Arise on
registration
Rights last
for 20 years
Rights belong
to inventor

Basics of Patents
• Monopoly granted by the government to
applicants, through the Patent Act, in return
for disclosing the invention
• Exclusive right in to make, use or sell your
invention
• Maximum 20 year term of protection filing

What can be patented?
New inventions or an improvement of an
existing invention. “Invention” means one
of the following:
to make the
coffee maker
Machine
1 cup coffee
maker
Product
to make the
coffee maker
Process
coffee recipe
in pods
Composition

Abstract
theorem
Medical
treatment
Inventions
with immoral
purpose
What Can’t be Patented?
Scientific
principle
Higher life
forms
An idea

Patent
1. Composition Patent
for the coffee blend
2. Process Patent for
creating the coffee blend
3. Machine for grinding
the coffee

What is Trade Secrets?
Must have business value, be able to be
kept secret and be subject to efforts to keep
it secret. Common law only; no statutory
protection. Rights will last as long as the
information remains secret.

To be a Trade Secret:
• Be used in business
• Not be generally known (not publicly
available information)
• Derive its value from being unknown
• Be subject to keep it secret

Recipe of the
coffee blend
Trade Secret

Trademark
Copyright
Patent
1. Composition Patent
2. Process Patent
3. Machine Patent
Recipe of the coffee blend
1. Brezza logo
3. Starbucks logo
4. Packaging design
1. Packaging design
2. Graphics on package
4. Bezza logo
5. Starbucks logo
Trade Secret
1
1
2
2 3
3
4
4
5

Open Source &
Creative Commons

Open Source Design
It is a remix culture of designing, in
which the originator of an idea passes it on
to others who then take it in new directions,
all of which dissolves clear authorship
or attribution.

Non-profit organization
creativecommons.org
Creative Commons is a non-profit
organization devoted to expanding the
range of creative works available for others
to build upon legally and to share

Audrey Tang
• A Taiwanese free software hacker
• Known for internationalization and
localization contributions to several
Free Software programs
• An active figure in g0v.tw (gov-zero)

Question 1
What can designers contribute and
how will you encourage them to
participate?

Question 1
What can designers contribute and
how will you encourage them to
participate?
It’s true that tools for large-scale design
collaboration is still evolving and somewhat lags
behind source code and textual collaboration, but
that is part of the fun of being early-stage explorers.
Source:
https://hackpad.com/Emily-Carr-University-Interview-3wNKN2KIBl6

Question 2
What do you think are the concerns
that keep people from participating
in open source communities and
projects?

Question 2
What do you think are the concerns
that keep people from participating
in open source communities and
projects?
Mostly it’s unfamiliarity with the “in the open” way
of working; also it could take some time to learn that
imperfection is just fine — indeed it’s often better
than perfection, because flaws are “social objects”
around which people can have a conversation.
Source:

Question 3
How would you imagine a future of
Open Source and Creative Commons?

Question 3
How would you imagine a future of
Open Source and Creative Commons?
Well the best way to imagine a future is to create it
— and in this case, I think more people will join the
commons, as more and more creation takes place in
a digitized collaborative space, and I’m happy to work
with people in these diverse fields to adapt the idea
of Open into a social norm that we find enjoyable.
Source:

Anyway Cup
• Through the 1990s Mandy Haberman
patented and distributed The Anyway Up
Cup through V&A Marketing.
• With her patent she was able to defend
her product from infringement on many
occasions in court while she and her
licensing partners were paid for costs
and damages.

Anyway Cup (cont.)
• By defending her design she was also
able to generate licensing opportunities
with companies like TumbleMates who
manufactured and distributed the Anyway
Up Cup in the US starting in 1996.

Because I had patents, I
was able to go to court,
defend my idea, enforce my
patent rights...This made
me a lot of money; if I had
not had the patents, I would
not made anything.
“
—Mandy Haberman

Video: Mandy Haberman
Source
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9M1hjM9-Ns

What protected her design?
Patent Protected:
Her idea of a cup that controls the flow of
liquid through a specifically craft spout.
Registered Trademark Protected:
Her from competitors copying or using her
brand and design.

Tokyo 2020
Japan's Olympic committee decided to scrap
their 2020 logo, designed by Kenjiro Sano
because of the accusations of plagiarism.
The logo looked too similar to Olivier Debbie’s
Théâtre de Liège logo, which was not a
registered trademark.

‘Be Headstrong & Balsy’
1. Identify the Source
2. Contact the Content Thief
3. Cease and Desist Order
4. Contact Advertisers
5. Request a Ban from Search Engines
6. Register Your Copyrights: Prevention is
Protection
Source
https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-
someone-steals-your-content/

Graphic Plagiarism + Tips
What to do before uploading content:
• 72dpi images (not a good resolution to steal)
• Put “© [Your Name] 2014” on every page
• Work you name into your own designs (if
you want to do that)

When a company copies your work:
• Try not to bash large companies on internet
BUT...bashing or pointing out might give
public leverage in right circumstances

If you take the legal route:
• Prepare progress shots, and do a side by
side comparison of copied work
• Payout is possible if facing large company
• Might lose case—choose payout or not?
• Benefits for large corporations when they
choose to litigate
Source
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/illustration/how-protect-
yourself-against-design-plagiarism/

The Future of
Communication Design?
The future...
...of advertising is experiences, not messages
...of behaviour change is context, not information
...of value exchange is access, not ownership
...of brand is service, not product

Lots of interaction designer,
UI designer, UX practitioner
overlooked the issue of IP

Patenting
Graphic User Interface
(GUI)

GUI for user profiles, patented by Apple

1 Click Shopping, patented by Amazon
(shop without shopping cart)

Pull to refresh, patented by Twitter

How do we patent
user experience
(UX)?

Apple accused Samsung
of infringing:
Design patents
677 patent: general outline
and ornamental design
087 patent: general outline
and ornamental design
889 patent: ornamental design

of infringing:
Design patents
305 patent: GUI for a display screen

of infringing:
Utility patents - patent 381,915,163,087
tap to zoom auto rotate
screen
scrolling with
swipe gesture
multi-touch,
pinch to zoom

so, what is Apple trying
to patent here?

The Future :
• Internet of things
• Virtual reality/ augmented reality

Ownership in design

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