How to: Stop people pinching your IP
Who remembers that great ad from NZI about people always stealing your stuff (it was in 2005 so if we’re showing our age you can watch it here).
The problem with having nice things is that there are some people out there who would rather steal from others than put in the hard yards – and it’s no different with intellectual property. If you come up with a great new concept, unless you take steps to protect your rights, people may steal your ideas.
There have been good examples of people successfully standing up for their rights in the past, from musicians (e.g. when New Zealander Joshua Stylah got American artist Jason Derulo to acknowledge his prior rights in “Savage Love” here), to artists (e.g. when Shane Hansen took Escape Campervans to court for using his artwork on their vans without his consent - they then not only made a public apology, they also paid him compensation).
As Shane said in an article on Idealog (here):
“If people don’t stand up for themselves and say you’ve done the wrong thing, then it keeps perpetuating and getting taken advantage of. The more people buy into the same ‘It’s only a hobby, can’t make a living, it’s hard’ idea, the more that becomes part of the vernacular and everyone thinks like that, even the artists themselves.”
It’s therefore crucial to defend your IP against any misuse, as otherwise not only are you missing out, but the problem will only get worse.
We’ve set out below some basic things you should do / not do to protect your IP and enforce your rights.
Do you have any more good tips for others?
DO put people on notice of your rights by using watermarks on your images and other content (so its harder for them to copy and stops people using your IP without considering your rights) and/or include clear statements of your rights
e.g. © Rachel Triplow, www.arc.legal, 2023 or aRc™
DON’T just sit back and let people use your IP without your consent - you’re then helping to perpetuate the problem, and they may end up with a defence to any claim of infringement
DO your legwork to ensure you own your IP before making any claims of infringement - if you’re not sure what IP you might have, there is a useful too here and/or you can download our free IP checklist here
DON’T go straight in with a threat to go to court. Often people aren’t aware about IP rights, so give then a chance to do the right thing without being back into a corner or lawyering up. A simple email or online message can be sufficient (make sure its in writing)
e.g. “You may not realise that I own copyright in the artwork you have used - please take it down asap” or
“Unfortunately I already own this business name, so please find another name asap.”
DO make it clear how people can use and share your content if you want them to - a notice on your website or social media pages is great, and there are free licensing systems such as Creative Commons (here) which can be useful too.