Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

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Michael A. Silva
Silva Consultants

www.silvaconsultants.com

1. Yes, but I would say  . .  " I did this while at Acme"  I would not ask permission, you can always take it down.

2. I think it`s fair to post clients work if it`s in the public domain. If it was passed out at a trade show I think it`s fair game. If it`s an internal corporate website, then I would say no. You can`t do this.

3. Posting an unused logo would be a no no. It would be ok to have it `in your portfolio` if it was the type of portfolio that you presented in person to a customer. In other words, you could guarantee that the bogus logo would never be circulated (copied).

In general: the question you have to ask is . . . is the art in the public domain or not ?

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

Good News ... Welcome to SuN.

Bad News ... any and all creations while in the employ of another is the property of the company. Your portfolio starts from scratch ... if you do not obtain the permission of the prior employer. Remeber, copyright and intellectual property law is not for the amatuer. My suggestion ... seek legal advice from an intellectual property attorney ... not from folks here at SuN.

I don`t think that is right at all. What you did is not copyrighted by your employer, it`s copyrighted by the company who paid for it. And unless you specifically had some kind of ghosting contract, then you have every right to put it in your private portfolio.

I agree you shouldn`t post logos that weren`t used. I don`t think you should post anything that wasn`t used if it has a company name on it. There`s a lot of other things that bug me too, like making a bunch of work for your portfolio that is for your own projects, but not disclosing it so that it looks like you made it for someone else. Also, not including URLs in your portfolio is bad form if this is web stuff.

The standard practice is this ... you put it up. If someone doesn`t like it, you take it down. This is all. I had one former employer complain because he didn`t think I blurred out information enough. So, whatever, I made it more blurry... but I still have the right to put it in as a sample of my work because I did it.

You can`t take your code with you in entirety and reuse it elsewhere .. that software doesn`t belong to you. But yes, I totally think you can put of screenshots of past work, and say "yeah I did this". It`s your portfolio.

Yep, you have every right to display works in your portfolio and you are not required to ask permission.  However, Nikole and Jeff make excellent points about unused logos and so forth.  It is important to label the works appropriately, whether they were done for a company, personal development, etc.

Sorry, but I agree with blondieblue.  There were tons of things that I could have used as samples, etc. when I started my company but those samples didn`t belong to me - they belonged to previous employers.

You can try to get permission from the employer.  If you left on good terms, then it`s entirely possible.  I would also have an attorney draw up the agreements - your attorney, not theirs.

Another person in agreement with blondieblue.  I know way too many designers who have received a nasty letter from the attorney of a former employer demanding that the former employee cease using the "property" of the former employer in their own marketing/promotion efforts.

It is always best to ask permission.  It is even better to negotiate future usage, should you later decide to leave a position, prior to being hired by an employer.

This can be a huge issue for independent designers as well.  I deal with it in advance in my project agreement with the following clause:

The designer retains personal rights to use the completed project and any preliminary designs for the purpose of design competitions, future publications on design, educational purposes and the marketing of the designer`s business. Where applicable the client will be given any necessary credit for usage of the project elements.

- J.


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Jeff Fisher | Jeff Fisher LogoMotives | Tweet! Tweet!

Jeff (not another Jeff, Jeff Fisher ) ... if you got said letter, why would you just not then take it down?

I mean, this seems really simple, no? (And laughable that they had to pay an attorney.) You get an e-mail, you take it down. Easy peasy. If they ask, and you took it down, there`s really no harm in this.

This whole concept seems absurd to me. I`d never stop my artist from using work he did from me in his portfolio. And I`ve never had anyone, in over 10 years, tell me to take something down out of my portfolio. I don`t see this as an example of "samples belonging" to you or not ... it`s just, this is my work. If you had a resume, and you listed the company names on the resume, and/or URLs, is that wrong because that name/URL doesn`t belong to you?

I too agree with Blondiblue, when working for a corporation everything you create is the property of your employer. So much is so that unless it is specifically stated otherwise on your contract, even if you create it on your own time your employer could claim rights to it if it is on the same field.

Your `creations` are governed by whatever agreement your previous employer had with the company that hired them.

Although this link is about employee rights with respect to inventions the `intellectual property` part of it still applies under the "Work made for hire"

If you don`t have a written consent from the previous employer you are skating on very thin ice. Nikole`s approach of use it and take it down if asked may work because a lawsuit will cost them at least $30,000 and it is highly unlikely that they will be able to prove damages in that amount, so you may never get sued, but still, it would be wrong and likely, illegal.

When I was a Nickelodeon, ownership of design work was a very sensitive issue.  As a standard, any work done while under employ of any studio in Hollywood was regarded as owned by the studio, whether it was done for them or not.  It`s tricky stuff and a lot of entertainment lawyers are behind it.

BUT... It is regarded that anyone can show anything for the purposes of personal promotion, whether it be an animation portfolio like I had or a movie reel for actors, etc.  My point is that even the money-grubbing, rights-protecting entertainment industry doesn`t care about using protected work for promotional purposes.

I agree with Nikole that it is a very, very rare instance where a cease letter might be sent.  And if you ever receive one, you can decide what to do then.  Yes, the works actually belong to someone else legally, but you do have a right to use it in a portfolio.  And it is ridiculous that you would have to ask permission.