Viewing post categorized under: Arts and design

Copyright or Wrong – Ownership Issues

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design

This article considers copyright considers for photographers including how long copyright lasts for, what can be protected and how. Firstly, what is copyright? Copyright is a generic term that covers the rights of creators of ‘works’ including photographs, drawings, painting and artworks, literature, music, films and written works. A clear distinction exists between the copyright […]

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Chinese Fakes. What can you do about them?

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design, Intellectual Property

One question that Australian IP lawyers often get asked is what you can do to prevent your designs and products from being ripped-off in China. The issues surrounding IP protection are alive and well in China, which is notorious for its culture of copying, with “Naik” (Nike) shoes to “Adidos” (Adidas) tops right through to […]

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Preventing Copycats: Weaving Through the Legals

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design

Imagine you come up with a great new pattern for curtain fabric that strikes a chord with consumers, a window shutter design or a special weave that flies off the shelves. What if you find out someone is copying you? Have you protected your IP? Can you stop them? How? This article considers how you […]

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Understanding copyright risks for printers

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design, Copyright, Intellectual Property

In this article, Sharon Givoni is interviewed by “Australian Printer” magazine about the risks of being liable for copyright infringement by simply photocopying or printing someone else’s artwork. Copyright risks can be minimised by taking some very simple steps. Read on to find out what these steps are. Read more… This article first appeared in […]

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Moral Rights and Copyright

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design

Did you know that not attributing an author or artist can be a beach of their moral right? As can cutting up their photograph or painting? This article discusses Australia’s moral rights laws in the context of photography. Read more…

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Threading IP Law together for Beaders

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design

Many creative people are making business out of their hobby. However, all sorts of business and legal considerations arise. These include trade marking the name of your brand, ensuing you own copyright in what you produce or others create for and not infringing other peoples’ rights. Read on for a hands on snapshot of dos […]

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Protecting textile patterns and designs

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design, Copyright, Retail and fashion Law, Trade marks

If you design or manufacture patterned textiles or fabrics, you need to be careful not to copy other people’s textile designs and find yourself entangled in legal issues. This article talks about copyright and trade mark protection of patterns, trade marks and designs in textiles (including David Jones, Louis Vuitton and Levis). Read more… Note […]

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Inspiration… or Rip Off?

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design, Copyright

We all get inspirited by one thing or another in life including when we create art works such as drawings and photographs. Madonna got inspired by a famous fashion photographer some years ago when creating one of her video clips and then threatened with legal action. Read more…

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The Fine Line between Copyright Infringement or Artistic Creativity

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design, Copyright

This article looks at what happened when the owners of the Barbie doll (Mattel) took a photographer to court over the “creative” use of Barbie in a bold and daring set of photographers featuring Barbies cooking in a casserole dish and in a fondue pot. The fair use defence under copyright law came into play […]

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The Case for Binding Contracts

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design, Copyright

Read how the owner of a holiday resort thought that they could use the photographer’s commercial images of the report without paying him. The court punished them even more because they had ignored the letters from the photographer asking for payment. Lucky for the photographer, he had a contract with them that set out what […]

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