This section of the forum is for discussing the business and finance issues of the t-shirt industry. Which business structure to use (sole proprietor, LLC, S Corp, etc), how to handle billing, where to register your business and get the proper licensing, etc.
I'm in the process of drawing up contracts but I'm still left wondering how much I should charge to hand over the copyright of each design.
These are designs based on the clients ideas, I'm not doing each design from scratch. Should this be taken into account when charging for the copyright?
However if the idea is the customers could this not cause issue's with intellectual property depending on how much of the "idea" is theirs versus yours?
Eg if they have it worked out to the point where all your doing is creating the artwork from that then it isn't your property to copyright anyway, they are effectively giving you permission to use their design?
No expert so welcome any input from others as I think this will be of interest to everyone else too.
So far their ideas consist of either print-outs of images they found which they want me to work at merging together or rework or written descriptions of the things they want. Of the 20+ designs I only have full creative control over about 5 of them.
So yeah, IP may come into it. Though it is my understanding that as long as I create the artwork it is mine until I hand the copyright over. So, in the case where I don't have that much creative control should I charge less? How much do others charge to hand over the copyright of an image?
However if the idea is the customers could this not cause issue's with intellectual property depending on how much of the "idea" is theirs versus yours?
Eg if they have it worked out to the point where all your doing is creating the artwork from that then it isn't your property to copyright anyway, they are effectively giving you permission to use their design?
No expert so welcome any input from others as I think this will be of interest to everyone else too.
No not quite Copyright exists in the expression of the design not the idea itself. So you only get CR protection on the actual artistic creation not the IDEA
If you were contracted out you are work for hire which may limit your ability to any claim. We work with other designers day in and out and without even a hint of question I can tell you the artist wouldnt have a claim.
The idea has no value, as it is just an idea, whenever you said you would do it for a fee you are for hire, you no longer have a claim unless they dont pay or a court decides otherwise.
Call a lawyer, most of what we can say here can hurt you.
Sometimes artist tend to get personalized with a project and so for those times, it is best to have all the cards on the table. If you do contracted work often, actually seek legal counsel, someone who specializes in copyright and IP.
So far their ideas consist of either print-outs of images they found which they want me to work at merging together or rework or written descriptions of the things they want. Of the 20+ designs I only have full creative control over about 5 of them.
So yeah, IP may come into it. Though it is my understanding that as long as I create the artwork it is mine until I hand the copyright over. So, in the case where I don't have that much creative control should I charge less? How much do others charge to hand over the copyright of an image?
One thing that came to my mind reading this post, was where did they find these images? And do you know if the images they found are already copyrighted? I would be careful with images that are being supplied by a customer, and make sure they have the right to reproduce them to begin with. Just something to take into consideration.
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Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
"Eg if they have it worked out to the point where all your doing is creating the artwork from that then it isn't your property to copyright anyway, they are effectively giving you permission to use their design?"
I agree. If they are paying you for your service you should be happy. I don't like the thought of taking one of my ideas to someone who then uses my idea as his own. I dont know legally but think the rights should be with the person who came up with the idea originally.
This makes me think that I should copyright my ideas before getting T's printed.
How would this work if I took a drawn image idea to someone, that I needed to get digitally worked on. Would that then class as their work ???
That book mentioned a couple of posts above. Would that be of any help to me. I'm not a freelance designer, just interested in designing T's and not having my ideas copied.
Last edited by HUNTY; September 3rd, 2009 at 10:57 AM.
Reason: added paragraph
The truth is that you DONT HAVE TO have your material registered with the copyright office to have it protected. The the US, as long as you can prove you made the design and when you can show a good fight and probably win.
We write software for a living and we have to deal with piracy just like in the design business.
I would always recommend to have a WRITTEN AGREEMENT, An NDA(none disclosure agreement), and a USE Agreement.
1- NDA, so that your printer cant use your designs and claim he did them inhouse or show up in catalogs.
2- Use Agreements that limits the printing company from making copies aside from what they are allowed.
3- MOST IMPORTANT, use someone you can trust.
Contracts mean nothing to a crook. Just because you use a LARGE company does not mean that the company does not have a thief among them. Look at the Hollywood studios, most of the piracy DOES NOT come from people holding a camera, they come from people that work at the editing centers and take DVD's home with them. They are the ones you have to worry about.
But most importantly be creative, some of you guys are so amazing at what you do that it's like a signature.
Now go and be creative!!!
Last edited by Gioclone; September 3rd, 2009 at 11:30 AM.
How much to charge for copyright transfer? 
