Comments on: Issue 3 – Awards are great and very very bad http://www.australiandesignunit.com/index.php/issue-3-awards-are-great-and-very-very-bad/ Australian Design Unit Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:56:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Tania Kalogianis http://www.australiandesignunit.com/index.php/issue-3-awards-are-great-and-very-very-bad/comment-page-1/#comment-102 Tania Kalogianis Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:47:16 +0000 http://www.australiandesignunit.com/?p=8275#comment-102 IP Australia has developed publications specifically targeted at designers on how to protect their intellectual property. Learn how to reduce the risk of copycats referencing, sampling and stealing your designs. Find out how to safeguard your designs and ideas in: Make your Mark - A guide to Intellectual Property for Industrial Designers Protect your Creative - A guide to Intellectual Property for Graphic designers Download your free copy at: www.ipaustralia.gov.au/resources/forms_designs.shtml IP Australia has developed publications specifically targeted at designers on how to protect their intellectual property.
Learn how to reduce the risk of copycats referencing, sampling and stealing your designs.
Find out how to safeguard your designs and ideas in:
Make your Mark – A guide to Intellectual Property for Industrial Designers
Protect your Creative – A guide to Intellectual Property for Graphic designers
Download your free copy at: http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/resources/forms_designs.shtml

]]> By: Astrid Wootton http://www.australiandesignunit.com/index.php/issue-3-awards-are-great-and-very-very-bad/comment-page-1/#comment-73 Astrid Wootton Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:37:18 +0000 http://www.australiandesignunit.com/?p=8275#comment-73 I agree that IP assignment is a real issue, I wasn't aware that this was occurring in the field. Designers should always aim to retain their IP in their designs - however, I think that images of work should be available to the organisers of competitions and awards, and third parties with permission, to be used (always crediting the designer and the photographer) to publicise both the competition / award and the design itself. The issue of exposing designs in prototype I think is a bit overblown as a risk. Copyists abound; protecting your work by keeping it under wraps, and promoting your work to get support for its development, are often mutually exclusive goals. The best way to protect your work is to register its IP for a small fee at concept stage. While it's no guarantee of protection, it does at least provide you with some recourse if your work is copied. I agree that IP assignment is a real issue, I wasn’t aware that this was occurring in the field. Designers should always aim to retain their IP in their designs – however, I think that images of work should be available to the organisers of competitions and awards, and third parties with permission, to be used (always crediting the designer and the photographer) to publicise both the competition / award and the design itself.

The issue of exposing designs in prototype I think is a bit overblown as a risk. Copyists abound; protecting your work by keeping it under wraps, and promoting your work to get support for its development, are often mutually exclusive goals. The best way to protect your work is to register its IP for a small fee at concept stage. While it’s no guarantee of protection, it does at least provide you with some recourse if your work is copied.

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