Entry 1
1a – They are to discuss how the design work they are doing handles sourcing of images and the
company’s trademarks & logos.
At my internship majority of the images I am given to use in the graphics I am assigned to make are owned by the company. All the images are taken by other interns on the photography team. They are tasked with going on site to document events with their cameras. I then receive the uploaded images and edit them into a graphic for email or to be posted on social media.
The only images I use that the company does not own are meme templates. While reading the given AIGA I began to grow curious on how copyright works for memes. I then decided to do more specific research of copyright rules when it comes to memes.
Through my research I have come to learn that the owners of the meme image has the right to give someone license to use the image. I found the Stephenson Law article titled “Companies and Copyright: Memes and the Intellectual Property Issue” very interesting when it comes to this topic. According to the article “if you’re just sharing a meme for the fun on social media, this won’t be much of an issue. But if you start using your meme for commercial purposes – for example through your company’s marketing channels – it might start to attract the attention of the copyright owner of the original image or video.” This is now making me rethink the memes posted via my company’s social media platforms.
The article goes on to explain “if you’re just sharing a meme for the fun on social media, this won’t be much of an issue. But if you start using your meme for commercial purposes – for example through your company’s marketing channels – it might start to attract the attention of the copyright owner of the original image or video.” Even though it is not common for owners to take action on copyright when it comes to memes it does not mean it never happens. An example of this is when Kris Jenner trademarked the catchphrase “You’re doing great sweetie” after it blew up among meme culture. This line she originally said in an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and has been a popular line since. After she trademark it she placed the catchphrase on any merchandise possible in order to profit from it.
Image Source: https://metro.co.uk/2020/08/27/kris-jenner-trademark-catchphrase-amazing-sweetie-kardashians-13188108/
Resource links:
https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-64005194-dt-content-rid-494780094_1/xid-494780094_1
https://www.stephenson.law/companies-and-copyright-memes-and-the-intellectual-property-issue/
1b – It will also discuss if they had to sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement for their internship site and how they have handled that with regard to their internship journal for this class.
For my internship I did not have to sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. However, I refrain from sharing any of the work I have done on my blog or with others unless it was posted on the organization’s social media page for the public to see. For graphics I have made that have not been posted publicly by the company itself I do not share mainly because of the individuals’ faces who are in the photos I edit. Majority of the photos I have received to edit are either other interns’ headshots or photos from events that have families with their children. I do not feel comfortable posting the faces of these individuals without their consent.
We do have a form that we give to schools we work with to get permission to share photos of the children who volunteered with us at the events. There has been times that posts have been delayed or not posted at all because we did not receive the signed agreement forms to receive permission to post the faces of anyone who was in the photo. Due to the need of these agreements to be signed we have to have drafts of copy and the imagery that follows ready prior in order to gain approval to remain on posting schedule which can be stressful sometimes.
Resource links:
https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-64005194-dt-content-rid-494780094_1/xid-494780094_1
https://www.stephenson.law/companies-and-copyright-memes-and-the-intellectual-property-issue/
Entry 2
2a – Students are to reflect on whether, in the past, they have used another’s creative work and how have they given that artist credit?
Copyright has always been an interesting thing to me because there feels to be so many in between the line factors and things that go overlooked. Sometimes owners of the material speak up but sometimes they don’t care. I freelance emotes on Twitch and have been for almost a year now.
The copyright issues when it comes to making emotes feels insanely complicated. Sometimes emotes are made from scratch and are fully original; however, sometimes they are just edits or resized versions of popular memes. Examples of these emotes consist of Gordon Ramsey screaming, Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove dancing, the millions of versions of the classic Pepe emote, and so many more. All these emotes consists of content the streamer nor the artist owns. They consist of copyright images of celebrities and images of copyright characters, yet Twitch still allows them to be uploaded and for streamers to profit off of these images.
Image source and video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWVZU0Ui8dA
It is honestly an interesting topic and the readings made me think more of the specifics because it seems to be for each scenario the rules get bent in different ways. As seen in Entry 1, the readings when comparing to my internship made me question copyright when it comes to memes but it did also reminded me of copyright when it comes to Twitch emotes. Some of the content from the readings I already had knowledge on from previous research when my own art was stolen for Twitch emotes without my consent. I really found the video by Dominic Keravel on Twitch emotes copyrights very insightful when it comes to this specific type of graphic art.
Resource Links:
ttps://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-64005194-dt-content-rid-494780090_1/xid-494780090_1
2b – Students are to give their opinion of the arguments and outcome of the Fairey Copyright case.
When it comes to the Shepard Fairey case the thing that stood out to me was that he tried to hide what he did. According to the New York Times article “Last year Mr. Fairey admitted that he had misstated which A.P. photo he had used for the Obama image and that he had submitted false images and deleted others to conceal his actions, leading to a criminal investigation in addition to the civil case.” Fairey knew what he did was wrong but tried to hide it which seems wrong and really unethical, even if he did confess later on it is still wrong. Fairey ended up growing famous over another artist, specifically a photographer’s work that he edited to make his own.
Even though he edited the photo to make it his own the original art is still there and a key component to the entire piece to a point where credit is due. In my career I hope to never be in a situation like this and want to avoid copyright as best I can. If a situation does occur that copyright footage was used accidentally I feel the best thing to do is to accept the consequences and pay the original artist or take down the work in respect to both parties.
Resource Links:
https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-64005194-dt-content-rid-494780090_1/xid-494780090_1
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/arts/design/13fairey.html
