0920_September Comstock's Magazine September 2020 | Page 20

MARKETING
When a Right Click Is Wrong
How to avoid creative copyright infringement in your promotion and presentations
BY Lila Wallrich
SHUTTERSTOCK ILLUSTRATION
I
am an intellectual property snob. I’ve
spent much of my life making original
things and am passionate about the
idea that they have tangible value. Since
1990, my business has made original
graphics, stories, ads and websites for clients.
And as marketing became increasingly
reliant on digital media for creation
and distribution, it’s been challenging to
keep pace and avoid infringing — even
accidentally — on anyone else’s rights.
Defining originality is tricky.
Creators in every medium are influenced
by techniques and trends, both
current and historical. But in the
digital sphere, it has become easier to
go beyond influence to outright theft.
The most egregious examples involve
major corporations helping themselves
to the original work of independent
makers. They know it’s wrong, but they
flex their legal and brand clout to avoid
consequences. I’m focusing on a less
obvious, possibly inadvertent, form of
infringement — something I see too
often from small-business peers. I’m
talking about the casual “borrowing”
of creative content for use in promotion
and education. Here are examples I’ve
seen recently:
• A copyrighted article that’s scanned
and distributed without permission
to clients.
20 comstocksmag.com | September 2020