Create original content or get ready to face legal battles.
Start-ups beware.
Gone are the days of ‘free’ content. Legal battles are
in.
As brand creators we always advice to create your own content be it a name of your product/service, logo, package design, image for your ad campaign, video for your social media post or even a sound for your ad. Even if you intend to market your products in a local market, the moment you start a website or use social media you are exposing your product globally. And there are both national & international law agencies who are employed to take care of their client’s copyright/trademark properties. For a product you launched in Kerala might get a law suit from the US. For a downloaded picture you used in a local ad might get a law suit from Germany. Last but not the least if you sing a song in a marriage function you may get a lawsuit from God knows where. If you still believe this is just a warning to be ignored, then do read on some anecdotes from life experiences:
Name of your company/product/service
One year back one of our
clients approached us to create a logo and package design for their product.
The product was an FMCG product (toothpaste) intended to launch in a state wise
campaign. The name of the product was already fixed by the client which
resembled another product already in the market (packed food item). Though both
these products were in different categories, both these products would be
sharing shelf space in the market. So we advised the client to trademark the
product name and then go ahead with the logo designing part with this
particular name, but the client was quite confident that the other company has
no trademark on this particular product category. Still we insisted to register
this product name so that later on there wont be any conflict or claim from the
other company which is a big conglomerate. The client said they have applied
for trademark and went ahead with the launch. The product was successfully
received in the market and then the client becomes more confident and goes
ahead with ads in other states. Here come a lawsuit from the big conglomerate.
They approach the supreme court asking ban on this particular product because
the new brand though in another product category is using a brand name which is
used by the big company for many many years. The court orders instant ban on
production or marketing of the new brand. What happens next? The new brand had
to withdraw all their products, all the marketing, logistics expenditure to
make these products available in the market place goes down the drain, has to
change the name and get back to the market in no time or the company is
finished. Imagine the crores of rupees lost by a new company. Some may come out
of this situation and some may perish. If, if at all the new company had got
its product name registered as per the Indian law, there would be at least a
chance to fight it out legally. So even if you are starting a small company
catering to a small market do register your company name, product name, logo
etc. before spending money on venturing out to the market.
Logo
Earlier you could create a
logo similar to another brand and easily use it in a local market. Internet and
social media has made this dangerous nowadays. One of our client, whose product
was selling only in the local market, got a claim from the United States citing
the use of similar logo of a company in the US. And you will be amused to know
the details of this incident. Our client’s product is edible oil and the US
company which raised the claim is a music event company. They had sent the
screen shot of both logos as our client had a usual info website with details
of their company and products. Both had entirely different names but the logos
had similarities, though not that similar when looked in detail. This often
occurs without knowledge of the designers or approvers from the client side but
to give a reply you should have legal rights over your own logo. Our client had
registered their logo as per the Indian law and they could give a reply to the
US company and they accepted it. So create your own logo and register it first.
Also beware of creating logos through free automatic logo creator websites/apps
as anyone can create a same logo through it without being aware of the existence
of the other.
Images
Now this is one of the
biggest challenge going to be faced by every small brand owner. Everyone easily
downloads whatever images they need from the internet and uses it anywhere they
want. Recently one of the corporate brands I have worked with, got a lawsuit
from a law firm in Germany citing copyright infringement of their client who is
a photographer in Kerala. And the amusing fact was that the image was of a
public place of worship of which anyone can go and capture a picture. The
client thought this was a fake claim and ignored at first but then after
repeated mails contacted the law firm in Germany and confirmed it to be a
genuine one. The photo was taken by a photographer in Kerala and uploaded in a
website which sold these images for a price. Before purchasing the picture,
creative designing companies download the demo version, create an ad and sends
this for the approval of clients. After approval of the client the original
version of the image will be purchased and used in the final output. In this
case someone from the client side inadvertently uploaded this ad on their website
before purchasing the picture. The photographer in Kerala was contacted by the
client and got confirmed that he along with many other photographers have
signed agreements with this law firm in Germany which uses reverse image search
technologies and see to it that the photographers get their due for their
images. The day and date of the image upload along with the IP address of the
computer which uploaded the image was there in the lawsuit warning email. The
claim had to be settled by paying money in Euros to the German company which
came to about Rs. 10,000 INR whereas the original picture if purchased from the
website would cost only Rs. 500. Even if you buy images from image selling
websites make sure it has exclusive rights because there are several instances
where a same image used by competitor brands appear side by side out there
which really doesn’t do good to any brand. So create your own original images,
do spend on photo shoots with contract models and professional photographers.
It would be cheaper than shelling out a lot of money later on.
Sounds
When Ilayaraja said he will have to get his due for his songs being used everywhere even in local festivals or music events everyone ridiculed him and thought it to be absurd. But it is a fact that around the world one of the most important copyright infringement lawsuits are based on music rights. And now in India Delhi high court has appointed Dr. Arul George Scaria, Associate Professor at Delhi National law University as a commission to advice on how to create a legal framework for music copyright infringement issues of using songs at marriage events, music events and social gatherings. Even in social media sites like Instagram we know that a reel downloaded with music added in it won’t have the music when you upload it somewhere else. Every youtuber knows how they get copyright strike claims for every piece of music they add on their videos. So if you are even thinking of using a piece of music in your ads or posts on social media to promote your brand make sure to create your own music piece. Pay musicians and make them create a music piece for your own brand and avoid legal implications later on.
Videos
General public using memes and troll videos using video cuts from available sources are yet to be clamped upon but that is not the case when you promote your brand using a video clip made by someone else. When a brand tries to promote its business using video clips created by someone else, if they have a copyright on their videos they can sue the brand for using it without their permission. Again if you ask a YouTuber they will vouch for this. Even for a video taken by you in a festival may get copyright claim by some other organization if it was uploaded by them first. You have to give clarification regarding this to get the claim overturned. So create your own videos for your brand rather than using video clippings of some one else as you will find legal proceedings at your doorstep which may consume your valuable time, energy and money to face such issues. At least try to purchase such video with proper contracts in place before using existing videos.
Original Content is the Present and the future
In short not the future but even the immediate present
is all about copyrights, trademarks, registrations and such laws. So be aware
of every single law regarding these issues before going ahead and creating a
brand or investing in your product packaging or marketing. Not only creating
something first but also legally registering it as yours first is important.
Make sure that you are creating something original and get it legally approved
as yours. Create your own content as original content owners are going to be
the winners of both the markets and the hearts of the consumers.
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