July 2005
UK GOVERNMENT COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
The government was recently threatened with legal action after it emerged, rather ironically, that its logo for Britain's presidency of the EU bears a close similarity to the symbol of a prominent euro-sceptic pressure group.
Lord Lamont, co-chairman of The Bruges Group, is demanding answers from Jack Straw over the uncanny similarities between the new logo unveiled on Thursday and its distinctive chevron formation swans. If the similarity is not explained adequately by noon July 8 the former Chancellor will apply for a swift injunction of the Presidency logo for infringement of copyright.
In response to this the Foreign Office has denied any accusations of plagiarism as 'fanciful' and that any apparent similarities are 'coincidental.' The new presidency logo, depicting 12 swans in flight - an echo of the 12 stars in the EU flag - was created this year for the Foreign Office by Johnson Banks Design, at a cost of £30,000 and had passed all trade mark checks.
BRIFFA Comment:
This would only be copyright infringement if the Bruges Group could prove that the designer of the Presidency logo had actually copied its design. If the designer of the UK Presidency logo can prove that it came up with the logo independently then it has not infringed the copyright of The Bruges Group. Prima facie it would not be unusual for a logo containing birds to have those birds flying in a chevron formation as this is a common formation for birds in flight to adopt.
What should you do if you commission a designer?
This is the sort of issue which will be dealt with in a good freelancer agreement and highlights the importance of a water tight agreement between commissioner and designer so that the commissioner can sue the designer if the commissioner is sued for copyright infringement.
What should you do if you are the designer?
To avoid a claim of copyright infringement a designer needs to show that he has come up with his designs independently and has not copied other work. One of the ways this can be done is by joining our designprotect scheme where members are permitted to send in designs to us to be dated, stamped and logged. This enables us to provide an audit trail should anybody dispute that designer's copyright.