Icon Theft
Icon Theft
Icon Theft
26 Jan 2004 — 5 Comments
Update: After the original posting of this entry, the design company in question removed the infringed works, and we have opted to remove screenshots to reduce further embarrassment. Read the follow-up for the rest of the story, and some thoughts on how you can protect your investment.
Captured above is a screenshot from a design company's website that will remain unnamed at this point.
The three icons highlighted in red are designs originally created for a client of ours at Firewheel Design. I designed them, and you can see them here in our portfolio.
Theft of original art on the web is nothing new, and recently CSS theft has become a rampant issue. But never before have I seen a design company point-blank steal icons at wholesale and market them as their own.
Icons are easy to steal. They're small, they exist entirely in the digital domain, and they are easy to repurpose without anyone noticing. Watermarking is also difficult without destroying the beauty of the work―hardly a good thing for portfolio display. Recent theft also prompted freeware icon designer Hein Mevissen to shut his doors.
Sadly, misrepresentation and resale of copyrighted work by another design company―not simply someone looking for free icons―represents a new low for me.
The offending company and its client to which it illegally sold the work have both been contacted. The client deeply regrets the situation, and no-doubt is seeking recourse against the design company. One will see how the design company in question responds.
Until then, perhaps a designer's best friends are other designers―willing to promote awareness of original design and willing to protect intellectual property.
paul says
my designs and code get ripped off on average of once a week. it's such a drain on my time and resources to go after these bastards. i wish people would understand that just because theft happens online doesn't mean it's above or outside of the law.
LawyerMan says
...hmmm...reminds me of a line from Bill Murray's movie, "The Man Who Knew Too Little," in which he intones to a guy robbing him, "It's thugs like you that make this world a dirty place, punk." So anyhoo, perhaps that would-be thug robbing your fair site will be reading this: You're going to get yours, and I don't mean ice cream.
...and if you need help catching any of those creeps, find a good attorney...put the fear of Mike into some of those freakin' retards...
Ken Walker says
"...a design company's website that will remain unnamed at this point."
Unless you know how to ask Google. ;-)
Really sorry to hear about the legal hassles, Josh. Good luck with the resolution.
Hans Nowak says
Hmm, I think that site removed the infringing icons from their portfolio page. Of course, that doesn't mean that they're not still selling them...
Simon Jessey says
Of course, Google's cache reveals the stolen icons. Wonderfully useful tool, that.