T-shirt Designer Intellectual Property Rights?

darraghhughes

Hi All,

I'm a graphic designer whose been working solely for this one t-shirt company for the past 4 years. It started really informally and I was just asked to do some 'T-shirt Designs'. there was never a contract or even agreement to how many prints etc can be done of the design. Over the past few years the company has grown and grown and is now pretty big.

They have started printing my t-shirt designs onto lots of other garments such as dresses, hoodies , sweatshirts and vest. I was only ever paid for t-shirt designs and as such I'm wondering do I deserve compensation or do I have legal rights here to ask for compensations because they are breaking the 't-shirt designer' agreement by printing onto multiple items. I'm looking for some advice before I say anything because I don't want to get myself into trouble. The basis I'm going off is that I still hold intellectual property on the designs and they were renting them for a particular use but they have broken the agreement by doing multiple runs and different garments.

Any help would be really appreciated.

endacl

Sounds like you need advice from a solicitor who specializes in IP.

thecommander

darraghhughes wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm a graphic designer whose been working solely for this one t-shirt company for the past 4 years. It started really informally and I was just asked to do some 'T-shirt Designs'. there was never a contract or even agreement to how many prints etc can be done of the design. Over the past few years the company has grown and grown and is now pretty big.

They have started printing my t-shirt designs onto lots of other garments such as dresses, hoodies , sweatshirts and vest. I was only ever paid for t-shirt designs and as such I'm wondering do I deserve compensation or do I have legal rights here to ask for compensations because they are breaking the 't-shirt designer' agreement by printing onto multiple items. I'm looking for some advice before I say anything because I don't want to get myself into trouble. The basis I'm going off is that I still hold intellectual property on the designs and they were renting them for a particular use but they have broken the agreement by doing multiple runs and different garments.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Were you employed by them, or did you work as a freelancer?
What does your contracts say about ownership and usage of artwork?
Did it specify they could only be used on a shirt?

Piriz

I would imagine that if you were employed by this company to design then the designs are their Intellectual Property. If you were freelance and there is no detailed contract it might be legally difficult to ascertain your rights so seeking advice from an IP legal advisor might be best.

You hopefully still have all the design drafts and sketches etc. to prove that you created these designs.

If your designs are resulting in this company's increasing profits then you may be able to renegotiate increasing your pay going forward.

What you may have missed the boat on was owning your designs and licensing the design rights to this company. A legal advisor might inform you if this is still possible. A legal case could prove costly.

Owning your designs legally can require a copyright. look at the patentsoffice.ie
to read up on copyright and trademark etc.

would be interesting to know how you get on..

Peterdalkey

Piriz wrote: »

I would imagine that if you were employed by this company to design then the designs are their Intellectual Property. If you were freelance and there is no detailed contract it might be legally difficult to ascertain your rights so seeking advice from an IP legal advisor might be best.

You hopefully still have all the design drafts and sketches etc. to prove that you created these designs.

If your designs are resulting in this company's increasing profits then you may be able to renegotiate increasing your pay going forward.

What you may have missed the boat on was owning your designs and licensing the design rights to this company. A legal advisor might inform you if this is still possible. A legal case could prove costly.

Owning your designs legally can require a copyright. look at the patentsoffice.ie
to read up on copyright and trademark etc.

would be interesting to know how you get on..

Very blanced view from Piriz.

The only thing I would add is that you claim, in your last paragraph, that you own the IP but then fail to substantiate this claim. It really depends upon the basis that was agreed at the time of the contract. The normal employee position is that the employer owns the IP, unless otherwise degree. I would also think that this is the default position where a company pays to have a design produced.

It would appear to me, that you would need to have some form of evidence that the terms of engagement afford you some further rights as to fees/IP rights.

Piriz has also given you sound counsel to seek proper legal advice, which I would fully endorse.

Ray Palmer

Op did you come up with the designs or do a design based on what they said?

From what has been said it sounds like you were hired to do a job and wouldn't hold any rights to the design after that. I would liken it to designing a logo for a company and then looking for payment when the logo was used on products.