This was one of my first clients. I want to use the work I've done to market myself as a designer &amp; marketer but I'm afraid of legal backlash for using company information. Here's the catch, although I was working &quot;for hire&quot; - there is  No legally binding contract (I was sending contracts at the beginning &amp; it became a he said she said with him promising me a bunch of things he didn't follow through with. There's maybe 3 files that he legally owns. All the rest he didn't want contracts for.) I filed taxes as a 1099 independent I provided all of my own equipment and tools (computer, apps, &amp; drive) They didn't provide me with benefits (health) and only provided a workspace.  I ended up ceasing work with them because I was being exploited (less than 10k within a year) for all the work I was doing. With all that being said, I know I technically own copyrights since I had spoke briefly with a copyright attorney about it asking for some legal advice. I also looked into laws and work for hire regulations so I'd say I'm in the clear. But now I'm concerned about using the work for my portfolio and marketing myself as the sole designer that practically carried the company. What do I do? Should I remove the logo &amp; company information? Does it matter?
123317
Let's say Designer X worked full time for Company Y.  While there, Designer X built an illustration to explain how Company Y's product works.  Then, some years later after Designer X left Company Y, a third party requests permission to use said illustration in some educational material it plans to publish, and wishes to cite the author.  Who does the third party cite, Designer X or Company Y?
111150
The title says it all I believe.  Do I need to request permission from a colleague to cite their information as a "personal communication"?  "Do I need to" may be a little restrictive, so I'll also ask, would you feel wronged or offended if your personal comm. were cited without your express permission?
14826
Lets say I write a blog post about the new Batman movie or a the new Grand Theft Auto game and i decide to use the boxart/poster or a wallpaper as the main image for the blog post,  can I be sued for breach of copyright on this image?  Im pretty sure Warner Bros are going to be hunting anyone down even if it is legal, but is this actually legal? If i buy the DVD or Game and take a picture of it, is this my copyright? When a trailer gets released and put on youTube, can i take a screenshot of this video and use this as an image?  It seems people can get rightly screwed for this, so I would like to know where i stand on this sort of thing.
118398
As I tried to research and ponder , I couldn't help but wonder:   How many steps (i.e., persons) removed does one need to be from a source of material/non-public information regarding a company to avoid accusations of ?   For example, if the CEO tells a trader that tells his brother who tells his barber who tells his son who tells his wife who invests in the company, is the last person guilty of anything illegal?   Or, is there no degree of separation that makes having the information legal?    In other words, is it always illegal as long as a court can prove the flow of insider information? Does the final person's intent and/or ignorance that the information they received is material/non-public factor into the legality of any trades made following receipt of insider info?
122479
My wife recently got a logo designed for her new business, by a professional branding company. It went through several stages of approval, getting the logo just right, however, when she went on to the next stage of the process (creating the social media pages) she was asked to find some stock images to use for the banners.  While doing so, she found her "logo" was taken exactly from an existing stock image. The only modification done was to add a little bit of color and her business name.    I don't know the proper etiquette for this situation is. Is it bad that her logo is a stock image and if so, is it too late in the process to request a change (note they claim to allow unlimited revisions but I'm not sure if that applies once we "accept" the design).  Stock Image:   Logo:
24363
I know Google image search is not a free-for-all to grab any image needed. However, many, many, many clients don't grasp this concept and often request or send images they'd like to use in a design or product which are clearly a violation of copyrights.   I recently had a client send an image to me which, frankly, seemed too well done and too specific for the client to be sending. My thought was, based on the clients business, it was doubtful they paid someone to create the illustration depicted in the image the sent.  So, I did a little reverse Google image searching and found the original, which actually won an award for illustration a few years ago. I immediately knew the image was a violation of copyrights and threw it away. I expressed the violation to the client only to be met with "Do a Google image search for 'XXX XXX XXX' and you'll see everyone is using it. Please use the image."  When designing a piece and a client requests the use of an image they "found", and it is clear it's a violation of copyrights, what should a designer do?  I realize this is a legal question but... Can the designer include a clause in a contract to protect themselves from liability due to these requests? Is this effective?  In some cases, clients are fully aware that they may be infringing. However, in their words... "The worse that can happen is we get a 'cease and desist' letter. We'll remove it then." My ethics cringe at this. How should this be approached?
28899
Next month, I'm fortunate enough to be starting a new job as a UX consultant at an agency. I'm straight out of an university and this is my first UX job, so, I was wondering if you have any tips for someone in my position? What did you wish that you knew when you first started?
65631
I want to build a personal portfolio so my questions related are as follows:   What should I include in the portfolio apart from Home, About, Work, Contact? I have never worked on any real life examples so what to display in the work/portfolio page? What kind of design samples do I need to include? Ex: Website, Logo, Banner etc   Any help is appreciated.  Thanks!
40874
Recently I played around with some lighting and macro shooting of some of my (beat-up) Matchbox toy cars from the 1970's. The results were pleasing to my eye and I had visions of making my millions by selling these images.  The Matchbox brand is now owned by Mattel, and my pics are obviously identifiable as being of those toys, even though the style is on the creative side rather than a straight pic.  So:   My assumption is that without a blessing from Mattel that I could not legally sell my images.  Is that valid?   If I need permission, how do you approach multi-nationals such as Mattel? (and are they typically amenable to such things?)   Update 1  Currently I am in the US and had intended selling here, but a website knows no geographical bounds.   Update 2  After reading  I am of the feeling (in the US) that if my pics are considered a  of the original designs, then they would stand alone as separate works.  That raises the (most likely very subjective) question of:       Are different lighting and camera angles sufficient to create a   derivative work of an object?   And by different I mean wildly dissimilar to anything the original designers used to depict their designs.  Finally I am well aware of talk to a lawyer, and I am only asking this question in terms of getting a general idea of the issue.  Update 3  A comment from Chuqui has made me realize I might have been accidentally confusing people with the terms I was using.  When I said commercially I was thinking in terms of selling fine art prints rather than to magazines, stock services etc.  In my mind making money off something is commercial.  It may be that my personal definition is not correct.
101681
I have an idea for a game that has potential, but I'm not a programmer.  How do I tell this to development companies without having my idea stolen?  All I want from the company is for somebody to watch a three minute long video presentation about my idea and if they see potential in it then we can talk about the details.  I have already sent an e-mail to several big companies that have the expertise needed to code the game, they haven't answered me. Actually the idea is nothing fancy, no 3D, but fun and unique.
64356
I was looking at the resume in  question, and I noticed the skills bar chart. I've seen this on several designers' resumes and was wondering if it is a new fad, if it's something that I should consider adding to my resume/website, etc.    Wouldn't this get you less clients if you forget or didn't have the room to add every single piece of software that you know and your skill level of said software? I can understand adding fundamental software like Photoshop and Illustrator, but what about all the little programs that I don't use very often, but I still know how to use? If I were to list all those, the resume would be like 3 pages long.  Is this a useful graphic to add?
75195
I have a collection of photos that I have taken while touring through display homes that were part of a home-design show.  I want to publish the photos online to share with others the architectural design that inspires me.  Photography was allowed in the homes by the administrators of the tours.  I may have agreed to some type of restrictions by purchasing the ticket, but I did not sign anything.  I have read  here to attempt to gain an understanding of this issue, but I want to make sure there are no other restrictions that apply to this specific case.  My questions are:   When taking photographs of someone else's property, can I still publish the photo legally? What about when taking photographs on someone else's property? If the property in the photo is "identifiable" as belonging to someone else (or as the work of some architect or designer), does that change things at all? If the "conditions" of the ticket purchase did place some restrictions on photography, but the ticket holders do not sign anything, will that still hold up?   I realize that if I were to commercialize my endeavor, I would be well-advised to talk to a lawyer (and I may need to anyway), but I am just looking for some starter advice here.
24149
So, I'm a freelance web programmer by trade, which means that my time really is money. I, occasionally, work on side projects of my own and forgo the possibility of earning direct income for that time.   I wonder, can my freelancing business bill my side project (as a business) for time spent? Could I deduct that expense from the side project's taxes?  This is in regards to U.S. tax law.
17233
I often see color combinations on webpages, images, posters, products etc. that harmonize really well. Am I allowed to use those colors in my own design?   This is solely about the colors. I will not use images, logos or shapes from that source, and my content is not related to the original color source. I am also far from any commercial aspect here.
38206
In the discussion around  it was said that a loan must be at market rate, or it is not considered a loan.  Respecting the wisdom of the people who said that, I'm unclear about how this would work in the general case, since plenty of people do make interest free loans to family and friends, and the IRS would seem to be unlikely to be in the business of policing loan rates.   Ignoring the issue in the original question about later paying off the loan through a gift,  let's say I make an interest free loan to someone, with the genuine intention that they pay it back in full at some later date, and with no intention of cheating the tax system. It would seem to me that he has no income to declare (because only the loan has occurred) and I have no income from the transaction. What exactly do he and I have to declare on our tax forms? Some links to tax office docs would be nice.  EDIT: Since it's been pointed out that it's hard to distinguish between loans and gifts, let's imagine that both parties have made a written loan agreement.
30651
After the recent "Look and Feel" Apple vs Samsung lawsuits, I've been wondering to what extent this might affect websites/webapps that offer functionality similar to other existing sites.  So what exactly would one have to be wary of to make sure they don't step on the toes of a big corporation?  I could see carbon copying a companies website/app (especially if it's a very distinctive product) being a bad practice that could get you some backlash, especially blatantly ripping off iconic terminology, but how similar is too similar?  Does the ten-foot rule apply to the web?     “If a reasonable person could not, at ten feet, tell the difference between two competitive products, then there was cause to believe an infringement was occurring.”   Or is there a separate legal precedent associated with the web?  And then where does feel, which is essentially the common term for UX, come in.  Can you patent the way a website "feels", as in the flow, organization and functionality associated.  I understand that you can't patent basic elements like radio buttons, but what about the layout and look of a large number of those elements used in combination to complete a certain action/s?    I know that is still a bit of a Sword of Damocles for online retailers.  Where is the line drawn for website/webapp copyright infringement?  Or is there even a line drawn yet?
104425
During an academic discussion regarding file formats I received from a most excellent designer, I thought I was correct in writing (based on my experience with hired work):     ...the industry standard for logos is vector...   I received the following response:     Industry standards are interesting things, in that they are more often talked about than actually followed...   We can find all sorts of references to push one point or another, I only talk from experience, and my experience is that even large corporations ala Microsoft are fine with raster.   My question then is perhaps not as simple as I thought:  When hiring a designer to create a logo for an organization (corporate, non-profit, etc.), what is the industry standard deliverable file format (vis-à-vis vector versus raster)?  (Of course, hiring a designer should come with a contract that explicitly states the file format, but most people aren't aware [or don't care] about various file formats and might therefore neglect such a clause.)  This is different than asking what should go into the deliverable package. This question is about an authoritative source that describes what is expected of professional-level deliverables from designers. Some people agree that vector graphics should be included, but is that a de facto standard, or is there an official (or semi-official) body that dictates what people should expect as deliverables from graphic design?