Hi all,
First time posting here. I would love your help on answering something that has been bothering me. I'm currently in the process of starting my own graphic portrait business. I'm building my own website on Squarespace, I'm going to be making bespoke digital portraits for customers.
I'm planning on using artwork I did, while I was working at another digital portrait company to use is the purpose of examples. Some examples I want to use were done while being a paid employee, and some while working freelance for the same company (the company has now changed hands 2 times, and is still operating, non of the work I did for them is on their website).
Question is, am I in my rights to use that artwork I created, as examples (on my own website) while I was employed and/or working freelance for them? I don't think I signed a contract, and I'm assuming I atleast have by default, full copyright for the freelance work I did?
Thank you in advance for your help;)
Raj
Hi,
It's been a while since I posted here, however to answer your questions, contractually, the work you produced by your former employer will belong to them and as such you have been compensated already by receiving payment for services either as an employee on payroll or as a freelancer.
Most reputable companies will not prohibit use of the work you produced in some form of portfolio – for example, I have used work examples from both my previous employers in job interviews, with examples ranging from the work I did at the BBC and British Museum. In addition, my current employer would not prohibit me from showing examples of the products we work on, albeit collectively, as part of a portfolio.
However, there is a difference to using an image in a portfolio of work and using it to advertise a company which, by the sounds of things, rivals there own business, and as such becomes a conflict of interest on your part. As such I'm not sure they would sanction the use of artwork to a new business that is effectively in direct competition.
I wouldn't suggest using the artwork without permission either as google offers reverse image search and so, if they do have examples of the work you produced online, it wouldn't take long to find the usage of such artwork.
If you are still on good terms with the company, it's probably worth requiring over usage of the images. Better to be upfront about it now, than risk potential comebacks later down the line.
Also, if you are stuck, could you not produce some new digital portraits of your friends/family to showcase your talent?
Hi, Raj!
I don't know whether "I don't think I signed a contract" is good enough. If you DID sign a contract and have forgotten it, you might get in trouble if you use artwork that they claim to own. When you were working as their employee, didn't you have any sort of employer-employee contract? If so, you need to read the small print. You might have signed your rights away without realising it.
On the other hand, if the company has changed hands twice since then, it's possible that nobody will NOTICE that you're using material that they published. It would be much more difficult to search graphic work than to search text. (I could, for example, use Google to check if anybody has used any one of the sentences from anything that I've written. How can you do this with graphic art?)
Wouldn't it be possible to just ASK them if you could reuse your past work? You could even offer to say "used by kind permission of ...", so giving them some extra advertisng.