Intellectual Property

The subject Intellectual Property is mentioned in my Marketing and Business Practice Medical Illustration class. My formal professor talks about topics like copyright, transfer of rights, divisibility of rights, infringement, fair use, and international copyright. He tells us that as a designer, you should have some knowledge about these topics, so that you can avoid illegal issues. Frankly, do people really follow the rules? I sure everyone did it at least once or twice in their lifetime, but whether it is intentionally or not intentionally.

For example, Shepard Fairey’s HOPE poster is intentionally copied from Mannie Garcia because he admits copying her photograph and destroying the evidence. When comparing both the photograph and the HOPE poster, they look the same. I think Fairey should have modified it even more or take his own photograph.

I think is fine to copy from others as long as you modify it, so it does not look identical with the original. For example, people tell me, as a novice programmer, I should copy, paste, and modify the code of others and make it your own is the best way to learn how to code. In some sense, our inspiration and learning are come from copying others, and the Internet is the best resource!