Are you a graphic artist and just realized the work you initially created was used by another site or company? Without any compensation or even just have the decency to inform you? That is a clear violation of copyrights law. You are an artist, and your work takes days of effort, years of study, impeccable skills, talent, and creativity.
Here at Rights for Artists, we have received many complaints from casino graphic artists from the Colombia-based gambling site, Sportium. Their works are being ripped off from many gambling sites around the globe. Their promotional offers, tragamonedas the latest release ads, and posters can be seen on many gambling sites without their permission.
Learn more about your legal rights as a graphic artist. This article is dedicated to Colombian graphic artists who are undervalued in their work. We are the voice for those who are not listened to, and we are here to change lives for graphic artists.
Quality Work Needs Quality Protection
Learning the facts about intellectual property law is the first step to get your works protected. All the works produced by graphic artists are all intellectual property. All intellectual properties are defined as creations of the mind, like music and lyrics of musicians, scientists’ inventions, and graphic artists’ designs. Any intellectual property should be protected with copyright and trademarks.
For instance, if you’re a gambling site graphic artist and have created a promotional ad for the new release of a pagamonedas game, that is your intellectual property. Anyone can right-click the image, download it, make some tweaks on it, claim it as their own and update them on their gambling site. Anyone other gambling sites that use it without your permission and compensation is violating the intellectual property law.
Any tangible work deserves the same protection, compensation and value as any other products out there. A business idea needs to be taken to a lawyer, needs to get a patent, so other companies cannot follow it. If other companies follow the idea, they can get sued and be charged in a court of law.
Know Your Rights
The graphic artists from Sportium gambling site claim that their works have been ripped off for many years now. It is considered unethical, disrespectful, and against the law to use other artists’ work in the graphic design industry. It is imperative that artists should be aware that they have the right to protect their work.
Here at Rights of Artists, our advice to the graphic artists of Sportium is to get a lawyer. Check all other gambling sites that have used your materials without prior permission. Know about the copyrights and trademarks law; here’s what you should know:
Copyright
A copyright protects a graphic element, regardless if it’s registered or not. For your own protection, always register all your works, and keep track of all the materials you created. As you register all your materials, it is evident in the legal defense that it is your intellectual property.
We suggested the Colombia-based gambling site Sportium hire a specialist in monitoring all their works and check websites that copy their work. At present, all tragamonedas game ads are protected by the law.
Trademarks
A way to take ownership of all the materials you created is to use trademarks on them. A trademark is a brand mark that gives a specific product or service a distinct identity. With copyright ownership, there is the authorship of the original creation. On the contrary, trademark ownership is needed for marketplace purposes.
Trademarks protect the originality of the product and protect the distinct identity of the brand. We have advised our friends in Sportium to protect all their works with trademarks. If you notice, all their ads have the ® symbol or unregistered marks ™ symbol. This way, all copycats are aware that trademark laws protect Sportium.
Need Help?
For all the graphic artists out there, whether you’re from Colombia or any part of the world, Rights for Artists are here to help you. Reach out to us now and talk to us about your concerns. We are here to help you!
