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The Menace of Copyright Issues in Crowdsourcing – Can it be Controlled?

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The Menace of Copyright Issues in Crowdsourcing – Can it be Controlled?
Posted on November 18th, 2011in Crowd Sourcing by Henry James

There are always heated debates over the issue of copyrights in logo design, especially when it comes to crowdsourcing. This is because there are hundreds of design entries flowing within a single logo design project. Some crowdsourcing sites profess that the copyrights to a design submission stays with the designer or the creative behind it. While on the other hand, some logo design contest sites have rules which imply that all the designs being created and entered in a contest are there property.

The question “Who owns the rights to submissions on crowdsourcing sites like MycroBurst, crowdSPRING and 99designs?” still haunts many designers and project holders. Although most of the sites clearly dictate their terms and condition of holding competitions on their site, it still remains to be answered as to who owns the copyrights of design submissions…the designer or the contest site?

• Setting the Ground Rules:

The first concern surrounding copyright issue in crowdsourcing is setting the ground rules. Since the inception of crowdsourcing, there has been a massive incursion of new and nascent logo design contest sites. Some of these sites follow no rules and regulations whatsoever. Without setting the ground rules and policies of the contest, you are bound to get design entries that are plagiarized and violate copyright laws.
• Controlling Too Many Design Entries:

The next issue with controlling copyright issue is the increasing influx of design submission on a logo design contest. The more designers a site will have, more entries will they receive on each project. Ultimately, the chances of facing copyright issues for that particular contest site will be more. The question is…how do top logo design contest sites control infringement issues when the entries of designs are in thousands?
• Possession of Logo Copyright:

Majority of top crowdsourcing sites state in their terms and conditions that the winner of the logo will get exclusive rights to the logo design even after the contest holder uses it. But what happens to all the other entries that are submitted in the project but are not considered? Are they disposed off right away or is there a backup plan for its copyrights? These are the questions that must be answered and resolved by logo design contest sites if they are to eliminate the menace of copyright issues.

Summary There are always heated debates over the issue of copyrights in logo design, especially when it comes to crowdsourcing. This is because there are hundreds of design entries flowing within a single logo design project. Some crowdsourcing sites profess that the copyrights to a design submission stays with the designer or the creative behind it. While on the other hand, some logo design contest sites have rules which imply that all the designs being created and entered in a contest are there property.

Description Majority of top crowdsourcing sites state in their terms and conditions that the winner of the logo will get exclusive rights to the logo design even after the contest holder uses it. But what happens to all the other entries that are submitted in the project but are not considered? Are they disposed off right away or is there a backup plan for its copyrights? These are the questions that must be answered and resolved by logo design contest sites if they are to eliminate the menace of copyright issues.

Tags: 99designs, copyright, Crowdsourcing, Logo Copyright, Logo Design Contest, MycroBurst

Posted by Jason Robbins

Nov 18, 2011 12:26 pm GMT Viewed 2080 times

Author: Henry James Source

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