Okay, to be honest, it’s a little frustrating. But then I guess it’s always annoying to be faced with trust barriers when you’ve started a positive initiative and all you want to do is go out there and nail bad guys. Of course, these questions are only natural at the end of the day. So here is our response.

We realise that there will always be skeptics and conspiracy theorists, but as for the rational majority – here’s what we’ve done to ensure that you can trust us with your work:

1. Each file is stored and backed-up on two remote, independently operated and maintained servers on opposite sides of the world. If both these servers are simultaneously and cataclysmically destroyed, the safety of your OWs will cease to be your priority.

2. A unique hash value is generated for each work at the time of upload. This is permanently linked with the file to form your OW. Basically each file is packing its own fingerprint/retinal ID, proving that it is who it claims and that it was born when it was born.

3. All databases (including hash values) are periodically filed (as recorded data) at our lawyer’s offices in a large steel safe that may even survive the cataclysm mentioned in 1 above.

4. All the leading web security standards (including SSL encryption) have been thoroughly and conscientiously applied across our app to ensure safe transfer of data and reliable verification where required. (Gmail and Basecamp only recently switched to this approach, and Facebook or Twitter have yet to follow our lead in terms of site-wide SSL security.)

5 Dave, Max, Steve and I are all really good-natured people with solid middle-class upbringings, decent (not decadent) tertiary education and friendly dispositions.

What else can we do to help you believe we’re on your side?

Plenty. But right now our focus is on getting a great service and product to people that do believe us in light of the above. Time will provide the best evidence of our intentions.

Suffice to say that we’ve gone the extra mile in building a brand that stands for integrity, safety and solidarity amongst the creative community. Ergo: there’d be little point in allowing anything or anyone to jeopardise all that.

As far as l running off into the night with our members’ work is concerned… what would we do with your OWs if we were to steal them? Would we print them all out and fold them into origami paper hats?… perhaps. Would we secretly sell them on to the highest bidder? Now that would be ridiculous.

Stealing our member’s OWs (or allowing them to be stolen) is really not a sustainable business model. If this ever happened, you can bet your cotton socks (it’s an English thing) that somebody would find out and spread the word fast. We are talking about the net after all.

We would prefer to keep our business and personal reputations in tact thank you very much.

Bear in mind that, if we breached fellow-members’ trust, we’d go down in history, not only as evil idiots, but also as irony personified. Myows would be stuffed. What a waste… even if we were the bad guys.

Which. Of course. We’re not.

The question essentially is this: because USCO is available to US users and certain rights are exclusively granted to parties that register their work with this authority, what is the point of using Myows? Here’s my opinion on the matter.

Myows was started as an effective response to the problem of growing copyright infringement globally – especially due to increased internet penetration and the resulting ease with which work can be stolen, copied and sold online.

In most countries, copyright is automatically assumed by the author when an original work is created. When two parties dispute copyright in a particular work, the arbitrator or judge looks at the evidence provided by both and decides accordingly to whom the copyright belongs.

The US is the only country, to my knowledge, that allows for the registration of copyrightable material but this does not require the registration thereof in order to claim copyright in the US – a common misconception.

Parties who have not registered their work with USCO still have the same essential rights as those who do so but with a two key exceptions:

- If your case lands up in a US court, you will be presumed to be the owner of the work if it was registered with USCO and the burden of proof would then rest with the other party to show that the copyright does, in fact, not lie with you.If the other party can prove that they were the original creator, then your rights – even as an USCO registered creator – will fall away, unless you could prove that the other party ceded their rights to you.

- Should they win their case, users of USCO will be able to claim punitive damages in addition to other damages. However, a non-USCO user would still be able to issue an injunction against unauthorized infringement and claim for loss of income if commercial loss can be established.

Bear in mind that these differences only become relevant if a dispute is escalated to full-blown litigation which is both expensive and time consuming and is not really feasible for many creators (especially those who consistently produce larger quantities of work).

USCO registration will likely have no bearing on cases involving cross-border copyright theft where at least one party is not a citizen of (or registered in) the US.

Myows is primarily a management app.

The protection facility is a very important part of the offering presented to the Myows community but it forms part of a wider management function.

Sure, Myows creates valid and valuable evidence for you, but it also stores and arranges your evidence along with the original files (of all kinds). The service goes way beyond registration.

Myows allows you to organize all of your copyrightable material along with associated licenses, releases and cases past and present.

Myows also gives you access to legal templates, provides you with sound legal information and helps you follow the correct procedural steps when dealing with infringements, assisting in ensuring that you are in compliance with the law.

The scope of the app will eventually extend beyond even this (for example: suggesting dispute resolution options and putting you in touch with legal advice in your area). These functions are clearly outside the ambit of USCO, they are also not at odds with USCO’s services.

Myows is free and instant.

Basic USCO registration takes a while to process and costs $35 minimum. You could also end up paying for other sundry items thereafter (Issuance of a receipt for a sec 407 deposit = $30).

If you write 3 blog articles a day or take 50 new pics a month and you want to register them with the government office, it’s going to cost you serious time and money. Myows saves you both and it is easy and enjoyable to use, whilst still creating genuine and useful evidence.

Essentially, USCO and Myows are not mutually exclusive

To be honest, if I were based in the US I would upload all my work to my Myows account. Then, when I created something very unique and valuable with an imminent and high threat of theft, I would also register that work with USCO.

And what would I do with my proof of USCO registration? I’d save it with the corresponding work on Myows of course.

Find out more about USCO at: http://www.copyright.gov/

* Footnote: Myows has been designed, in part, to represent a global copyright savvy community.

It is an app as well as a movement and we need as much support as possible if we are to achieve our goal of empowering creators and reducing the incidence of online copyright. Strength in numbers is also something to think about here if the idea appeals to you too!

In Part 3 of the series on Copyright Basics for Graphic Designers, I will look at some of the main issues that arise when you take your work online and how you can continue to protect your copyright while exploring new ways of sharing your work with a wider audience.

The internet is not public domain

One of the first myths about content on the internet is that it is free for everyone to use, copy and share. This is a dangerous misconception which can lead to some messy disputes.

Take a recent example of a photographer who found that a mainstream UK newspaper had used one of his photos on the popular photo-sharing website, Flickr, without his permission. Although the photographer had clearly posted a notice on his Flickr page that “all rights were reserved”; the newspaper still assumed that because Flickr was a free-to-use website, it hosted public domain content which was free for anyone to use.

Although the dispute was ultimately resolved with an apology and payment of the necessary usage fee, it highlights that even a national newspaper that works with copyright law everyday was misinformed about what they could or could not do with online content.

Despite the photographer’s copyright notice being overlooked in this case, placing clear notification next to your work and/or on every webpage that it appears on is still recommended good practice. Doing so prevents others from arguing that they didn’t know the material was copyrighted (like the newspaper in the example above).

It is also important that you assert your copyright clearly in the terms and conditions on your website, stating what can and cannot be done with your content. Include a non-waiver clause too which basically states that nothing you do should be construed as a waiver of your copyright.

Search using thumbnails

There have been a number of cases since the advent of the internet on whether using thumbnail versions of protected images without permission for web search purposes constitutes copyright infringement.

If you remember from Part 1 that copyright is only infringed when a substantial portion of a work has been copied, the question is then whether a thumbnail is regarded as a substantial copy of the original work? In the case of Perfect 10 vs Google, the search giant was providing thumbnail images of Perfect 10’s models amongst its image search results. Perfect 10 claimed that its copyright in the images was being infringed.

Perfect 10’s claim was upheld in the lower courts but rejected on appeal. The appeal court stated that a thumbnail on its own was not a substantial copy. However, the court did add that if the thumbnail linked to a full-size copy of the same image, there would be copyright infringement.

Creative Commons licensing

Copyright holders have traditionally shared their work with others in very restrictive ways, i.e. either by assignment or proprietary licensing (see Part 2). However, with the digital revolution and, in particular, the explosion of the social media phenomenon, content users want more freedom to adapt and share content with each other.

If you want others to freely share your work online, whether as a form of marketing or simply because you are being magnanimous, there are a number of new, more “open” licensing models you can use to distribute your work. The best known and most widely used of these new licenses is the Creative Commons licenses.

Again, many people think that work published under a Creative Commons license is essentially a waiver of copyright. This is incorrect. The licensor still asserts copyright over the licensed work, but grants further freedoms to others to share, adapt and redistribute the work under the license.

The distinction can be drawn between licensed content and content which is or has been placed in the public domain. Public domain content is available to everyone and no copyright vests in the work. This is the mistake that was made by the newspaper in the example above.

Creative Commons (CC) has six main license types, each type with its own level of restrictiveness. The restrictions (or lack thereof) are based on 4 concepts: attribution (crediting the original creator); share-alike (sharing derivative works under identical licence terms); non-commercial purposes (allow rights but not to make money) and no-derivative works (redistribute and use actual work but don’t make changes).

The six main license types are:

1. Attribution

This license lets others basically do what they want with your work (including make money from it): provided they credit you for the original work in a way that suits you.

2. Attribution Share-Alike

This license again grants all the same rights (including commercial use): provided the user credits you and licences any new works under the identical terms.

3. Attribution No Derivatives

This license allows your work to be redistributed (including commercially), but it cannot be changed and it must be credited to you.

4. Attribution Non-Commercial

This license lets others do what they want with your work provided it is not for commercial purposes and you are properly credited.

5. Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike

This license grants all rights to others, provided they enjoy them for non-commercial purposes only, they licence any derivative works under identical terms, and you are properly credited for the original work.

6. Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

This license only allows others to download your works and share them, provided proper credit is given to you. The original work cannot be changed or used commercially.

Lauded for their user friendliness and the welcome absence of legalese, Creative Commons licenses are very en vogue at the moment – used in over 180 million web pages on the internet. However designers who want to try them out should read the actual license terms carefully to make sure they choose the one best suited for them.

Creative Commons has done a lot of work to make sure that their licenses can be adapted for most jurisdictions. Although there have only been a small number of cases around the world involving these licenses, there should be no problem with enforcing the license terms as you would any other contract.

There is no doubt that the internet and other digital platforms offer new and exciting ways to get your work out there. But remember to look before you leap!

This situation can come about for a number of cases

One example is when an unscrupulous third party is involved. For instance, a respectable company may hire a shifty “designer” to design a new logo and end up with copied work which they end up trying to defend a few years later by suing the actual owner.

Another possible scenario is subconscious copying. On a small level we all unknowingly copy parts of each other’s ideas, ‘looks’ and styles every day, the question here is where to draw the line and the law is usually pretty specific about that.

But perhaps the greatest cause of these confusingly common “perp-free” cases is simply that sometimes two people come up with bizarrely similar work at the same time. No!… Yes! Why?

Because 1) There is nothing new under the sun and 2) we all operate in the same or similar Zeitgeist* especially in today’s globalised and online world.

It’s also becoming far easier to find similar work because of the sheer number of creative’s operating on the web.

Your next great piece of copy is a result of your inspiration and approach that, in a global world, may be frighteningly similar to mine. And your resulting work may be too (especially if it’s simple work  – a four word payoff line or a clean, simple logo or name).

If you’re at the edge of your art/science, look to the left and right of you. You’re not alone. It’s possible that others are stepping on remarkably similar territory, coming from the same collective sources of inspiration, solving the same problems, developing at similar speeds, and approaching their crafts using the same tools and methods. Remember Nylon? Invented, so the story goes, in New York and London separately but simultaneously.

Take for example the proliferation of ‘love brands’ three years ago. Love was, very literally, in the air: Love your skin^TM, love yourself ^TM, juice is love ^TM, we are love ^TM, I’m lovin’ it^TM . love love love… grey is the new black, yellow is the new grey. Then there were the three word payoff lines: simpler, better, faster ^TM; today, tomorrow, together ^TM, “word, word, word”.

Recycling is in (so too is brown paper and energy saving ‘dark sites’), bling is out… oh no wait, it’s back in. Illustrator has a new gradient plug-in, the word “unfriend” has just been added to the dictionary.

Design, writing, photography, all of the creative arts sit on a greater platform called zeitgeist and as we develop together similar ideas and work emerges from entirely disparate sources. It happens.

Now bear in mind that blatant copyright infringements are also commonplace

The danger of the whole zeitgeist thing is that it can be branded about as an excuse.

Naughty naughty.

But in cases such as these, more so than in any other, it boils down to WHO WAS FIRST. See where I’m going with this? And remember my zeitgeist take on things is just my take on things – perhaps another of the subjective tirades I seem to be so fond of. But then again, perhaps you’ve had mysteriously similar thoughts yourself? Perhaps we’re standing together at the cutting edge of copyright philosophy? Perhaps you yourself are a writer and you’ve written/are writing a little piece similar to this yourself? Maybe it’s very very similar.

Whatever the case, I’m cool with it. But be warned: if you do in fact copy me then sleep with one eye open. I’ve already uploaded this article on Myows.com and I WILL take you down.

*Zeitgeist roughly translates to “the spirit of the time”. See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist

In Part 1 of our series of articles on copyright for graphic designers, I introduced you to the basics of copyright – what it is, how it can be infringed and how to protect it.

In Part 2, I will look at the traditional ways you can make money from your creativity.

Copyright is like a picnic basket with different goodies inside. You may not want everyone to share everything in your basket, and instead you want to limit what they can and cannot do with your copyright. For example: you may allow one person to publish your work as is, while allowing another to adapt it and publish a new version.

You can also grant the same rights to people in different countries or geographical areas where you have copyright or give all of your rights away to one person who enjoys your copyright throughout the world.

Finally, you can limit the time period in which people can enjoy your rights. Think of the software you use and the annual subscription fees you pay to renew your licence rights.

There are 2 recognised legal ways you can grant rights in your work to others:

1.    By assignment; or

2.    By license.

Assignment

Assignments are basically like the sale of your copyright to someone else. For as long as the person you assigned your rights to (the assignee) enjoys your rights, you cannot exercise them. The assignee is the new holder of the copyright and they, in turn, can assign or licence the rights onto someone else. If someone unlawfully infringes the copyright, it is the assignee who must enforce it.

Assignments can be limited to a particular country. For example, you can assign your copyright in the UK, but still enjoy it in the US. Assignments can also be limited to a particular period of time. Once the time period ends, the copyright reverts back to you as the original holder.

A valid assignment can only be carried out if there is an underlying agreement to assign your copyright and the assignment itself is reduced to writing and signed by you. It is always a good idea to draw up a contract setting out exactly what is being assigned and specifying if there are any limitations.

You can assign your future copyright in a work still to be designed. However the assignment will only be effective once the work has been born and is vested with copyright.

If you are assigning your copyright, you will usually be able to charge a higher price because you are limiting your ability to earn money from it in other ways.

Licensing

A license is basically a promise from you, the copyright holder, not to sue the person holding the license (the licensee) when they exercise some or all of your copyright. Unlike with an assignment, you remain the owner and merely allow the licensee to exercise the right.

Copyright licensing is a bit like the design process itself – there are an infinite number of licence variations limited only by the creativity of the drafter.

Licenses can be exclusive, i.e. no-one but the licensee is allowed to enjoy the same rights for the period of the license; or non-exclusive where the same rights can be granted to various people.

Non-exclusive licenses don’t have to be in writing, and can be given verbally or even by conduct (E.g. if someone is using your work without your permission but you don’t object). Unless the license is specifically agreed to be non-revocable, you can take it away at any time. However if the terms of the license are that it is perpetual, then it cannot be terminated unless further agreement is reached or the licensee commits a breach of the license.

An exclusive license must be in writing and signed by you. If an exclusive license is not reduced to writing and signed, it becomes a non-exclusive license. The exclusive licensee has the right to take action against third parties for copyright infringement in his or her own name. Their right of action exists concurrently with your own right of action.

In Part 3 we will look at new forms of licensing which have been introduced to accommodate new ways of sharing content on the internet and across other digital platforms.

If you have any queries, leave a comment, contact Steve (steveatniccifergusondotcodotza) or post your question on the Myows Forums.

2010 starts with a BANG! We got a great review and a grand 9 out of 10 rating from the very respectable and Envato-owned AppStorm.

As usual, there’s little point in us telling you how easy Myows is to use, and how useful the act of uploading your work is, instead we’d rather you go read the review and hear how others interact with the app.

I’ll quote part of the author’s final thoughts:

The overall user experience is pretty seamless and makes handling copyright actually somewhat pleasurable (which I thought was impossible).

Thank you to Jarel Remick @appstorm for the time you took to write this very detailed article. It’s a great start to the year for everyone involved with Myows.

If you are a designer, your bread and butter is your creative work. Unfortunately, the internet and other digital technologies have made it easier for copycats to steal your work or pass it off as their own. The law of copyright is there to protect you. But if you don’t know how copyright works or how you can use it to protect your work, it is pretty useless.

In this series of articles, we hope to arm you with some working knowledge on copyright and how you can use it to protect your creative work.

What is copyright?

Without getting into the legalese, copyright is basically the right to stop other people from copying, publishing or adapting your creative work without your permission.

Looking at from the opposite angle, the owner of the copyright in an original work has the exclusive right to copy it, publish it, display it, distribute it, or make new works from it.

What is not copyrightable?

Designers need to take into account that the following items cannot be copyrighted:

-       titles, names, short phrases, and slogans;

-       familiar symbols or designs;

-       mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring;

-       mere listings of ingredients or contents

-       Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices

-       Common information such as calendars, measurement charts, TV guides

-       Government or legal documents

A number of these things may be protected by trademarks. But it will be the client, and not the designer, who will be entitled to apply for trademark protection.

If you are not sure whether your new logo design would qualify for copyright protection, consult a specialist attorney.

When do I have these rights?

Copyright comes into force as soon as you have transferred a great idea from your head to something written, drawn, doodled or typed on a pad, computer or sandstone tablet.

Do I need to register my copyright?

Registration is not a requirement for enjoying copyright protection. However in the US, registration is necessary if you want to enjoy certain benefits (presumption of copyright ownership, right to claim statutory damages) when suing a copycat in court.

What does the © do and do I need to put it on my work?

Putting a copyright notice on your work is not compulsory (unless you can use it as a new design element). But it does tell people that the work is copyrighted and prevents defendant’s from claiming innocent infringement when you sue them (damages are not payable by an innocent infringer).

Does my new creation need to be absolutely original to enjoy protection?

Your work does need to be original if you want to enjoy copyright protection. But the test for originality is not a strict one. Your work doesn’t need to be of the “never been seen or done before” kind. It simply needs to originate from you with an ounce of independent skill and effort thrown in.

Can I use someone else’s work to create a new one?

Using someone else’s work to create a new one may be copyright infringement if you don’t have that person’s permission. However, the copyright in the new work (known as a derivative work) will then be owned by both of you. You will be able to assert your rights over the new part that you created, even if you have infringed someone else’s copyright over the old part.

The distinction also needs to be drawn between copying, which negates originality, and using existing material or knowledge common to you and to other people in your industry. This common knowledge doesn’t negate originality.

If I create the work, will I always own the copyright?

The short answer is yes, but there are some exceptions. If you are employed and you design something for your employer, they will usually own the copyright.

If you are not employed but you do work for a client and agree to assign the copyright in the work to the client, you will not be the owner of the copyright.

How long does copyright last?

The term of copyright protection differs from country to country. But the rule of thumb is basically while you are alive and for 50 years after your death (70 years in the US).

Do I need to assign copyright to my clients?

This will depend on the way you offer your services or run your business. If you are designing a number of templates and licensing them to a number of people for a relatively low fee, you would want to retain your copyright. If you are designing customized brands and getting paid a lot of money for it, the client probably should be entitled to the copyright in that work.

However, the way the law is framed at the moment, if your copyright is not assigned in writing to the client, you will remain the owner. This is not common knowledge and client’s often mistakenly believe that they are automatically the owners of the work you do for them.

It is often a useful tool for getting your money by agreeing with the client that you will assign the copyright to them once they have paid your full fee.

What are the client’s rights to the work if I don’t assign them the copyright?

If there is no written assignment agreement relating to copyright ownership between you and your client, the client will generally have a licence to use your work. It will usually be implied that the licence is a non-exclusive, personal, irrevocable and royalty-free licence to use your work for as long as you enjoy copyright protection over the work.

The client does not usually have an automatic right to tamper with or change your work and they cannot sub-licence it to other people.

The best thing to do when offering your services is to present a written document to your clients setting out how you want to deal with the copyright issue. These standard terms can bring a level of certainty to your relationships with your clients and costly disputes can be avoided.

If I put my work on the internet, do I lose my copyright?

No, you will still enjoy full protection if you post your work online. Remember to put your copyright notice on the webpage containing your work just to remind people of this.

How can my copyright be infringed?

Your copyright will be infringed when someone copies or adapts a substantial part of your designs without your authority. Tests vary from country to country on what is regarded as substantial but the rule of thumb is that the substance of your work is that part that gives it its originality.

Your copyright can also be infringed by someone else who doesn’t copy or adapt your work but who distributes or makes infringing copies of your work available for sale or rent when they know that your copyright has been infringed.

What do I need to prove if I want to sue a copycat?

Outside the US where copyright registration is not used, you need to keep records of the works you create and that you created them. This should be independently verified by a third party (like Myows). Once can you can show the court that you are the owner of the copyright in the work, you must then show that there is some connection between your work and the copied version.

If you can prove that the copycat had access to your work before the copied version was created, that is half the battle won. However, the opposite also holds true. If the copycat can show that they didn’t have any access to your work and that they came up with the exact same work on their own, you will both have copyright in that work.

What defenses can be raised by the copycat?

Copycats will usually try to disprove that you are the owner of the copyright or that they came up with the work on their own. Getting independent, time-stamped evidence of when you created your work will again be an effective answer to these tactics.

Copycats often argue that, by your own actions, you have abandoned or waived your copyright in your work. It is therefore important that you remain vigilant and crack down on any infringements as soon as you discover them.

What does fair use mean?

Most countries allow limited copying, without permission, of protected work for private study, research, criticism, and news reporting. The copying needs to be fair in the sense that it should not deprive you of your rights or your ability to make money from your designs.

Most copying that happens is for commercial gain and the copycats will not be able to rely on the defence of fair use or fair dealing.

What are my legal remedies if someone copies my work?

There are a number of legal remedies you can ask the court for if you find someone has copied your designs without your authority.

1.    You can apply for an injunction (also known as an interdict) to prevent further copying or distribution of your work.

2.    You can ask the court to order the copycat to deliver-up all the infringing copies of your work.

3.    You can claim damages OR a reasonable royalty for the copies of your work that has already been made and used by the copycat.

4.    If the infringement was flagrant and you can prove that the copycat intentionally stole your design, you can ask the court to award additional punitive damages.

Can I threaten a copycat with criminal charges?

Yes, copyright infringement is also a criminal offence. Unfortunately, most countries don’t have dedicated police and court officials to deal with copyright cases. The case usually takes a while and you have no control over the process. However, criminal action may be welcome relief from the expense of bring a civil suit.

Do I need to appear personally in court to protect my copyright?

The laws of most countries allow you to bring your evidence to court in the form of an affidavit. You will only need to appear personally if the court needs you for further questioning or to provide more clarity on the evidence you presented by affidavit.

Do I have copyright protection in other countries?

You will enjoy copyright protection for your designs in most other countries who are signatories to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. The Convention guarantees protection of your rights in all countries party to the treaty at the same level as you would enjoy in your own country.

What is digital rights management (DRM)?

DRM is a technology solution to the problem of copyright infringement. Digital watermarks or disabling the right-click save mechanism for online images are two examples. International laws have been introduced to prevent DRM technologies from being hacked or circumvented in an effort to stop copyright infringement at the source.

If you have any queries, leave a comment, contact Steve (steveatniccifergusondotcodotza) or post your question on the Myows Forums.

For the 1 minute demonstration, I’m using a flyer I designed today, but it could as well be a logo, picture, or any kind of file.

The simple act of uploading my design guarantees that I have irrefutable proof of my date of possession in case an unscrupulous designer copies my work, then claims it as his own.

I could also upload sketches and source files as supporting documents, but that will be for another video!

I would love to see how you use Myows, so if you are able to record a screencast and upload it to Youtube, please let me know so I can link to it.

Other video demos

- Jonathan Bailey’s in-depth video review of Myows (12min)
- Myows tutorial videos

We’re very happy about receiving this award. The competition was fierce; but in the end our copyright protection app won!

Thank you Top Site Tally for recognizing the value Myows brings to any creator’s work. We’re also very impressed with the review you wrote, as we never imagined Myows to be like a warm blanket, but we could get used to the idea!

This award is a very important milestone in Myows’s short history. It’s vital that creators take on the habit of registering their copyrights as soon as they create Original Work, and before showing their creations to peers or clients.

To promote this habit, we need influential websites to relay our message and help us grow the community of copyright-savvy creatives.

As we accept this award, we want to thank our families, our managers… and the Academy!