Diary of a Wedding Planner:Brain Copyright
Wednesday 2 May 2012
Dear Diary,Brain Copyright
I saw an article written, where Mrs. Majekodunmi, the M.D. of Newton and David, one of Nigeria's finest event designers, was interviewed in the Wedding Planner Magazine, talking about intellectual property rights. A job that was done by her company was acknowledged to someone else. She actually said it there that she cried and she is not afraid to say she did, that she is only human.
I can feel her pain. The other day I opened a wedding book and several pictures of wedding decor designs were published without kudos to the companies that designed them. The truth is that I would have prefered if none of my designs were used, because as my staff say "M.A. (a nickname they have given me from my initials), that's our sweat".
Unfortunately, i don't know about anywhere else in the world but it's a natural occurrence in this part of the world. In our industry, people pass off other people's work as theirs. It's been done;make up, wedding cakes, wedding decor, rentals, marquee...
Another thing we do also, is when we see what we like as brides, we take a picture or copy it from the Internet and then look for someone who can replicate it. Why do we do that? Why can't you just find the original designer.
All I can say is , it really hurts, that I can't stop this act in the industry but really really, dear diary, it hurts.
5 comments:
Reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! Nija 4 show. Am not surprised
serious!!!!!!! av got a reliable lawyer. lol. but really, cant such people be sued? such issues should be checked!
Molara,guess wot?I saw dat handbook and recognised some of ur designs immediately,checked 2 see if u were mentioned but was shocked dat jw events was nt given krdt.Sad story,never mind though,u do fantastic decor nd am always proud of u.
M.A. I think there needs to be a distinction between using another designer's work as inspiration/ starting point for a decor plan/mood board and fraudulently passing off someone else's work as one's own.
I should also point out that the copyright actually belongs to the PHOTOGRAPHER and NOT the 'artist/designer/model/decorator' as the case may be. I do feel your pain especially when it's done by those who REALLY should know better. That said, we are in a country where exam malpractice is the norm and everyone is out for shortcuts to riches and fame... why would this be any different?
Finally someone dares to talk about this. I would say this: It is not uncommon amongst artist's that works are copied, duplicated and even passed off as the real thing. Almost every work of art including precious stones have been faked out at some point. I do agree as a designer it is extremely disappointing to see this done repeatedly without recourse. On the 1 hand you are somewhat flattered that someone would copy your design as this means you are doing something good right? On the other hand you are enraged that someone has the audacity to claim your original idea and pass it off as theirs. I am almost at a loss for words because this reaches beyond just design, sometimes even the wordings like your tag line is ripped off. I am sure somewhere out there there is another company that calls themselves the WOW Factor Planners. SMH ( Shaking My Head).
What I have done in the past is contact the vendor privately to resolve and correct the matter and lately I have secured legal counsel to escalate the issue. The truth is that there are copyright laws and we must remove sentiments and begin to protect our businesses. This is a livelihood and the difference between a client calling you or not may just be that photo of the event you never got credit for. There are other things I could go on about but let's start there 1st.
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