if you let everyone and their mamma use your design without demanding they stop... you've lost the copyright and now its public domain.
Fresh,
If someone told you this they were misinformed. They were probably confusing copyright protection with trademark protection, which is easy to do.
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CAN YOU LOSE COPYRIGHT PROTECTION?
Copyright protection (in the US) lasts for a set period of time and then expires automatically. In the case of a single author, copyright protection lasts for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years.
You cannot lose copyright protection if others copy your work, no matter how many times it's copied. Copyright infringement does not cause a copyrighted work to fall into the public domain.
There are only two ways to lose copyright:
- You can sell it, trade it for something or give it away, just as is true of any other piece of property. And I imagine you can lose it in a poker game. You can also bequeath it to an heir in your last will, so that the copyright transfers to them when you die. And, of course, you can rent it out (license it), which is what clipart services do.
- If you don't specifically transfer it, there is only one other way to lose copyright in the US: you must die and wait 70 years.
Interestingly, if you create a work of authorship as part of your work for an employer, the employer automatically owns the copyright, except in certain cases.
Of course, a design is only protected by copyright if it meets the government's standards for copyright protection. Much of the design work we sign makers do does not qualify for copyright protection. For example, typefaces that we may design are not protected by copyright (in the US). Fonts are protected, however.
Further, designs that consist of stylized type and/or simple geometric shapes are generally not eligible for copyright protection. This means many logo designs cannot be protected by copyright.
Can a sign layout, a graphic layout, be protected by copyright?
You would think so. But read what was written by a graphic artist-turned-attorney, Linda Kattwinkel, regarding copyright protection for graphic design layouts. She wrote this a few years back while with the Graphic Artists Guild, so it's not super-new information. Have things changed much since? I don't know.
Registering Your Copyright in Graphic Design: Fighting Back if the Copyright Office Says No | Graphic Artists Guild
YOU CAN LOSE TRADEMARK PROTECTION
Trademark protection is quite different from copyright protection. Trademarks must be safeguarded or else they can be lost. If a trademark is used indiscriminately by others and goes unchallenged, it can lose trademark status. The list of trademarks that have lost protection is a long one. It includes cellophane, escalator, kerosene, linoleum and yoyo. When a protected trademark loses its protected status and becomes a common word it is called genericide. The Xerox and Google trademarks may be in danger of genericide. Some trademarks, like thermos, have lost protection in certain countries but still retain it in others. Aspirin is generic in the US but is a protected trademark in Canada and Germany.
Of course, enforcing trademark and copyright protection can be easier said than done. It is not cheap.
And a lawsuit for copyright infringement may only be initiated in federal court.
Actively protecting intellectual property favors corporations and people with money. There was talk at one time of creating a “small claims” process for copyright infringement. A study was even done by the US Copyright Office about the need for it, but I don't think anything has come of it yet.
Brad in Kansas City
