Code of fair practice in multimedia business is an ethical order agreed
by both multimedia designers and clients.
It is very important to know when working with multimedia designers
or companies to avoid misunderstandings between designers and clients.
This article will cover common misunderstandings in the multimedia business.
Questions and Answers (QnA) Regarding Code Of Fair Practice
Below are frequently asked questions regarding the code of fair practice in the multimedia works:
Should the designer or multimedia company
provide a source file to the client?
Source files of multimedia works are intellectual property.
Frequently the clients think that they have the right to source files
because they already pay for the work.
This is a common misunderstanding in the multimedia business.
Clients have the right to the final result but not the source file.
Under U.S. copyright law, the designer or multimedia companies
are the authors and copyright owners of the works.
As the copyright owner, multimedia designer or company have exclusive
rights under copyright law. Copyright can’t be transferable automatically.
Both parties have to sign a written contract about transferring copyright owner.
Copyright exclusive rights cover rights to make and distribute copies of the work,
publicly display the work and do derivative works based on it.
So, the designer or multimedia company should not provide the source file to the client
in order to prevent the creation of derivative works unless they have a written contract about it.
Can designer or multimedia companies
use the works on their portfolio?
As the author of the works based on U.S. copyright law,
the Designer or multimedia has the right to display the designs in the Designer’s portfolio and website.
The author may use it as public promotion for their service.
Can designers or multimedia company
digitally signed their work?
The designer or multimedia company has the right to digitally signed or write their name
on their multimedia work.
Even though clients buy their service,
the Designer or the multimedia company are still the authors of that multimedia works.
Designer or multimedia companies deserve to receive recognition for their intellectual artwork.
They are allowed to put their digital sign at the bottom of the explainer video or at the end of the video.
Proper credit should be given to the author of the works.
How if the designer’s or multimedia company’s work
continued by other parties?
Multimedia works are protected by copyright law.
Any form of reproducing, modifying, and distributing without written
permission is against copyright law.
Continuing other artist’s work can be classified as reproducing and modifying.
But, we can continue other designer work with permission from them.
Those are what we need to know when working with artists
or multimedia companies to clear all of the misconceptions regarding multimedia works.
Author Bio:
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company.
He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email: andre@breadnbeyond.com
LinkedIn: Andre Oentoro
