Copyright

Theft of your work.
We have ideas and we use these ideas to sell work and products. When we produce something good we want to put it out there and show it off to people on social media etc.
E.g. logotheif, clearly using the same logo but slightly altering it.
If you're going to steal it, steal it right. Do a good job of it.



As creatives when we see an idea we like we visually store them without even realising which can result in accidentally copying an already existing logo.

What to do if you see your work being used?
Contact the people who are using it, suggest in a polite manor that they are using your work.
If they deny plagiarism then it is a breach of copyright.
Your work should be copyrighted, it doesn't cost money and you do not need to register it. Always cover yourself and add a copyright symbol to work as well as always saving your files after the work is produced to prove when the work was originally working.
They must have written permission which states they can use your work, without this it is illegal.
When working on placement/ on an internship things differ. Anything that is made by you on their time, in their studio then it is owned by them. Even if you are freelance and working in someone else studio space.
Never breach copyright, it can cost you a lot of money and reputation.
If you forget to put a copyright symbol on your work, it doesn't matter. It is still yours.
Another idea is to email yourself the work to again prove when you originally made it.
A lot of clients/ people think that if images are on the internet then they are free. They will try photoshop the watermark off.
Things don't fall out of copyright until 70 years after the artist's death.
Facts cannot be copyrighted, neither can conceptual ideas that haven't been expressed in a  tangible form.
You also own the rights of reproduction, e.g. your logo being printed on other merchandise or promotional materials.
Clients will say that because they've paid the bill, they own everything which isn't true. You own the copyright until you sign it over to them.
There's no real reason to hold onto the copyright unless you don't trust the client.
In the UK it is not enough to be sent to jail for, however it is in the US.
Music has the same, however instead of copyright they use phonographic.

useful info:
http://www.copyrighthub.org