Plagiarism

Alejandro Limon suggested some of the students to explore the possibilities of manufacturing some of the cardboard chairs. I agree that at least two of them may be feasible to build and sell. So, Mariana approached me to ask about copyright, how to put a watermark on their pictures and in general about how to protect intellectual property without being sacked by the manufacturer or reseller. This issue is complicated and might take several posts, but I'll try to give you some tips.

Start by looking at the web site of the relevant intellectual property office in your country: IMPI , IPONZ, etc. They all have information about patents, trade marks, etc. Look in which category falls what you want to register... and think if you really need (or are rightfully accredited to get) a patent or if you only need to register your design. Some works do not even require registration to be protected, some others have limited protection, etc. This varies from country to country due to local legislation... but the main licensing is almost the same everywhere.


To show your design ideas to prospective manufacturers, clients, etc with some peace of mind, you might want to ask the other party to sign a "confidentiality agreement" or "non disclosure agreement" ... there are some templates available at inventors.about.com , at patent cafe, or you can write your own, or google'it.

I recommend also to have a look at the intellectual property notices by creative commons... you can use those to protect specific parts of your work, and leave others to public use such as reproduction or modifications. You can choose the kind of restrictions or rights you wish to keep and give. Many authors are using such licences and there's also a search engine to look after work under each class for others to use and share. Great idea!

More on this subject later.

ciao