Hi everyone, looking for a bit of advice - I just got this from my old boss
It’s come to our attention that you’re using XXXXXXXXXXX portfolio on your own website XXXXXXXXXX. Obviously you designed the work whilst employed by XXXXXXXXXXX but this work fully and solely belongs to XXXXXXXXXXX as this work was done by you for clients of XXXXXXXXXXX when you were an employee of XXXXXXXXXXX; and can’t be passed off as being work owed and/or worked on by another company/entity without prior agreement with us.
We would request that you take down references to XXXXXXXXXXX Intellectual Property on your website; namely [references to names of projects]
We have no problem you making reference to the fact that you worked for XXXXXXXXXXX and were responsible for any of the designs / web projects you were involved in when working for XXXXXXXXXXX; but this is too much; as it looks from this as though XXXXXXXXXXX designed and developed the projects and not XXXXXXXXXXX who in fact did do the work (notwithstanding the fact that you designed the work whilst employed by XXXXXXXXXXX).
Can you come back to me at your earliest convenience with a response
This really seems highly irregular. I have no problem saying I made them while under his employment, but as for not being allowed to put them in my portfolio? That would be, in my opinion, a dick move.
I guess it depends. IF your portfolio site was only used for the sole purpose of just being a portfolio, then I would say you are perfectly fine, but if you are using as a commerce site to sell your work, then you might be on tricky ground.
It all depends on the contract you signed when you worked for them, but what I would do, is put a refenece on the ones you did while working for them. Like “Designed while employed at: xxxxxxxxx” (don’t use a url tho, just the company name). Then unless you signed over ALL rights when you hired on, you should be fine.
Its kind of like 3D designers, and developers posting about the Games they worked on, while employed in a studio, in their portfolio.
Over all, I would say you are within your legal rights. (without seeing the site, and how its posted, I would say 100%).
Unfortunately, I’ve been there and your boss is right. You were an employee, and the work belongs to the company… you can’t show it without their permission.
Why not take them down for the moment, and talk to your former employer. They already gave you an opening. Try to come to a mutually acceptable form of including these sites in your portfolio.
That’s pretty lame, but also understandable as you did do all of it under his employment. However, I would also suggest discussing with him what he deems appropriate (referencing their original source, etc.) I think it’s perfectly fine to have these in a portfolio as long as you have acquired other items for your personal portfolio so that it doesn’t seem like you are just taking material used for your previous employer.
molona - Based on your previous posts about copyright issues, I am surprised you are siding with the employer. After all, these assets are being reproduced digitally and there appears to be no loss or damage to the copyright owner. So, like with movies and music shouldn’t the person be able to use that material? Why do copyright laws suddenly matter again in this circumstance?
I have to side with the OP on this one. A portfolio is the same as a resume. Using images of the work(screenshots) he did regardless of where he worked, is legal. If it is a true portfolio, then a refernce to the company he worked for would be in order, but he does NOT need permission to post them. Just like a Video Game artist will post images of the work he has done, and it is legal for him to do so. Usually a reference to the game/and or the studio is also included, so if I was the OP, that’s all I would do.
If you were working there as an employee then the lack of a contract simply means that they own everything you did while working for them and you have no rights to it whatsoever. As an employee you’d need a contract if you wanted to have any rights to use the work at all.
The situation would be different if you were not an employee as then you and not the company would own the original copyright.
If he is not presenting it as copyrighted material, then he has the right to show off work he completed.
By that I mean, if he is not claiming it is HIS, then he can put it in a portfolio… I think you all are forgetting he said portfolio. That is the same as a resume.
Thaat is completely false. You are not allowed to use anything that you do not own the copyright to unless you have the permission of the copyright owner, it is out of copyright in the public domain, or you are using just a small fraction of it under fair use provisions. Just because you don’t claim to own it doesn’tyou any right to use it whatever. In the case of a web page you’d be able to copy small portions of it under fair use (perhaps a sentence or two or a few code fragments) but to display a copy of the entire page or a significant portion of the page would require that you have written permission from the owner.
In this case the owner has declined permission and so the displayed pages are effectively stolen goods. Just because it is a resume or portfolio doesn’t change the fact that those pages have been stolen from their owner. That it is a portfolip would provide a reason to apply fair use in presenting a small portion of a page to show that you know how to achieve a given effect.
The complaint is misrepresentation of which company delivered the work. Perhaps you can please your former boss by crediting his company for those projects in the portfolio?
[ot]I’m not going to start a debate here, sagewing, the case is completely different and although every single business has similarities to other businesses, you simply can’t compare.
The company that hired him may have loss of business if someone else claims to be the owner of the design. So you have two differences: a) there is a possible and direct loss of cash b) there’s a claim of ownership.
Please, keep it on topic and don’t drive this to an old debate. That time passed ;)[/ot]
I dunno…I think its okay if its only a small portion and I am not sure why you can not say “it’s your work” but you don’t own it. It’s like designing something and selling it to someone. Can’t you say in your portfolio that you did that particular design?
