Mashable abuses contestant submissions for commercial gain Mar21 '08

Creative theft can take many forms. Logos are particularly susceptible to being copied. Even creative "catch phrases" can be copied. This I learned today from Kevin M. Keating, who's t-shirt designs are now being sold without his consent.

Oh, but wait! These aren't my designs at all! What in God's name is Arial Rounded doing in the place of Myriad Pro in some of them?

That's right. Mashable used his designs, but simply changed the font to avoid problems. More specifically, the phrases used in the designs were copied - but since the font was changed, many legal agreements fly out the window.

But unfortunately, there are no legal agreements to speak of. The only information that Mashable made clear was what the winners would receive in return for having the best design.

And Kevin didn't win. However, his designs were still used after the fact to sell merchandise - all without his consent.

I don't know much about copyright law, but it appears that, unless explicitly agreed otherwise, Mashable can reproduce Kevin's work in any format they choose. However, I'm not sure if that means they can also sell it. After all, it's not so much his work is being reproduced without his consent - it's the fact that it's being reproduced for commercial gain. This is just plain wrong.

Regardless - this should be a warning for designers and creative artists everywhere. Be careful where/how you make unique creative submissions. You never know how they will be used, even if you're not the winner - especially if you're not the winner. (If you are the winner, you expect your submission to be reproduced.)

Kevin may not feel great about this, but he should take consolation that his designs are being used in a widely distributed fashion, even though he's not being properly compensated for it.

And Mashable... well, that's just cold.

UPDATE: Adam from Mashable posted an apology on Kevin's blog. And it sounds like Mashable did not change the font. Rather, it was changed by Zazzle, the company who created the shirts.

So Mashable was going to submit exact clones of Kevin's work? This still doesn't explain things, but an apology and an offer to remove the merchandise is acceptable.

Categories: Design , Legal , Mashable

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