Cardies encouraged to sign intellectual property charter
Copying of greeting card designs has been in the news recently, so British IP Day has come at an opportune time to support designers and artists’ intellectual property rights.
Celebrated on Wednesday, 12 July, British IP Day was first established by the Alliance For IP to celebrated the role intellectual property plays in UK culture and economics as it’s at the heart of all design, art and technology.
Supported by Anti Copying In Design (ACID), the membership trade organisation committed to raising awareness about IP within the creative industries, the group said: “If IP is not respected and protected, then innovation is stifled, and growth will diminish.
“It is difficult to imagine a service, product or activity which is not IP dependent. IP matters, providing solutions and enriching our lives. IP-rich industries are critical to the UK’s growth strategy and its protection against infringement a priority.”
And to mark British IP Day this year, ACID is inviting everyone who cares about IP ownership to sign its charter recognising the outstanding designers who deserve respect, ethics, and compliance in design.
“I co-founded ACID 25 years ago because, as a designer, all our products were stolen when they were launched,” explained the organisation’s ceo Dids Macdonald OBE. “So, for British Intellectual Property Day, the entire ACID team are giving a shout out to UK designers to support intellectual property ethics, respect, and compliance by signing up to our ACID IP Charter.”
ACID’s key objectives are protection, deterrence and education, working towards a safer commercial trading framework, enabling originators to fully exploit and maximise their IP rights, and the association counts many greetings publishers among its members, able to make use of its IP Databank for dated evidence of an original design’s existence, and legal advice.
Christine Dunford, designer at Triclimb, added: “As an ACID Ambassador and designer, for me, the most important message about IP on British Intellectual Property Day is that a change of culture is needed.
“There is a recurring narrative that it’s okay to steal original designs, written by those who habitually copy. At present, if someone steals your design or work there is a long, costly and stressful journey to enforce your IP rights made extremely difficult by the larger well-resourced thieves of this world, coupled with an extremely complex set of design laws.
“I would appeal to all designers to play your part, join the ACID community and sign the ACID IP Charter, which simply calls for IP respect, compliance, and ethics.”
The ACID IP Charter can be signed free of charge here.
