About three months ago I was asked to do some creative marketing work to be used at my local office. Apparently the requests made by the employees to our regional marketing department were falling on deaf ears so they turned to me. I came up with something and they loved it. They are still using it today.
The office manager and the general manager at my office were so pleased that they both sent copies of my work to marketing to see what they thought. Apparently they didn’t like it because neither of them ever heard anything from them.
I was speaking with the office manager yesterday and she told me to check out the latest flyers from marketing. I reluctantly approached the table that displayed the flyers only to find marketing material that looks suspiciously similar to my work.
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery but I am not sure if I should be flattered or bent. Is it common practice to steal someone else’s work?
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Get used to it, man. They say there are no original ideas and I think it’s pretty true.
I’ve seen some of my exact ads out there with different logos. I’ve learned to not worry about it. On the same hand, some of my best designs have been combinations of several existing designs.
And I bet if we looked, we could find someone who had done what you did before. But yeah, it is very annoying having someone in the same company do it.
Comment by Chad Wright March 20, 2008 @ 5:59 pmThat does not sound kosher. If you have witnesses to your work, you could make an issue of it.
Also, in the future, do not submit anything without documenting what you summited and getting a receipt.
What you are describing is plagiarism. So you could have legitimate grounds for a grievance. These people have probably done this before an gotten away with it. If there is a way to object to this, I would do it.
marianne
Comment by Marianne March 22, 2008 @ 7:06 pmhttp://heavenawaits.wordpress.com/