Moodboards and references

Member lesson

The difference between reference and plagiarism

Lesson 6 of 10 in Moodboards and references.

Lesson

Copyright protects expression rather than ideas, which is the whole distinction in one sentence. Taking the idea of photographing a product from directly above is free. Rebuilding a specific photograph with your client's product in it is not, however much you changed the colour.

An ink drawing of a translucent product photograph lying over a reference photograph on a light box, their outlines matching, while a designer leans back looking worried.
A new shot laid over its reference lines up almost exactly.
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Check what stuck

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Members answer these 3 questions and keep the ticket for this lesson. Every lesson has one.

  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Taking an idea and doing something else with it. How every field advances.”

    • Aspiration
    • Mixed signal
    • Influence
    • Attachment
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Reproducing the expression rather than the idea. Legally and professionally different.”

    • Decomposition
    • Transferable
    • Copying
    • Substantial similarity
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The test in copyright. Roughly: would an ordinary observer say it was taken.”

    • Substantial similarity
    • Copying
    • Aspiration
    • Mixed signal

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