What would you do if another company’s sign drawings came across your desk attached with a request for your bid? Have you marked up your work with copyright agreements to also now include dispute policies in case things are better decided in court?

Certain ethical and legal topics were discussed on Thursday, October 10, in Dublin, Calif., where the California Sign Association (CSA) hosted its first educational seminar of the 2019-2020 year.

CSA’s Legal Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Jeff Aran presented the seminar, examining various legal protections afforded to professional businesses by state and federal laws that help in situations where creative ideas and services are presented, and what these protections look like in a world that extends to the Internet.

Aran started by giving seminar attendees an in-depth look at everyday terms, like copyright, trademark, service mark and trade dress. Certain parallels would be noticed between our customers’ company names, slogans, colors and design, to our signmaking of those entities, and how they work together and independently.

He defined supporting statutes, like The Lanham Act and the Model State Trademark Law, which bridge any gaps from state to local, or from state to federal.

Next, Aran also presented the group with examples of real-world application to further illustrate how legal problems have actually panned out in court cases when it came to copyright infringement, plagiarism and questions of fair use found in marketing and advertising cases.

Other unfair practices, like attribution fails, were examined in context of content sharing, or use in company brochures or other publications considered for commercial use, like a company’s social media profile. Certain misuse may not only be perceived to lessen the quality and value of a company’s profile and credibility, whether offline or online, but some of it may also be illegal, depending on the situation.

The seminar went on to introduce related laws that are on the horizon for 2020, such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

In conclusion, while criminal enforcement and civil suits can be tried, Aran offered a number of action steps to ensure our businesses are in the best legal shape, for our own sake, and for the sake of our industry.

Some of those action steps are:

• Policing our own work, such as updating our company websites with copyright agreements, notices and dispute policies.
• Including service agreements in our designs that would define the use of the work and by whom.
• Giving two-tier pricing – one price for the whole project, and another one just for the design – to help clear certain dilemmas.
• Searching the trademark database for accurate use of a customer’s design.
• Including permission notices in our contracts allowing the right to show finished or completed works, and stating having those permissions, to be clear.

Aran will present this educational seminar again on January 7, 2020, at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Members in the Southern California area are encouraged to attend with any questions, and all members can also contact our legal counsel directly for consultation.

Barbara Navarro

Barbara has been Communications Director for San Pedro Electric Sign Company since 1989. SPESCO is a full service custom sign manufacturer. She received her BA in Journalism, Public Relations from California State University-Long Beach, graduating in 2011. Barbara is currently 1st Vice President of the California Sign Association.