The Internet has eyes and no soul.

 

Examples of questionable design (the one on the right is the original film design)

 

Designed in 1959 by Saul Bass.

Designed in 1995 by Art Sims.

Plagiarism. Appropriation. Crowdsourcing. Inspiration. Sampling. Forgery. Homage. Rip Offs. Stealing. Remixing. Parody.

As a designer you should get to know more about these very delicate and very real legal issues. If you create all your work then you are pretty safe and actually the work is more authentic. The old saying that "everything's been done"  is perhaps true, but how you do something in your own artistic voice is what makes it your own.  
When you are designing something ask yourself if you feel as though you've seen it before.
Use your own intuition about these sort of things. In some cultures they don't have copyright laws or infringement issues so the notion of using another persons work never even comes to mind. In the USA there are laws to prevent copyright infringement and plagiarising someone's work. Lawsuits abound with just this subject. Most times a "cease and desist" letter will solve the situation before it heads to court. The web is full of endless examples of someone using work created by someone else. Because it's done doesn't make it right or legal.  

We'll talk more about this in the days ahead. Each of you have a voice that is unique. Use it to design your own work. Use it to speak out if you feel another designer is close to infringing on another person's work.  Speak up. Don't accuse. The integrity of what you are doing is more than the paycheck, the assignment and the accolades.  

If another designer or artist inspires your work then you should give credit. If you pay homage to someone then you should give credit. If you sample someone's work or music you should give credit. It doesn't make it okay. It simply acknowledges the original design and thereby showing some integrity by crediting the work.


Some places to go for more info is:

Ethics in graphic design is explored through three different lenses in this graphic designer's field guide: 1) legalities-the rules that govern the graphic design profession including copyright law, piracy, plagiarism, fair use, and photo manipulation; 2) integrity-principles of right conduct within the field of graphic design including spec work, crowdsourcing, and responsibility to clients and contracts; 3) morality-the general nature of moral choices to be made by graphic designers including sustainability, social responsibility, and cultural influence. The book includes questions for discussion at the end of each section along with a list of resources for further investigation.









You can also go online to AIGA and other places like:
/www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org

www.jennergy.com/blog/compliment-or-copying-plagiarism-how-far-is-too-far
 Article courstesy: May 2, 2012 by Jennergy  

Compliment Or Copying? Plagiarism: How far is too far?

Recently we posted a link to an article about the motorcycle gang Hells Angels suing MTV for copyright infringement on their logo. Indeed, MTV created a logo very similar to the Hells Angels logo for a reality series featuring skateboarder Rob Dyrdek. In fact, it bears a striking resemblance to the biker gang’s logo, which has been under copyright for around 50 years.
For us, this story brings to light a very relevant issue when it comes to the creative business: When does innocent inspiration turn into plagiarism, and what are the terms of copyright and trademark? According to the AIGA, the definition is as follows:

“The exclusive right to control reproduction and commercial exploitation of your creative work. Copyright protects any kind of artwork, including illustrations, photographs and graphic design. Except under certain circumstances (see “work made for hire” section), you own the copyright in your work at the moment you create it in a “fixed form of expression.”

— Source: AIGA Copyright basics for graphic designers

In a nutshell, anything you create, you own unless you sell your exclusive rights. So unless someone has permission from the creator of something, they have no right to use it and call it their own. This means that if a person uses your creative property without your consent or permission, you can sue them for copyright infringement.

But at what point does something cross over into this territory? A good rule of thumb is three points. If a logo shares three strong similarities or three of the same things (such as color, typeface, imagery), it’s safe to say that it crosses the line into copyright infringement. Another good rule of thumb is whether it confuses people when they see it. Do they immediately think of another company when they look at the logo, or do they associate it strongly with something that it wasn’t intended to represent? If so, even if the mark isn’t blatant plagiarism, it represents something other than what was intended.

Avoiding a messy legal situation may be as easy as doing a web search for logos, making sure that yours isn’t identical to one that already exists, asking people who know nothing about logo design what your image says to them, or even just asking yourself. Usually issues of possible copyright infringement are obvious to someone, whether it’s the designer themselves, or even a random person who sees the mark.

While it may be okay to draw from someone else’s idea, any creative professional knows that stealing another person’s creative property isn’t cool, and most try to avoid it at all costs. In the end, if you design a logo, website, or any piece of creative material that comes under suspicion of plagiarism, or even worse, the center of a lawsuit, it’s bad. It’s bad for your client and their business reputation, worse for your company, and even worse for the designer. It never pays to steal someone else’s work, and most people don’t want to. It just may take a bit of extra research and creative ingenuity (that’s what we do, right?) to ensure your work is indeed your own.


UPDATE:
You decide if it is plagiarism or not. This is an actual situation that happened recently.

This above was "created" by the designer.

This was found on Shutterstock.

Student "Created" this Typeface

Found typeface on Shutterstock of Papercraft.

Student "created" this design in their portfolio

Found Design on another template-based website.

plagiarism and appropriation

Plagiarism in graphic design means the unauthorized use or close imitation of existing artwork and the representation of it as one’s own original work.
Appropriation refers to the direct taking over into a work of art of a real object or even an existing work of art. The practice can be traced back to the Cubist collages and constructions of Picasso and Georges Braque made from 1912 on, in which real objects such as newspapers were included to represent themselves. In the 1980s Sherrie Levine reproduced as her own work other works of art, including paintings by Claude Monet and Kasimir Malevich. Her aim was to create a new situation, and therefore a new meaning or set of meanings, for a familiar image. Appropriation art raises questions of originality, authenticity and authorship.
- See more at: http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/legalities/plagiarism-and-appropriation/#sthash.0nz9UeFQ.dpuf