|
I enjoy the messages and questions that come across the LISTSERV of the Society of Marketing Professional Services. One person recently asked this question:
“Anyone willing to share information or provide a resource for information about copyright or use of image or articles (such as google, etc.)?”
This is typically a legal question. And while it would be great to get a lawyers perspective on this question, Scott Braley gave an experienced-based guideline on using photographs in your proposals and marketing materials. I kind of felt like his response should be archived somewhere.
Here is what he said:
“Hello:
To put my comments in perspective - 29+ years in AEC practice in multi-discipline firms, Managing Principal in international AE and CM/PM firm, 20 years as AEC consultant (overlapping - I'm not 101 years old). Worked with 325+ firms in consulting role .....
With that as background ...
First and foremost - the key is honesty, good intention and limited/focused use of materials. Always give appropriate attribution to the source. No one is going to be put off or think less of you if you indicate the source of your photo material. Every (well, most) magazines attribute cover photo credits, photo credits in advertisements, etc. Simply do the same in your proposals. It is quite easy to add a line attributing photo credit.
The other important key is to check for limitations on use of the photos. We want people to respect our copyrights, let's fully respect theirs.
Copyright - copyright all of your own work. Simply put the phrase "copyright _____ (year) by ____________________ (firm name). All rights reserved." In this manner you have your intellectual and other property copyrighted. This is the speed bump for honest folk. If you have genuinely and highly valuable intellectual property, take a separate copyright action and register the product (costs legal fees in hundreds not thousands).
Others' copyright - if others have copyrighted material you may have two options. One, if there is no prohibition on use, you can simply reference or use the material with their name and copyright noted. If there is a prohibition of use, you must contact them first and get permission to use.
Always confirm the permission in writing. Think about college papers, rules for use of copyrighted material apply in a similar manner.
Use of Photos and alternate sources - most architectural photography is copyrighted and use limited by the professional photographer. If no photographer is noted, you may wish to do a google image search to trace the photographer. Also there are many, many open source photo sources. Many have been identified in earlier correspondence on this smpslistserve so I will not repeat. In virtually all of these open source resources, you can get similar images that may be in the public domain and free of use limitations.
This is not go "go around" the copyright, rather to find an open source photo. For example if you need a photo of an interstate construction project, there are many that are open source public domain shots - you'll have the same visual impact while honoring the copyright provisions of photographers, etc.
Use of clients' materials - with few exceptions (e.g., DOD, NASA, FBI, State of ______) I have had no pushback from a client for using their logo or a project-related photo in a marketing proposal (this experience is from my practice days when I served in marketing lead roles). So long as the material (e.g., proposal) was for internal (i.e., only to the client) purposes, they did not mind that we used their photo images to let them know that we had visited their site, knew of their "phase one" work on a project, etc.
Finally, I am not an attorney nor do we represent ourselves as giving legal advice or counsel. So, all of the above is simply sharing experiences.”
Keep in mind, Scott’s response is an experience-based editorial comment. Recommendations vary based on each firm's/individual's situation.
Scott Braley is the principal consultant with 30-years experience in private A/E/C practice with multi-discipline firms. He served as Managing Principal in an international A/E and CM/PM firm that ranked in the ENR "Top 20" and the World Architecture "Top 40." His firm, Braley Consulting & Training, is an Atlanta-based full-service practice providing consulting, training, facilitation, assessment and coaching services for A/E/C industry firms. You can contact him at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or at 404-252-9840.
|
Proposal Development 
