Funny little thing called “Schöpfungshöhe”
nfreischlad on 05:41 PM
3
Contest News
The Steinmeier contest sparked a lot of controversy, not only concerning user behavior and voting processes, but also about the originality of certain works. (here and here)
What happens if ideas show a certain similarity? At which point can we speak of plagiarism, what is mere chance and why do similarities occur?
Working as creatives we know that similarities happen and are (most of the time) unintentional. It can happen because a problem has an obvious solution which more than one person is likely to come up with. At other times, we are inspired by things we have seen, styles we like, and ideas we admire. Originality is something to strive for, but no one creates in a vacuum.
Similarities between creative outputs can also occur because they base on common forms; on symbols found in nature, culture – our everyday environment.
Left: Barack Obama’s Signet Right: Vattenfall Logo: Some obvious similarity here…
Judging originality is a tough task even for the experts. The key issue to look for when it comes to judging originality is what German Law describes as “Schöpfungshöhe” – the threshold of originality. The idea behind this concept is that not all work immediately falls under the copyright law. To be considered an original creation, a work needs to fulfill certain criteria:
- It must be a personal creation by the author
- the creation must contain an intellectual concept
- it must contain a perceivable design
- it must display in it the individuality of its author
This more or less free translation of German Law phrases should not be used as reference when it comes to a legal dispute, but hopefully it helps to remind ourselves of the complexity of judging originality. Pointing out similarities when one comes across such an example can be ineteresting and help spark a discussion and question the uniqueness/quality of an idea. But certainly, similarity alone is not enough to call a work a plagiarism!
Accusing someone of plagiarism is a tough call and should really be left to the experts.
At jovoto, we believe in the power of mutual inspiration, leading to a as a positive process, whether within the community or from outside sources.
Don’t forget: jovoto is about ideas – not about the final design!
If you’re ineterested, read more about German Copyright Law, snd “Schöpfungshöhe” here and here and here
redon
come on:
the Obama logo is independet and part of the best political CD ever. (including the best political-poster here in Berlin, since Heartfields ’5 Finger Hand’ for KPD – Liste 5 and thanks for Obey Giant on WiWo-Cover, too) – only becouse some guys mixed Texaco with Danone, inspired by Orange and Ché before (for Vattenfall AB & the Europe AG – why infact orange-blue-with-star -?) -??
Look rather on the non-new Kolle Rebbe & Shipyard nice media ‘teAM2009.de’ Obama-logo-interpretation and we can talk about useless ‘Schöpfungshöhe’ here in germany, where no design can attain the same threshold of originality like art and not only the french laugh about our Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights (Copyright Law).
http://www.fontblog.de/lehrreich-wie-die-barack-obama-identity-entstand
http://www.fontblog.de/cdu-leiht-sich-obama-logo
redon
ps: and of course geometry is non-endless and the live in the centry of used up basic forms and colors, too. with the escape in total abstraction (like Altria Inc. – (ispired by art)), pure (boring) word marks (like Deutsche Post DHL (new)) or even recurrences (like Unilever & Unibrew (even global, too.)) • i hope ‘Lichtdruck’ and eInk & motionPaper will generate some new unseen colors übermorgen and the digitalisation will bring new moved and animated logos with corporate sounds and flavors.
Gemma
Why to make a copy of something has to be a BAD thing? Because as a designers we are supposed to be creatives? Our mind works as a big folder where we store the shapes/ideas we see and we like and our aim is to solve a briefing with the best solution we can offer. Where does this solution come from? From the nature, objects, pictures, from other designers work? Where is the line between inspiration and copy? Everything is a remake! Let’s copy everything!