Between 1990 and 2005, I was the ‘Public Face’ of Bradstone, undertaking every Marketing and Point of Sale image for them, including a dozen or so Chelsea Show Gardens, two Hints and Tips style videos and DVDs, annual brochures showing their whole range of products and representing ‘Brand Bradstone’ in all manner of public arenas. I produced the sets for a range of stills and television adverts, anything and everything they asked me for.
On the strength of my Bradstone relationship, and because they were the biggest supplier of goods into Do It All Ltd/Focus Do It All Ltd, when they too, were looking for a Public Face, I worked for that firm as well, and between 1997 and around 2002, handled all of their catalogues/brochures/point of sale material, together with four RHS Show gardens at Chelsea, Hampton Court and Gardener’s World Live.
Between these two companies, I designed and built literally hundreds of ‘real’ gardens and studio mock ups that were duly photographed and used thousands of times, so it was no real surprise to find that some of them were occasionally ‘abused’ by others.
To clarify – I not only was responsible for the builds, but also, in the vast majority of cases, the designs as well. The design element comprised of the literal design of the garden, or the section of a garden, or the style in which the products were used. I was expected to be innovative (as far as a product would allow) and to produce visuals that would sell their products commercially.
Three Cautionary Tales then, beginning with a Bradstone product. When the Bradstone Sun Circle paving product was launched (the pattern being a depiction of the sun, comprised of multiple slabs all shaped to a pattern that when placed together formed a 2.7m circular patio or, when ‘squared’ with corner pieces, could be incorporated into a larger paved area), the sole supplier was Do It All Ltd. As I recall, they had the unique sales market for the first year, thereafter, they had the ‘Do It All’ colour shade (Cotswold).
I was charged with designing the original stage layout for the new product and constructed the set piece in a film studio in Pershore (Big Shot Studios). I designed both the set and the garden styled background, and accessorised the photo-shoot for their various point of sale requirements.
Whilst idly looking through a newly issued Yellow Pages for our region a couple of years later, I came across an advert for a paving company, who used the exact same exclusive Do It All Sun Circle photograph that we had produced. I visited the site address to find a series of old sheds and polytunnels, from which a ‘Paving’ firm were plying their trade. They had a range of cheap and nasty slabs, all created from old style (i.e. redundant) latex moulds, priced as ‘From 99p’. I immediately reported the firm to Trading Standards and notified both Bradstone and Do It All.
The paving firm were dealt with by TS, and with the combined strength of Bradstone (copyright), Do It All (copyright), myself as the designer (copyright) and the photographer (also copyright), they did not have a leg to stand on! (They had copied one of the circles and made their own latex moulds). Case closed…
The next Tale also concerns Yellow Pages (not blaming YP here at all – they acted in good faith), this time regarding a photograph I came across in a Hampshire YP book, this time under the heading of Landscapers. A company I had not heard of was advertising their services using a unique photograph of a Chelsea garden, constructed by (my son’s firm) Arun Landscapes Ltd, designed by David Domoney and sponsored by Gardman Garden Products.
Once again, straight on to Trading Standards, who ensured that the photograph was not used again by firm, who claimed it was only a generic photograph taken from a Photo Library. This is an interesting point as far as Designers are concerned. I am positive that the primary reason that the photograph was withdrawn was because the firm faced the legal teams of both David Domoney (copyright) and Gardman (also copyright as some of their products were on display, but not as the sponsor of the garden). Arun Landscapes copyright was not breached as they had no design input.
The third and final Tale (there are many others from over the years, but these three cover the main scenarios) concerns a different angle on copyright. I was commissioned by Bradstone (or more correctly, Countryside Paving Products, another CAMAS company of the time) to construct a Chelsea Show Garden (that won Best in Show/Wilkinson Sword Trophy) designed by Peter Rogers FRSA, FSGD. It was a particularly striking garden, with strong imagery and totally unique in appearance. The sponsor was Alfred McAlpine Homes Ltd, and was the second such garden they had commissioned at Chelsea. McAlpine were probably my best and biggest client for over ten years, when I carried out virtually all of the many and varied site show gardens and site landscaping for them in the South. I featured as the named Landscape Contractor for their developments on all of their Sales brochures, including my logo and contact details.
One day, another building company approached me (Fairbriars Ltd) to undertake the landscaping works for a new, upmarket, gated development they were planning in Surrey. They wanted to use my name as the Landscaper for the site on all of their brochures, in much the same way. As part of my introduction to the Board of the Company, I was asked to show examples of my work, and I submitted a portfolio showing named sites and gardens, with every photograph being credited with both Designer and address. One of those many pictures was The Alfred McAlpine Chelsea Show Garden, and much to my complete chagrin, and without my knowledge or agreement, used that particular photograph for their brochure!
There was no credit to either McAlpine or Peter Rogers, indeed, there were no credits at all, simply a large, full colour photo of the garden on the back of their leaflet. Naturally, the Board of McAlpine were not at all pleased, and duly complained (firstly to me!) and, accepting that it was not of my doing, they pressed the Board at Fairbriars to change their brochures. Fairbriars refused on the grounds that they were not wasting money having new copies printed, but would make changes once they need to re-print.
McAlpine went to their solicitors, only to discover that there was nothing they could do to prevent another company from using ‘their’ photographs. The Designer could complain, but to no avail unless they could prove that they had lost money (or reputation etc), but not McAlpine as the sponsor of the garden, as they had already received benefit from the publication, and were not being slighted in any way, as they were not mentioned by name.
In essence, the Law could do nothing UNLESS; A person was persuaded by the inclusion of that photograph to purchase a property on the strength of that image AND that they had suffered a financial loss by so doing. In other words, False Pretences. Put simply, Fairbriars could quite happily use a competitor’s image without fear of reprisal, especially as they said they would change their advertising once they had used up all the old stock.
Looking at the three examples, if you have a product and a unique copyright for something tangible, you can at least go to Trading Standards and seek their assistance with hope of settlement. If you find that your design work is being copied or otherwise compromised, unless you are a purchaser who has lost money by false pretences, you can do nothing to remedy the situation. Obviously, you can complain about skulduggery or copyright infringement, but without proving financial loss or damage to your reputation, there is little you can do under the Law.
Now, as every case is different, and you may have had success in other circumstances, these three Tales are honest stories of actual events. There will always be other angles that I have not described, and you may have your own examples where the outcome was different. What can you do to protect yourself in future, to prevent people from either using your designs or copying them so closely as to be one and the same? There is no simple answer, as each case is different, but if you find yourself in a similar situation, start your complaint with assessing any possible financial losses you may have incurred by any violation or infringement.