Find out how Lola Design Ltd utilises their ACID Membership Benefits to support their IP Rights!

I’ve been in the design industry working for various textiles & greeting cards companies for nearly 17 years. How time flies! Recently however my husband and I decided to do our own greeting card and art publishing brand, Lola Design, which is all very exciting.

We knew about IP and how important it is within the design industry.

Creating a style which is unique such as our Wildlife Botanical Range and Floral Dogs has been really important and this protection came into its own recently. Art is our key asset and protecting it is a top priority. We have a NO tolerance policy for copying and, yes, it may be seen as a compliment but is also very sad for us to see this as a lot of hard work has gone into creating a unique look which is part of our brand DNA.

What does being a Member of ACID mean to you?ACID has been a fantastic help to us for advice. Being able to deter people with the ACID logo on our websites/trade stand/social pages is a great way of saying “No you can’t copy our work” without having to send stern legal letters.

Which ACID Membership services have you used and how have you benefitted from being a member?We have recently received the assistance of the wonderful ACID team at NEC Spring Fair who helped us confront a large company who was using several pieces of our artwork without permission and outside of a licensing agreement by 2.5 years.

ACID helped us remove the products from their trade stand, and later the ACID legal team also helped us resolve the situation with the manufacturer, leading to an out of Court settlement.

The ACID team has been amazing, supporting us through our copying issues and we would highly recommend them.

Have you brought anything new to the marketplace recently that you would like to share? We are just about to launch some new designs for Wildlife Botanical Greeting Card and Art range.

Here’s a sneak preview!

What advice would you offer to a new designer?

Join ACID! Make sure your art or products are protected as you never know when you may be copied. Even before we send them to be printed we make sure that each and every artwork is uploaded to the ACID Copyright & Design Databank. Once uploaded they are locked with a time & date stamp on them. This provides us with independent third party evidence should it ever be needed.

With all the social media platforms and use of the internet it is very easy for other people / companies to copy your work. And it’s illegal for them to do so.

My other piece of advice to new designers is create your own style and don’t copy, it won’t get you anywhere and may get you into trouble.

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ACID values the support of our members to enable us to campaign for design law reform. Do you have a message for the Government/Policy makers? on IP issues?More stringent, transparent and imposable regulation on penalties for copying would be welcomed. Despite anti copying laws existing they are still difficult to apply and require budget to support your legal bills and an appetite for risk when challenging another party, which is all quite stressful.