I'm very proud to share this bit of news with you. I am now a member of ACID, which is great news not just for me as an illustrator and designer - but also for all my lovely loyal customers who's logos and branding I have produced over the past couple of years.
For those of you who are not aware of who they are - ACID (Anti Copying In Design) are a membership trade organisation, committed to encouraging respect for intellectual property...and as such they are intent on stamping out intellectual property rights abuses by offering practical support for their members.
Here's their website: http://www.acid.uk.com
I'd been considering joining ACID for some time now, but it has to be said, it was always fairly low down on my long list of 'to dos'. That was until last week when I was alerted to the fact that someone had copied not only chunks of content from my websites (such as all my branding packages, Ts and Cs even the 'about me' section).. but also parts of some of my new designs for Christmas cards and worst of all, some of the branding I had designed for another small business ...so it wasn't just affecting my business. After a bit of to and fro with messages to the plagiarist, the copied website and facebook page seem to have gone and all is well again (I hope!).
However, as you can imagine this is when ACID membership became a priority for me. I'm so pleased about joining as it gives me peace of mind and also enables me to better help, support and protect those who have trusted me to develop their brand identities because it gives me access to the legal back up I'd need. So as they say, every cloud really does have a silver lining.
I would really like to say a big THANK YOU to the lovely lady who follows my facebook page and who alerted me to the problem in the first place - I am truly grateful to you...please know that the message you worried about sending to me has led to a very positive outcome!
May all our weeks be filled with positive outcomes :)
Best wishes
Angie
