Media and Marketing/Michael Cullen:Irish companies are increasingly "flying blind" about the legal aspects surrounding copyright and trademark ownership but where protection is overlooked and infringements are proven, the costs for those found guilty may prove severe, a spokesman for the Copyright Association of Ireland (CAI) has warned.
The CAI will host a half-day seminar on how intellectual property affects business in Ireland in the Dublin Chamber of Commerce offices tomorrow. The conference is primarily targeted at marketers and client services agencies.
Liam Birkett, intellectual property consultant and former design agency director, said copyright and trademark ownership were complex issues and potential minefields. Research has shown that companies are frustrated by practices in the industry which stop them safeguarding their logos, slogans, designs, photos and illustrations.
"Marketers have to ask themselves a lot of questions," Birkett said. "For instance, how can they protect their ideas in a presentation from being used by others, if theirs is not the winning pitch? What can a photographer do when work is misused by a client?
"A client might ask, can they put coverage from a newspaper on their website, or use it in a promotion. Or, if they commission a designer to create a new brand identity, do they need to have written agreement as to what extent they can use it?" Birkett said.
Multinationals tend to be more litigious than indigenous companies as they have more to protect. The law says that if the public is likely to be deceived or confused into believing that one product is in some way related to a rival product, the company concerned is guilty of infringement.
With media and communications now so open to individuals through instruments like blogging, it was essential that everyone should have some knowledge about copyright and the scope and protection it offers people involved in creative pursuits.
Birkett, a Dubliner who wrote for the Mail on Sunday on copyright and patent issues, has numerous examples of infringements. Here in Ireland, an advertising agency was due to embark on a major campaign, when it was brought to their attention that the logo they had created bore a striking similarity to an established, international sportswear brand.
As well as symbols, names and slogans, colours, shapes and even smells can be registered as trademarks. When easyJet low-cost airline entered the British mobile phone market, orange was chosen as the corporate colour. But easyJet's plans were short-lived, as the Orange mobile operator managed to "kill" the idea.
ICI owns the rights to the barking sound of an English sheepdog used in its Dulux paint advertisements and the noise made by a Harley Davidson motorbike exhaust is protected by an international exclusive trademark, Birkett added.
Double act
Within months of RTÉ axing Myles Dungan's Rattlebag from its Radio 1 schedule, Newstalk 106-108FM is hiring one of Ireland's most colourful thespians, Ulick O'Connor, to co-present a new weekly arts show from March 18th.
O'Connor will partner broadcaster and media lecturer Roger Greene for The Snug with Ulick & Greene each Sunday at 10pm. Newstalk is promising listeners "an eclectic mix of discussion and storytelling, delivered in an irreverent and witty style". O'Connor's penchant for candid critiques goes back to when he made regular appearances as a panellist on Gay Byrne's Late Late Show. A one-time boxer and athlete, he is an Aosdána member.
Hughes in charge
Miriam Hughes has become managing director of DDFH&B-JWT in place of Jeremy Crisp, who is off to the US to take charge of Nail Communications in Rhode Island. Hughes has been an account director and board member at the agency for several years. She has held senior marketing posts at Bank of Ireland and Nestle confectionery and chaired the Marketing Institute. DDFH&B-JWT is one of Ireland's top ad agencies, whose clients include Vodafone, National Lottery, Unilever, Diageo and Fáilte Ireland.
Cheesy grins
Actress Barbara Bergin, writer of the Trouble in Paradise drama currently showing on RTÉ 2, is to voice radio advertisements in the Carbery Dubliner Cheese series. Sunday Independent journalist and You're a Star judge Brendan O'Connor promotes the brand's Institute of Taste by poking fun at various trends, including clothes for pets and SUVs. The campaign by Bloom, with media by Mindshare, will soon extend to press and outdoor.
Michael Cullen is editor of Marketing, Ireland's marketing and media monthly; cullen@marketing.ie
