Some of you may have noticed some photos of our wedding on Juice, The Dropbox.  I put them up there because I figured you guys may want to snag them, which I have full rights to do under my contract with the photographer.  Part of our deal was that we would receive a DVD with all of our pictures, in high resolution, and we could do with them as we please as long as we weren’t selling them.

So today, Jackie and I decided we were finally going to fill some frames we got as wedding gifts with said photos.  We had them quickly printed at Walgreens, and when we arrived to pick them up we were greeted by a smiling Walgreens employee who promptly asked if we had a waiver from the photographer to print these photos.

Huh?

After asking a couple questions, it became clear that we had to drive all the way home, dig up our photographer’s contract and drive back to Walgreens.  When we got back, we were helped by the Assistant Manager.  I asked him a few questions:

When did this policy start?

We’ve always had it.

How do you know they are professional photos?

We can tell by looking at them.

What happens when my friends and family try to print these photos?

You’ll have to give them a copy of the release.

This seems kind of ridiculous.

Well, it’s the law.  We just want to sell photos, but we have to protect the photographers who make them because that’s their livelihood.

I just had to nod.

It is fairly obvious that this is pure legal bullshit on the part of Walgreens.  I mean, had I actually been printing something without permission, how easy would it be for me to get around it?  First of all, I could have just said that I took those photos.  They would have no way to prove otherwise.

Secondly, what’s stopping me from typing the following release letter?

To Whom It May Concern:

I hereby authorize Brian Lindenau to print any of my photos.

Sincerely,

Theodore Roosevelt

I mean, they don’t even know who took the photograph.

This seems like this is an issue that could be easily handled by a simple checkbox, similar to what Facebook asks you: “I certify that I have the right to distribute this picture and that it does not violate the Terms of Use.”

It might save everyone some time and headache, and would be equally toothless.

For now, I guess I’ll just print my photos at a place that doesn’t place arbitrary legal barriers in front of me.

So I was browsing one of my favorite sites, ffffound, when I came across this logo. Imagine my surprise at seeing this when I designed a logo almost identical to this in late 2008 for Big Spaceship.

Federal Bureau of Illustration’s Logo…

more like...Federal Bureau of Imitation...am I right? I mean am I right?

And…the logo I created for our internal team while @ bigspaceship :

Literally, Badass.

At first I thought to myself, “Boy, my logo must not have been very original.” Then I remembered that Big Spaceship was featured in a Harvard Review Case Study in Early 2009, which is why I had to make the logo in the first place (aka, this image was actually published). I do realize that it’s not very likely that he saw my logo in that huge, multi-page Harvard Case Study…but come on…its HARVARD we’re talking about. I would imagine that shit GOT AROUND.

AT THIS POINT,  I’m a little bit annoyed…so I do some minor investigation.

FIRSTLY,  I realized that this guy has a copyright on his website for 2009….

THEN I realized that I uploaded this jpg to my personal server in 2008…and it can still be seen to this day, in a couple different stages of design, might I add.

THEN….naturally, I realized that I win.

(of course, I’m able to accept the fact that my idea isn’t that original and it could all be a coincidence. And of course, I am also able to accept the fact that my version is much more badass either way.)

The fact of the matter is, he may have designed a logo with a completely different style and tone, but when it comes down to it, he has used almost every single element of my logo in the exact same way. Come on now. I am all for appropriating ideas and being inspired by things you see on the internet…but…this is a little too similar to me.

Let it be known that I am aware that I might be tooting my own horn here….and that the odds of him seeing my design are pretty minor, but it still strikes me as being a bit interesting. I also realize that when you type in ‘US eagle’ in google, one of the first images that shows up is the US mint logo which appears on the quarter (which is where I got my idea in the first place).

Is this a result of the collective unconscious, or the sweet, sweet, nipple of the internet being sucked on by every man, woman and child in existence?

Oh internet…