by Larry Holt
Graphics and Commercial Art
In the foundation class in Graphics and Commercial Art, there is imbedded a 200 minute segment of instruction in Ethics and Values. Principles are taught and role play situations constructed in order to help students understand and resolve ethical issues or conflicts which occur in their lives. Near the end of the course, students are given the assignment of writing a one-page "Case Study," preferably of a personal incident which might be helpful to their fellow classmates. They should promote recognizing, understanding, and resolving a moral dilemma. These experiences may be of a personal nature, related but not limited to either the college experience or graphics workplaces.
Stan, a recent graduate from a small southern Utah town, called to share the following experience:
With the skills and knowledge acquired in our Graphics program, he had opened a small art and design studio. A client requested that he create a design and have it screenprinted on about twenty shirts to be used by the client for business promotional purposes. Stan created the design and went to the only screen printer in town to have the shirts produced with his new copyrighted design. The printer was also Stan's former part-time employer, who had largely provided Stan with the economic resources necessary while Stan commuted regularly to attend school. Further, the printer was an active member of a small, rather tight group of businessmen in the community, into which Stan had recently been accepted.
About two weeks after Stan had delivered the screenprinted shirts to his client, he observed a number of individuals in town wearing shirts very similar to those he had just delivered to the client. When he went to the printer's shop, he discovered many shirts hanging on racks, printed with his copyrighted design.
Questions:
What should Stan do?
Do facts other than copyright violation mitigate his decision?
What is the printer's paradigm?
Is there a synergistic win/win solution to this dilemma?