December 11th,2006

The Perils of Design Theft

By Jeremy Wright

Earlier today one of our bloggers had their design stolen by … one of our bloggers. Brian Clark was the victim of the theft (per his post).

Brian has since removed all of the details from what happened. Either way, though, I still wanted to apologize. Personally and on behalf of b5.

First, the situation as I understand it, from having talked to everyone involved. I’m not saying this is the right version. And I am not blaming or pointing any fingers at anyone. I just don’t believe in apologies where you don’t fess up to what went wrong, so the below is really me and b5 fessing up for our part in this.

Last month sometime, Scott, one of our bloggers, Channel Editors and designers was doing some work for one of his clients. He really liked Copyblogger’s layout (2 column, nice and simple, etc). So he did what a lot of “young” designers do (and, yes, in spite of his age Scott will be the first to admit he’s learning): he took an existing site to learn from. He deconstructed it.

That in and of itself isn’t bad. Totally normal.

He then proceeded to use the deconstructed design for 2 client sites. That was bad.

As a result of this breach of trust and poor judgement, we have let Scott go as a designer, blogger and CE. Scott is an amazing human being, a fantastic blogger and an incredibly hard worker. Anyone would be lucky to have him. We were. However sometimes stuff happens that simply makes it impossible to continue the relationship.

The final item is, of course, the reason for this post - which is to apologize.

Brian, I am deeply sorry that your design was ripped off in this manner. You and your blog are among the best resources on the planet for bloggers looking to improve their craft. You deserve better. I know an apology is often a bit empty in a situation where you’ve been betrayed like this, but right now it’s all I have. I hope we can rebuild the relationship and take it to bigger and better places.

Chris, as a designer in a past life I know how much this hurts and must piss you off. There is no excuse for it. I know you value helping the community so much, and helping young designers learn is undoubtedly a huge part of that. However this crossed a line. And I apologize for b5’s part in that. You, too, deserve better.

Finally, I want to thank Scott for his months of fantastic work. While this will obviously reflect poorly on him, I’m confident that he’s learned his lesson in this. I’m also confident that he’ll land on his feet and go on to bigger and better things. These things sometimes happen, and it sucks when they do, but I (and the whole b5 team) really do wish him the best. He deserves every success we know he’ll achieve.

The Conversation

Scott Allen on December 11th, 2006 at 18:23

I just want to say how impressed I am with how quickly, decisively and fairly I think this all was handled. The entire thing was addressed, acknowledged, and on the path to being fixed within the same business day. After watching the whole Edelman / Wal-Mart fiasco, in which Edelman’s prominent bloggers didn’t even address the issue for more than a week, and now, two months later, the questionable sites are still up, this is a breath of fresh air.

David Krug on December 11th, 2006 at 18:25

Jeremy,
Thanks for the open and I’m sure painful transparency. It shows how much you guys are growing. Decisions like this cant be easy. But its part of the business.

Aaron Brazell on December 11th, 2006 at 19:40

Painful isn’t the word but hopefully we all take something positive from this experience

Darren on December 11th, 2006 at 19:59

This stuff is never easy - but each time it does it shapes us a little more, we learn something we didn’t know before, we improve something we hadn’t thought about fixing before, we feel something we’ve not felt before and through it we’re shaped into something we weren’t before.

Guess when you’ve got 100 or so people working on a project there’s bound to be things like this though - no excuses but the layers of complexity and the numbers of situations that can arise continues to multiply.

Anne Wayman on December 12th, 2006 at 09:29

What a shame… and what a great way to deal with it… out in the open, no attempt to hide or waffle… would that everyone would deal with issues this way… good on all of you.

A
http://www.thegoldenpencil.com

Milo Riano on December 12th, 2006 at 12:30

I just hoped we didn’t mention the person anymore. Not giving out a good reference when someone asks for it is more than enough.

Amanda Hamm Faces Judgment for Choosing Loser Boyfriend over Her Kids - from Parents Behaving Badly by Jay Andrew Allen on December 12th, 2006 at 12:34

[…] Holy hell! Did I go a whole day without updating?! Trust me, it wasn’t (sadly) for lack of material. WHen I attemped to log in late last night, I found that my password had been reset due to some…um, unpleasantness at b5media. […]

David Airey on December 13th, 2006 at 09:06

Whilst it is regrettable that it happened in the first place, a lot of people can learn something here about how to handle a wrong-doing.

MRM on December 13th, 2006 at 09:17

Let’s not confuse plagiarism with the use of creative ideas and techniques. They are not the same thing. It is hard to believe there are any novel design, layout or colour ideas left for advertising shops and web design firms to concoct.

While I believe journalistic standards shop apply to serious blog sites, this is not a situation that lends itself to a New York Times approach.

MRM

Brian Clark on December 16th, 2006 at 03:10

>>Let’s not confuse plagiarism with the use of creative ideas and techniques.

Of course not. But cut-and-paste code-copying design is not creative.

Not sure what your point is?

Lying on your resume | More than a living on December 19th, 2006 at 12:26

[…] This happens to creative-types all of the time. You hear about designs being stolen. Creative being co-opted. But, a resume? It’s new for me. […]

chris on February 4th, 2007 at 08:46

LOL - a bunch of no talent no money making dorks getting mad over something so stupid. Make some money fools!

You and Your Blog Reputation Is Everything on February 10th, 2007 at 21:49

[…] Of course, if you (or your employee) ever did make a mistake, owning up to it immediately and making the necessary corrections is the best policy. […]

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