A client came in with a design for us to print. The person he had create the design has a reputation for tracing, copying, and otherwise stealing art without permission.

I look at the design and I recognized it immediately; it was a blatant copy and paste job from a pretty famous design. I brought it to the client’s attention.

Client: Oh don’t worry. I’ve got lawyers making sure that my design is be original and legal.

In 2009, I was starting out as a junior architect for a small firm.

The client was a shipping company who specialized in importing goods from China. They wanted to build a 20,000 square meter (215,000 square feet) warehouse in the harbour adjacent to their existing container storage platform so they can open the containers themselves, categorize the contents and then ship them off in their own fleet of trucks to their various destinations.

They also asked for a four story HQ building near the warehouse, complete with a worker's dining hall and enough office space that they could move their operations down to the waterside instead of leasing expensive real estate in the city.

At first I was puzzled why the other, more senior architects in the firm decided to not get involved in the project, but I was young and enthusiastic, so I accepted.

There were a few red flags. For one, the project lead was a “quirky” structural engineer who sometimes didn’t talk to people for months if he thought they had slighted him. For another, the client asked me to attend daily meetings in which to show everyone the progress I had made.

Me: I can’t really make any meaningful progress from one day to the next – especially if I’m spending the morning in a meeting with you.

Client: I thought you young folks these days preferred to work at night. Just do it then.

I refused and he finally accepted to hold those meetings only twice a week.

I set to work, but soon afterwards the Financial Crisis began to manifest itself in earnest, so the client firm ended up having to find partners for the project.

Those partners would change sometimes from one week to the next and each would have their own requests which most of the time invalidated all the work I had done up until then.

Finally, a few months in I couldn’t take it anymore. The project had already been radically altered five times and the clients keep changing their mind from one meeting to the next on wherever they wanted a HQ building at all or simply a small office on the side of the warehouse. Finally I had a meeting with the client to clear these things up.

Client: (staring down his nose) I’m a respected pillar of the shipping industry. I’m no amateur.

Me: Okay?

Client: I’ve heard that windows are cheaper than walls.

Me: They’re not.

Client: Well, whatever the case, I want the whole warehouse to me made out of windows.

I sat there, completely dumbfounded. My brain had stopped working, so the only thing I could ask was:

Me: So… like a greenhouse then?

Client: Exactly like a greenhouse! Can you change the plans by tomorrow morning?

At this point, I stood up, packed my laptop and left, informing them I’ll send them completed drawings to the last design specification but they’ll have to find someone else to finish their project for them.

They sent me a host of emails, ranging in tone from threatening to plaintive. The “quirky” project lead didn’t speak to me for a year, even though we worked together on a few projects. He would ask other people to relay information to me, but never spoke to me himself.

The warehouse was never built and the client was instead arrested two years later for smuggling and evasion of customs duty.

A client came up to me and asked that I help her scan a $1000 bill for a brochure.

Me: Why not just use an image from the internet?

Client: None of those are any good. We want it to look good.

Fine. I figured maybe she could only find pixelated images, so I conceded.

Client: Great. Also, please make sure it prints with exactly the right color and the right size.

Me: Um… what is this brochure for exactly? Why does it have to be same size?

Client: Please just help me! I need this.

I stopped all contact with her immediately.

As a Senior Creative Director, I was interviewing candidates for a graphic designer position. One candidate’s portfolio was very nice. I was however taken aback when I turned the page to see the chromalin proof for a print piece that *I* had produced for a freelance client a couple of years prior. I asked how he came up with the clever idea, how it was to work for the client, etc. All of his answers were of course vague.

Needless to say, he did not get the job. I didn’t say anything, figuring it’s his karma and it’ll catch up to him. But I was curious how he came upon the work in question. Perusing his resume, I realized he had been a negative stripper at the printing company where I had the piece printed. I assume his portfolio was full of work he had only done pre-press prep for.

Years ago I interviewed for a position as an art director at a well-known L.A. agency. I took a seat in the waiting room to wait for my appointment. On the walls, framed nicely, were three ads that I had designed for the agency I worked for in New York. In fact, two of the ads were in my portfolio resting next to me. During the interview the creative director made no mention of the fact they had my work displayed as their own.

I didn’t get the job.

A long-time client of our studio had a competitor rip off the packaging design we’d produced for him. He was mad, we were mad.

In the midst of the ensuing lawsuit, our client decided that the best way to satisfy his desire for revenge was to rip off his competitor’s packaging for a different product. He approached us to replicate their work, from the design and color palette on down, assuring us that any legal fallout would be entirely on him.

Needless to say, our lawyer was not impressed.

A client approached me about creating a website. I asked him what he wanted, and he didn’t respond. Instead, he wrote back a few days later with this question.

Client: Can I copy the layout from this website? It’s for a business that no longer exists.

Me: No, that’s illegal. You can’t use someone else’s property.

Client: But there’s nothing to prove who made it!

Me: It doesn’t matter, you’re not the creator, nor did you pay for that site. You can’t take what’s not yours.

Client: Seriously? This guy doesn’t have provide any contact info, his Behance portfolio is clearly abandoned and his personal website is down. How could anyone say that it’s plagiarism?

Me: I can. It’s plagiarism.

Client: But would anyone catch me?

Me: …

The kicker? I know the designer he wanted to rip off, and you’d better believe I’d let him know if this guy stole his work.

I was catching a cab home and had a conversation with the driver. “Client” might be generous in this instance, but he was definitely trying to get some work out of me.

Client: So, what did you study?

Me: Multimedia Design.

Client: Then you know how to use a computer.

Me: Sure.

Client: do you know how to edit photos?  

Me: Yeah, that’s part of it.

Client: Could you falsify documents? 

Me:  I suppose? Maybe. Depends.

Client: So, if I give you a document, could you change what it says?

Me: I could, if it was a digital copy.

Client: Is there a scanner or something where, if you put a paper in it, you can change what’s written on the paper in the computer?

Me:  I’m pretty sure that doesn’t exist, no. 

Client: But that’s what you studied! Shouldn’t you know?

We stopped talking the rest of the way, and he dropped me off at home. Who knows – maybe I missed out on a lucrative business in passport forgery because the technology just isn’t there yet. Too bad.

I interviewed for a small graphic design job at a local newspaper while I was in high school, several years ago. I’d been working with Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro for some time at that point. The interviewer asked me to make a test ad for a retirement home to see my skills. I created the ad, explained my choices, and the interviewer seemed very pleased with my work. 

I didn’t hear anything about the job for a few weeks, so I figured I didn’t get it. Lo and behold, one day I opened the paper and discovered that they’d used my design without my knowledge. 

I’m happy to report that this paper didn’t last very long.

My dad put me in touch with an old friend who’d just written a book that needed some illustrations. Working with him was very friendly so, because I was a naive college graduate, I didn’t make him sign a contract.  The topic of copy-rights didn’t come up at all until he brought me the first draft of the printed book. I was excited to see my name as the illustrator, but my name, and my copyright, was nowhere to be found.

Me: I think you made a mistake here. It says you own the copy-rights to my illustrations.

Client: Oh, no. I purchased the copyright when I paid you.

Me: No you didn’t.

Client: No, I did. We talked about this.

Me: No, we didn’t. Ever. 

Client: Oh. Well it must have been because I was so sick recently. But they are mine anyway.

 I argued with him for days that as the artist I maintained copy-right privileges and that I just wanted the right to be able to display my work in my portfolio online, but he was paranoid about it. I think he thought that if people could see the pictures on my website, then no one would buy his book.  Finally we agreed that I would sign away the copy-right on the condition that I could use the illustrations on social media to promote my work.

A week later, I get a threatening letter from a lawyer saying he will sue me if he sees any of those illustrations on said social media.  I didn’t have the money to try and see if I could call his bluff or if he really meant it, so I took everything down.  I did over sixty drawings for that man and my name or credit didn’t end up anywhere in the final printing.