That $5 logo from Fiverr might just be a stolen design … or at least not as unique as you thought.
Need a reason your logo should be professionally designed? Or at least a reason you should be cautious when using a cheap / crowdsource site? There are people calling themselves designers who are simply stealing designs from other places, throwing in some text and selling them.
This was one of the designers they advertised in Fiverr’s e-newsletter:
The silhouette in the logo was familiar enough to me that I instantly recognized it as the Yoga Australia logo and that it was stolen because of the unique design that included the outline of Australia in the yoga pose.
When I submitted a comment to Fiverr about the copyright violation I got not response. And two months later this design is still up and this profile hasn’t been removed. Clearly they don’t take copyright violations seriously.
Copyright violations in designs you paid for:
Ignorance is not bliss:
the buyer of the design will be liable for violation of copyrights.
Just because you paid someone to design your logo, if you use a stolen design you are the one the copyright holder will be able to come after. Not knowing your design was stolen does not change the ownership of the design.
Even if you are only hit with a cease and desist letter it will probably cost you more than your original $5. Think about the number of things that would have to be redone. Store signage? Business cards? Website? Menus? Promotional materials?
Think of all the things you would have to change the logo on. How much could that cost you?
You get what you pay for… Is it really worth the risk?
PS – I searched for the person who bought the design of Fiverr and luckily she’s not actually using the design.
PPS – since I suspect that Fiverr will let this “designer” continue to rip people off until they get so much flack they can’t ignore it, I’m posting the link to the designer’s listing: http://www.fiverr.com/design_angelica/design-a-beautiful-logo-only?funnel=201408301836282506837040
Granted getting her removed might not keep her from coming back as a new profile AND it doesn’t stop others who are also violating copyrights by using other people’s works in or as their own designs.