ACID - Anti Copying In Design Reviews 4

I cannot speak highly enough of ACID. My experience working alongside them as a student ambassador has been incredibly positive, empowering, and insightful. ACID’s strong values and commitment to supporting emerging designers is truly inspiring. Their dedication to making IP knowledge more accessible is both impactful and much needed in the design world. ACID is approachable, responsive, and genuinely passionate about making a difference, from helping me understand how to protect my work, to connecting me with relevant contacts and providing essential resources; they went above and beyond. I highly recommend them for support with your IP rights as a designer.

When I first started out in the design industry over 20 years ago, there didn't seem to be much information readily available to designers and artists about how to protect their work or how to even understand intellectual property. ACID has been instrumental in helping me protect my own designs, and I am indebted to the team for their expertise and support, which got me through one of the toughest experiences in my career. ACID was there for me during a highly publicised legal battle and I wouldn’t have had the success I achieved without their support. Now being part of ACID’s Sector Council, I’m proud of the work we are doing to spread awareness of IP rights and the knowledge of how to effectively safeguard your work.

Highly recommended to join the wonderful cohort of creative members of ACID and make the world a safer place for creatives. The wonderful team are there to cheer on innovation - and provide guidance and support to protect it. We are really proud to be part of their campaign to strengthen protection for creatives, which has real impact at government level - they are a force to be reckoned with. We also love their design bank, which gives instant protection for any new design, plus their magazine is one of those rare industry magazines that you find yourself devouring every page.

I'm really disappointed by my experience with this organisation.

I joined recently, even though the membership fees are very high, because it seemed like a great investment as they tout themselves as honest and against copying in the design industry.

My designs were copied by another ACID member, with my designs being published by me online two years ago, and the copies being released by them just last month.

I contacted ACID about their mediation services and free legal advice. They state they will respond within 24 hours. After about a week of no response I followed up and they eventually responded the following day apologising for the delay and confirming they would respond by the end of the day, which they did not. The following day I finally received a very shocking response stating that they were cancelling my membership as the copycat is a longer standing member and they prioritise that, rather than actually prioritising who was the victim of the IP theft.

It's really disappointing. I suggest avoiding this company and not giving them any money as their practices seem very dishonest.