a web site was put up the other week that had a lot of free digitised silhouettes of famouse people IE Elvis. Bruce lee and Marylin Monroe. I asked the owenr of the webiste if i could sell items that these desingns had been put on and she said it was fine but as nomal not to sell the actual digitsed design itself,
Ok so i sewed out a couple of grocery totoes with the designs on and then told my friend in america that i had done an Elvis design onto a tote and was going to try selling them,My friend was very alarmed by this and was afraid i could be sued by the Prestly estate over copywrite. Now I know that ricky has the Elvis as afreebie on her site and am again wondering about the problem of copywrite on this too.
Can any one help me with this dilema as the totes would be sold for charity and in a small number and not mass produced.
PLUS are the designs that are given free in cute designs to be used only for personal use or can we again put them onto items for sale.
I feel sure there are a lot of members wondering the same thing and may be a little afraid of asking,
perhaps if a digitiser would just put the words restricted or not restricted by their design we would know how we can use it and so oblige.
eggyannie in the Uk
14995
In the Designs by Cuties general copyright rules are stated: personal use and fairs, no sharing of the design. If the digitizer has to add some restriction he or she can do that instead of or as an addition to those general rules when uploading. And the origin of the artwork has to be given. In that way if you don't trust it you can have a look at that site. Unfortunately sometimes that is left blank, and I've seen 'embroidery' mentioned. In those cases I don't download them.
145304EggyAnnie, I'm going to take a stab at the 'famous people' thing for you. Please understand, I am NOT a copyright lawyer, but this is just my personal take on the subject. If the digitizer you got the designs from has the right to the artwork, and has given you permission to use it as you asked to, I don't see that it would be a problem to use for charity purposes. Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, etc, are American icons. If you were selling the totes at Harrods, doing a national advertising campaing, and making a million on them, that might be a problem. But for charity, or at a craft fair, I would think not, as far as the estates of these famous people are concerned. It depends more on the artwork, who owns the copyright on it. Sometimes it's the estate that owns the copyright on famous photos of the stars in question, sometimes the photographer, or perhaps the movie studio. But if it's art such as Ricky used in her Elvis on her website, I'd think you would be ok. I know Ricky would not be using 'pirated' art to digitize, so I'd feel safe with her design. BUT, I would also get Ricky's permission to do totes or anything not of a personal nature or a gift with the design on it. Most digitizers will have posted what you may do with their designs on their websites. Some allow anything, some restrict to personal and gift use, some allow craft fairs but not more that 10 items per month, etc. I agree with your assessment, anyone who posts in Designs by Cuties should make it clear how their design may be used. They should also make sure they have the right to digitize the artwork and distribute it. So as far as Elvis goes, I'm thinking the Presley estate won't be coming to England to your supermarket and confiscating your tote bags. Now Mickey Mouse, on the other hand....."Do not ever, ever, mess with the Mouse!" Hope this helps a little, it's really a very complicated subject. Personally, I'd just stick with generic designs, myself, but then I'm a big coward, hee hee hee. Luv, Marji
1 comment
by eggyannie
11 Feb 2009
many thanks marji and it would be just about a dozen or so its so hard to know what you can and cannot do these days
Eggyannie in the UK
33451