Friday 15 July 2011

Going Off On One!!!

“I’ve so let the housework go since I started blogging!
Yesterday, I withdrew the post below (Poppy Bird-Seed Card) because it prompted a lovely but very worried follower to ask whether the young girl, who had drawn and given me the picture had any connections with a website selling digi stamp images. The writer felt that the picture I had used appeared to share several similarities to the images on sale and was perhaps not as original as it seemed. She was also concerned that because of  these similarities I could be opening myself up for potential copyright issues.
Picture 254
My doodles !! My original work?? How do I prove it??
This made me think about copyright in card making and blogging. I checked out the website to which my attention had been drawn, only to find, in my opinion, that they were selling images that could infringe the copyrights of at least two major companies, (one from publishing and the other a film character). It's a minefield!
You’ve only got to look at the current trend amongst a lot of the top blogs on http://www.craftyblogs.co.uk/ to see the plethora of doe eyed, cutesy digi stamp images being used, many of which are comparable with each other, as well as to the drawing I used ….
So what do I do?  Is the digi industry so circumspect that to use a  child’s doodle/drawing on a card could result in possible litigation by questioning its originality? If that’s what the crafting world is all about who needs it? ….
freddie-mercury-waFreddie mercury
There is more to doing house work than I anticipated!
Disillusioned, I am now considering giving it all up to start doing the housework again!!!!! Anyway I have decided to post the card regardless and be dammed ….. see you in court! ..... (files in cakes will be very acceptable if I am incarcerated!).

16 comments:

Jem said...

What! The world has gone mad! Yours is a very 'original' blog adn you always share the original source if you've had inspiration from one! The craft world is all about sharing! Doodle away!! Janex

Jem said...

And I misread then last comment - thought it said 'flies in cakes...' :o)

Mrsjobee said...

I think some of these designers of these "bug eyed" creations are a bit too precious - to me if you have seen one you have seen them all. Your image by your friends daughter is cute and I am sure she will love the card you have made with it.

Paula said...

Helen - I totally agree with you. It's a reason I stopped going on the MSE forums as it was getting full of back biting, and you always get the same people popping up and saying that someone has copied their thing, and yet like you I though that was what craft was all about, sharing ideas and inspiration. It all gets a bit silly at times. I think where people get mistaken in terms of copyright: I thought that it is if you were creating the designs of the character and selling them, that's where it would be 'wrong'... I am no expert but think that's loosely how it works.

Di said...

Hi Helen, the World has gone a bit mad I think. It should be all about sharing although I can't see the siilarity in the images given how many others are out there. C we share a cell perhaps....so long as they drop regular supplies of craft goodies in! Leave that housework ALONE! Di xx

Anj said...

Oi!! Put that hoover back in the cupboard - housework is for wimps...!
And as for copyright...phff! In my (personal) experience, the bigger the company - the bigger the offender, I could tell tales that would make your paintbrush curl - like you say, see you in court - have a great weekend everyone! x

marc said...

over the years that style of drawing has been done by 100s of kids and adults its easy to do like dogs with big eyes and ears you could say the stickers you used the on the other card are the same or the love is images of the 70s its a drawring done by a kid so what if the simpsons can do a whole epesiode of a rip off mary poppins by calling her shirley bobbins then theres hope for all big love marc

RosieB said...

too much fuss over these same-y images that are popping up all over the place; the only way to make sure your work isn't copied is to hide it away in a drawer

now step away from that vacuum cleaner, Helen :)

Maybe, Baby said...

Helen, Please, Please PLEASE Do not stop blogging!!!

I've been 'lurking' viewing your blog for the past 12 months and you have such wonderful ideas and have provided me with such inspiration. I took up crafting as a way of dealing with a very stressful situation, and you've been a virtual guiding light in terms of what can be achieved....

Your blog is a brilliant example of one woman's adventures in craft....You do not use it as a platform to sell your wares all over the country or the internet....and as such, I come back every day to check out what wonderful things your brain has come up with! secretly hoping that one day, in the very distant future I may be able to produce something a little bit like some of your stunning creations....

Sorry, I'm babbling now....

will go back to lurking....

Weezy said...

I'll start baking a double chocolate fudge cake with a jumbo file inside it then so ;)

Just_a_bean said...

Please, please, PLEASE don't stop blogging. Similarities are bound to crop up, especially when something is fashionabls. You're not tryng to benefit financially from what you do, so even if there was something similar in the designs, I don't think it matters a jot! Mr Muscle, Mr Schmuscle (if I am alowed to say that?) lol

Neenie said...

As Maybe Baby said don't stop blogging we all love you!!!

Angie said...

Put that hoover down ... similarities will happen in any sort of 'big eyed children' drawing or cartoonish character ...not sure how anyone could prove whether it floated naturally into the brain cells ...or someone elses drawing triggered it ...or it was copied.... everyone is getting a little precious over what they create.xx

Bee and Dee said...

Hi Helen
You are so right to raise this. You go on so many blogs with these simple cute pictures and you wonder if the same person has designed them all, I have even bought 2 images by different people on different sites and discovered there is just a line differences. What really bugs me is people saying don't copy my card designs and you see early blogs of other people which are exacly the same sometimes even down to colour. I am very flattered if someone copies my cards, and I was asked this week if someone could case my handbag card, I explained it was not mine and sent the tutorial (sorry blowing my own trumpet). It's also not nice when some publishes in a magazine claiming it's their own design or a with a comment that they thought they had seen it on blogland and you then see numerous sites from long before the article was publish with the project on them. So I will get baking with your cake with the file in, thank you so much for your super blog. Hugs Bee

Good Monkey said...

When I was miffed about having some of my stuff copied a very well known craft artisan once said to me that if you get copied you must take it as a huge compliment otherwise you will only get bitter and twisted and never create anything again and for those who don't want to be copied then they shouldn't put their stuff out there for others to see - you can't have it all ways. Painful but true.

Indigo Blue said...

Ocer at paper snd string the owner of that blog and linked shops did have her stuff blatently copied and the copier. Everything was the same so it could not be put do to inspiration gone too far. I have also had huge chunks of my blog used as is by someone in Turkey who was paid to contribute stuff to another blog! I got in contact and said for a fee they could have me do the posts and tutorials instead. never heard another word. So it all depends on the circumstances. Do not let one unresarched comment from someone who may or may not have seen similarities in your card. There are trends coming and going all the time and walking up and down the highstreet you could say that they are all copying one another to the point where all of the shops look the same. My daughter makes all sorts of drawings and some have looked very similar to those used on Charlie and Lola! So I may not be using her work to create a card.
xx