Crediting Digi Layouts in Galleries & Blog...

[adrianka]

Thanks for the explanation, Lynnette!

As I said, I don't find crediting a problem - there are many assets to it. I can remember what I used, I can see what other people used, the designer can see their stuff is used (I believe in feedback, and this is a good way of providing it), so basically the concept is very nice.

The licence thing with digi products (including music) always seemed beyond my understanding (I believe there should be no difference between digital and physical, but nobody asked me, hehe), but I do respect it, of course. :-)

And it's interesting to learn a bit about the digi history thanks to this thread.

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by adrianka

Thanks for the explanation, Lynnette!

As I said, I don't find crediting a problem - there are many assets to it. I can remember what I used, I can see what other people used, the designer can see their stuff is used (I believe in feedback, and this is a good way of providing it), so basically the concept is very nice.

The licence thing with digi products (including music) always seemed beyond my understanding (I believe there should be no difference between digital and physical, but nobody asked me, hehe), but I do respect it, of course. :-)

And it's interesting to learn a bit about the digi history thanks to this thread.

Yeah, the license thing gets tricky sometime although there are non-digital products that have TOU licenses as well. Like sewing patterns - some patterns are personal use only. You can't use the pattern to make items to sell. How often that's enforced, I don't know, but it does exist.

[YepBrook]

Originally Posted by Nettio

Yeah, the license thing gets tricky sometime although there are non-digital products that have TOU licenses as well. Like sewing patterns - some patterns are personal use only. You can't use the pattern to make items to sell. How often that's enforced, I don't know, but it does exist.

Believe it or not, patterns cannot legally be licensed this way: dis-allowing commercial use or not allowing the resale of items made from the pattern. A pattern maker does not have the right to tell a buyer they can't sell items made from that pattern. It doesn't stop pattern makers from putting that "rule" on their pattern, though. I know this because I sell original plush dolls and animals on Etsy and I am a pattern maker. Many Etsy sellers have TOU for their patterns that are not, and cannot be, enforced by law. I think it's better to just let people sell items they make from your pattern... since it is their labor that sewed the item and chose the fabrics & trims, etc. Spread the love.

Anyways, I digress... This is why you see clothing knocked off by Forever 21 and other retailers all the time. A pattern can't be copyrighted, only the images and drawings cannot be copied, distributed or reproduced.

Just wanted to add that bit. The issue of "terms", copyright, and license, etc. is very interesting and complicated.

[LeeAndra]

When we were all over at SBB as it was the only all-digi site at the time, everyone made their own items or shared them at SBB. You listed credits to be sure you weren't taking credit for someone else's item(s) since it was the exception, and not the rule, that everyone made their own stuff. Gina (of DDE) and Janice (of SBG) were the first two people to become full-fledged designers and sell their products to the masses (on CDs!), and it took off from there. Thank goodness because I can't design my way out of a paper bag! Creative teams took a little longer to become the norm.

I think it is a combination of all those things: a throwback to when everyone made their own items + being part of a small(ish) cottage industry so you feel like you 'know' the designers and want to credit them out of respect/love + a way to advertise.

It's not as if you can go to a B&M Joann's or Walmart or wherever and pick up a Kristin Cronin-Barrow digital kit, kwim?! By listing credits (and direct linking), you give fellow scrappers the opportunity to discover new designers and further grow and support the industry/hobby that you love. In an online-centric industry, word of mouth (mouse? ) must be the most powerful (and easiest) way to spread information to the masses.

[mrshobbes]

Originally Posted by LeeAndra

By listing credits (and direct linking), you give fellow scrappers the opportunity to discover new designers and further grow and support the industry/hobby that you love. In an online-centric industry, word of mouth (mouse? ) must be the most powerful (and easiest) way to spread information to the masses.

This is what I believe too! I've heard this debate so many times and seen people very passionate about crediting/not crediting. I guess for me it's simply this: Crediting is a nice thing to do. I want to do nice things, especially for a designer who helped make my memory/story extra-awesome with their creations. I want to be nice to people who may stumble into my layout and want the same awesomeness for their memories. Because I myself have discovered LOTS of awesomeness from people's crediting. I've even gone the extra step and ASKED a scrapper through PM where they got a kit, element or even a font they used. It's precisely because someone had credited a kit that I found my way to SSD

[cardinalskate]

This is such an interesting thread! I like to credit because I, too, have found stuffs and designers I love through crediting.

I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my credits. I have designer, kit name, any links I need, plus the whole credit post with all linking wordage (with the url= blah blah). I hate doing that, so once I do it, I make sure to always have it, very handy, just in case I need it again.

[interstitchal]

Originally Posted by mrshobbes

This is what I believe too! I've heard this debate so many times and seen people very passionate about crediting/not crediting. I guess for me it's simply this: Crediting is a nice thing to do. I want to do nice things, especially for a designer who helped make my memory/story extra-awesome with their creations. I want to be nice to people who may stumble into my layout and want the same awesomeness for their memories. Because I myself have discovered LOTS of awesomeness from people's crediting. I've even gone the extra step and ASKED a scrapper through PM where they got a kit, element or even a font they used. It's precisely because someone had credited a kit that I found my way to SSD

I also think this is a great reason to credit as a regular scrapper because occasionally someone looking at your layout will want to get that product and if you have credited already - it saves you and her the time of a pm or email. (Which I have done myself as well). I've even seen a kit credited in a layout, realized I already have the kit sitting around, and then gone to scrap with it after getting inspired!

[Ginger_79]

I just KNOW I saw something - on the Daily Digi maybe? - about a program or plug-in that would keep track of your supplies in Photoshop and list them at the end if you wished to credit them. I always meant to check it out and forgot. Now I can't find it anymore...

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by YepBrook

Believe it or not, patterns cannot legally be licensed this way: dis-allowing commercial use or not allowing the resale of items made from the pattern. A pattern maker does not have the right to tell a buyer they can't sell items made from that pattern. It doesn't stop pattern makers from putting that "rule" on their pattern, though. I know this because I sell original plush dolls and animals on Etsy and I am a pattern maker. Many Etsy sellers have TOU for their patterns that are not, and cannot be, enforced by law. I think it's better to just let people sell items they make from your pattern... since it is their labor that sewed the item and chose the fabrics & trims, etc. Spread the love.

Anyways, I digress... This is why you see clothing knocked off by Forever 21 and other retailers all the time. A pattern can't be copyrighted, only the images and drawings cannot be copied, distributed or reproduced.

Just wanted to add that bit. The issue of "terms", copyright, and license, etc. is very interesting and complicated.

Oh interesting! I don't do much sewing, I just knew I'd seen some TOU type things like that for patterns. I know Amy Butler has one in her FAQ - it explicitly says no commercial use.) I guess they're just hoping to keep the honest people honest?

And yeah, Forever 21 is an interesting case but they've also taken it to an extreme level with straight up reproducing copyrighted textiles and then settling when sued. They're probably not the best example of a company following copyright.

[YepBrook]

Haha, that's true about Forever 21. Not the best example, definitely... but it was the only one I could think of. Their fabric copying is another issue, and not legal. Copying a designer's fabric is completely un-lawful.

If you're interested, I have this bookmarked concerning Amy Butler: Trademark and Copyright Abuser's Hall of Shame

If you have an Amy Butler pattern and you want to use it to make something to sell on Etsy or at a craft fair you CAN without any guilt. She uses the "Terms" on her patterns unfairly and to make more money herself (if you can't buy the item already made from a seller, you'd be more likely to buy her pattern for yourself).

Have we gone completely off-topic? LOL!

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by YepBrook

Haha, that's true about Forever 21. Not the best example, definitely... but it was the only one I could think of. Their fabric copying is another issue, and not legal. Copying a designer's fabric is completely un-lawful.

If you're interested, I have this bookmarked concerning Amy Butler: Trademark and Copyright Abuser's Hall of Shame

If you have an Amy Butler pattern and you want to use it to make something to sell on Etsy or at a craft fair you CAN without any guilt. She uses the "Terms" on her patterns unfairly and to make more money herself (if you can't buy the item already made from a seller, you'd be more likely to buy her pattern for yourself).

Have we gone completely off-topic? LOL!

LOL, perhaps! But I think it just shows why copyright is so confusing. Even the copyright holders don't even always know and/or follow the rules.

[adrianka]

Totally OT, but I sometimes have the feeling that if it was possible, people would get copyright for the letter A and ask for money whenever someone used it in a word. Copyright law is in a lot of ways out of bounds (and I say this as someone who has respect for copyright and for the work others do).

This is a great discussion, BTW, both in its in-topic and off-topic parts. I learned something about copyright and about the beginnings of digi-scrapping - lovely. :-)