
On of the more confusing aspects of the whole copyright/authorization thing is the question of licensing. A license, when it comes to artistic works, is permission given to another individual or company to use specific images on specific products in specific ways. A license can require payments or not. If there is a payment up front, it’s called a licensing fee and is not tied to sales. If payments are tied to sales, they are usually called royalties.
Licenses can be written and structured in any way the parties like. They can be very restrictive. They can require the royalty payment to go to a different entity. They can restrict the licensee’s ability to use the image in certain ways.
We won’t get into commercial licenses here because they really aren’t our concern as stitchers. We have to assume the canvases we buy are properly licensed.
When we venture into making original designs we need to be aware of terms we’ll see and what they mean.
Royalty-free means that payment is not required for you to sell items using this image. Personal use means that you may use the image in your own work freely but you cannot sell the items you make, but you can give them as gifts, nor can you include them in items you sell. Creative Commons is a license started in the computer industry that allows free use of the image or work, but sometimes requires attribution. These items do not require payment, although many folks using this license will accept donations.All rights reserved means you must s the copyright holder if you plan to use the item in any way.
Commercial license if you are making items only for yourself, this won’t concern you, but if you plan to sell the items in any form, including as part of a template or pattern, you must buy a commercial license. For example, the images I use in my iconographic needlepoint club all have commercial licenses. I can use them as the basis of needlepoint, with some limitations, but I can’t include them in another collection of images.
Public Domain gets us into very confusing waters. In general it means that something is old enough to have passed out of copyright or license. So you’d figure something old would be in the public domain. It isn’t necessarily so. Some artists and writers, for example Klimt, are controlled by museums or corporations. Since they don’t have lifetimes, items they control are not in the public domain. Some items may just look old but are actually new. For example, I did a recent Pinterest search for vintage embroidery patterns. I saw so many that I knew to be new, that I finally changed my search to look for patterns by a particular artist.
It can be very difficult to know about public domain. It’s worse because some things, such as trademarks, can be controlled for a very long time. Other things, for example a scarf pattern or a printed fabric, may have been done for a company and are still controlled by them. When in doubt, you should do research.
You’ll find all kinds of different language on copyright and license notices. You can see “free for guilds to reproduce,” “free to copy but not to sell as part of a kit,” “free to use up to ten images in a single project,” and lots more. Read the notice carefully and follow it.
it’s always best to err on the side of caution when using images you did not create yourself. Look for the notice. if the terms aren’t clear, ask. I have only had a few artists refuse to give permission to me.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Hi. I’m so grateful copyright is an issue discussed on this site. The complexity of copyright issues pops up unexpectedly and in odd places. Unless someone is aware of (or has been involved in) copyright disputes or lawsuits) they may not realize the limits copyright laws impose on their personal actions. I thought I would share some of my own interactions with copyright protection. I’m not an attorney—I’ve just read more copyright law than I every wanted to know.
Copyright isn’t an issue for only big companies and the rich & famous whose work is so well known. It applies to individuals who decide to sell hand-made items at a local show or to an indie designer trying to create a market for artworks.
I think confusion arises over buyer/designer rights for two reasons not mentioned in earlier discussions on this site. First, copyright hovers over us as children, the day we start school. It’s called copying, cheating & plagiarism. Many students believe these are trivial acts & stuffy teachers hassle a “guilty student” just to be mean. Once free of school, those silly rules no longer apply. The word “copyright” isn’t stamped on a diploma.
The “crafter” may be selling original designs and the “artist” may be copying a little known painting but selling it as a kit with a poorly printed canvass. The crafter’s designs might not sell. But the talented artist may end up in court. No matter what an aggrieved copyright owner settles for, the artist’s legal costs can turn the artist into someone working 2 jobs & facing eviction every month.
To greatly simplify (and shorten) this story, changing a product doesn’t create a new product. It creates a “derivative product”. And the copyright owner owns that derivative product—unless there’s a licensing agreement that states otherwise. License terms are negotiated & licenses can be terminated. Conditions for termination would be specified in the license agreement. Moreover, if the original copyright owner dies, the copyright is valid for 70 years after death. The copyright doesn’t automatically become the licensors. It can pass to an heir & become the heir’s property. Retailers may be handed a revised working relationship with a licensee or a new licensee altogether.
So the question is this: how much change can a needlepoint artist make to another designer’s work & claim they have created original work. To my surprise, there are artists whose names I know from other craft arenas and they & numerous needlepoint designers have publishers. It might seem the publisher would have leverage over designers. But a name brand designer can negotiate a publishing contract that puts the designer on equal footing w/ the publisher.
Then there are retailers whose designer/publisher relationships are also complex….the craft market represents big money even though customers may see only a small part of it. But the customer—the stitcher referenced in a discussion prior to this one, may not be a bystander even if they thought and wish they were.
Many thanks for the very interesting articles. I hope I’ve contributed to the discussion.
Thanks, your insights are great.
Keep stitching,
Janet