All Hear This!!! - Terms of Use/License to Use Your Project

IS ANYONE PAYING ATTENTION???

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This blog will start to tackle a common yet misused tool in the Intellectual Property Toolbox - the Licensing Terms, Terms of Use, Fine Print, or Words That No One Reads. Everyone has seen the statements on some artwork, books, fabric or the like. They are statements such as:

"For Personal Use Only"

"Not for Commercial Sale"

"The projects in this book are for personal use only and may not be mechanically produced in any form."

Here's a great definition from Wikipedia:

Where intellectual property is concerned, Terms of Use may be set up in order to let an audience know specifically what can and cannot be done to the work with or without the creator's permission. For written work, terms of use may say that it cannot be distributed by email or other means. Artistic works may stipulate a requirement for compensation in the way of payment, advertising, artist credit and/or other items or services.

Why Have Such a Statement?

A Terms of Use Statement helps both the creator and the purchaser. The creator can sell instructions, designs, products and the like to a purchaser without having to worry (in theory)

The Perfect Statement

There is one misconception that should be cleared up immediately. There is no "magic statement" or "perfect statement." The best statement or Terms of Use is one that tells the purchaser or user exactly what can or cannot be done with your work or creation. Any statement that clearly lists what the purchaser can and/or cannot do with your creation (or a derivative of the creation) is your "perfect statement."

No Statement at All

Many times a purchaser will only see the copyright statement on a creation that is purchased. That is particularly entertaining on a "How to" book or piece of fabric. If one wishes to be SUPER technical - without permission, a person cannot display, use, or create derivative works from a copyrighted work.

I know...that sounds silly. YES! I'm telling you that if you buy a book on how to make something but the author or copyright holder does not give you permission to make the item or follow the instructions you can only read the book. HOWEVER, HOLD ON.

While it is not a true legal term, the argument is always that there is an "implied" license for a person who purchases a how to book to make the project. That only seems fair. Should that implied license also go to re-selling the book? There is a law that says in MOST circumstances one can resell the work once it is sold to them (First Sale Doctrine). What if the artist or creator does not wish for the item to be re-sold on ebay, but doesn't care about anywhere else???

While there are unique circumstances for every creation and every artist, there is one item that remains the same....TERMS OF USE. In this day and age, you can't install a computer program without agreeing to them, you can't watch a movie without seeing them....why shouldn't you own or use a copyrighted work without them?!

Very soon we are going to put up on our website a collection of Terms of Use statements. I recently became intrigued by them when I was at the hospital getting an X-Ray and the sticker they gave me that said "I WAS A GOOD PATIENT" had a great Limited License or Term of Use statement. It is true, I'm always thinking about this this stuff.

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Create with your Heart and Your Head!

Tammy