| || Home || SARA MOON COPYRIGHT ISSUES This page contains the following headings: || Copyright in General || Initial Protection || What Constitutes Infringement? || The following is based on my own views and experiences and must be offered without prejudice and with the certainty that regulations will doubtless vary by country. It is offered strictly in relation to Sara Moon Artworks, though I will use other issues by way of illustration. I would strongly advise anyone seeking commercial gain from work not of their own creation or substantially similar to that of other known works (of any sort) to take professional advice before doing so. Copyright relates to two-dimensional works such as the written word, artwork and design. It is a legal apparatus to protect authors and artists from those who would otherwise seek financial or other gain from the hard work of others, diluting or destroying the opportunities for profit owed to the actual owner. An originator can sell or license copyright to a third party and may of course choose to elect different third parties for different works. An artwork is copyright to the originator without need of any kind of registration with any official body of any sort. This remains the case for 70 years beyond the originators death, as ownership can be and usually is inherited. By way of additional dateline protection originators often ‘date file’ a work by lodging it with a professional body or simply by posting it to themselves in an envelope, the seal of which would carry some recognised date authentication - a Post Office stamp or registered post label over the seal etc., but this really is belt and braces provided the original is signed by the creator. Any challenger to copyright would need to show an exact original work of an earlier date, which of course they would not be able to do. WHAT CONSTITUTES AN INFRINGEMENT? When asked, authorities would look at all breaches from exact copies to those which they would consider to be ‘substantially similar’. It would then be a matter for the parties involved to prove who’s work was the original. (See Initial Protection above.) HOW CLOSE CAN A COPY BE AND YET BE ‘DIFFERENT’? It seems that much of this question comes down to the image portrayed and the medium used to portray it. For example a photograph copied and sold on as a photograph without the original owners consent would constitute and infringement, where as a painting ‘based’ on a photograph is NOT the photograph and as such any claim against copyright would be more difficult to win as the artist could claim the piece was inspired by but not an actual copy of the original photograph. Such ‘copying’ has been commonplace for hundreds of years as artists were/are ‘inspired’ by other artworks let alone photographs. On my sensual-arts.com Web site there is a section called ‘Students Corner’ and within that an area I call ‘Cheat like Mad!’ where you will find dozens of examples of professional (read commercial) artworks alongside the photographs that inspired them. In the vast majority of these cases the original photograph can actually be seen to have been TRACED - not just copied - and yet the artist has been able to reproduce the ‘new’ art work for (in most cases) substantial financial gain. With the passage of time, artists, photographers and others are becoming more sensitive about their imagery being copied and many more challenges are being made. These appear to be most successful where it can be shown that an image or object created by one person, and copied by another, CAN result in a successful challenge. Recently, a figurine of some old folks on a bench inspired an artist to create an painting based upon it, and it was successfully challenged. Most often, challenges are successful where it can be shown that an item 'substancially' similar to an original creation, can be seen to create a choice for the consumer which would result in the original creator being 'robbed' of financial gain from their work, then a challenge will be successful. A good example of this, in the case of Sara Moon, would be creating cross stitch patterns for commercial gain using Sara Moon images as this challenges both the artists copyright AND that of Lanarte who hold exclusive rights to the production of Sara Moon images for cross stitch patterns. ‘SHOWING’ WORKS WITHOUT THE OWNERS CONSENT There is a HUGE difference between ‘showing’ works and ‘publishing’ works without consent. On my website sensual-arts.com, I have a section called ‘Admiration & Inspiration’ It deals with Artworks I admire and Photographs that have Inspired me in my own art. The hundreds of artworks within those galleries are classed by Classic Art, Modern Day Art, Modern and Classic Pin-Up Art and Illustrative Art. Within all of that there are quite obviously the works of many dozens of artists (including Sara Moon). On the entry page to the website I offer to remove any item any owner would want me to, but also, whenever possible, I offer links to artists own website or that of legitimate purchase sources. To date all I have ever received from artists or their agents has been kind comments about the site itself and thank you’s for showing their work there. Indeed in more than one case artists or agents have offered to pay me commission on sales resulting from the works shown on the site, though I have not as yet taken up that option as I prefer to retain complete control of the images I would want to be seen on my site. The message here then , is if you wish to show the art or photography of a third party, give them credit and links where possible. It would appear then that promotion without the profit motive is acceptable to most owners as it seeks to increase exposure and sales to their benefit. As stated previously, it is unauthorised profit from their works that offends and is what copyright is there to protect. Beyond that, there is of course dilution of sales caused by individuals having access to works of sufficient quality to 'satisfy there need'. This criterion has been brought to the fore by Internet access. Not that long ago the odd person having access to and the means to make an adequate copy of a work was so small as to be both insignificant and hard to trace. Today, that has changed dramatically with images posted to the internet, downloaded and and printed on printers which in many cases are very sophisticated indeed - at very little outlay. This has led to test cases that attempt to ascertain whether an image shown on the Internet for free and down-loadable, is in fact an infringement of copyright or a promotional tool to the benefit of the copyright holder. My understanding is that (as I write - 2005), an image large enough to indicate what an image portrays WITHOUT being large enough to satisfy the viewers needs, would not infringe copyright and be deemed a promotional aid. Having said that, there are those who guard there copyright very jealously indeed. I remember some years ago, whilst I was working for a well-known, top-end, and highly successful UK furniture manufacturer called Parker Knoll, that they quite innocently included an artwork on the wall of a room-set within their brochure. Even though they had purchased the work to include in the picture, they were challenged by the owner of the art work who demanded that they either paid for the right to show the work within their brochure or withdrew the brochure from distribution immediately. Maybe the artist believed that Parker Knoll sought to enhance the desirability of their products by showing that discerning purchasers of this artists work would perhaps want to purchase Parker Knoll too (known as sale by association) - Or perhaps the artist just saw an opportunity to make a quick buck at PK’s expense! Either way it proves both the degree by which copyright can be fought and enforced - PK paid up, and, that the legitimate purchase of a work in no way constitutes ‘ownership’ of copyright to any degree whatsoever. SARA MOON COPYRIGHT AND THE ORIGINAL ARTWORKS The copyright to all of Bijan's work as 'Sara Moon' rests with the artist and not with Red Baron or its successors, Verkerke/Scandecor or its owners or subsideries or any other such bodies. Requests for permission to use the Sara Moon works can now be lodged though this website by emailing copyright@sara-moon.com. PSP Users (etc) please see below, as it may not be necessary for you to make contact first, provided the rules stated are respected. In general terms and as explained elswhere in this document, an artist has copyright of their work as a natural right without need of any kind of registration with any official body of any sort. This remains the case for 70 years beyond the originators death, as ownership can be and usually is inherited. THE SARA MOON GALLERIES - RESPECT & CAUTION WITH IMAGE QUALITY The images in the main Sara Moon Gallery pages are mostly about 6 inches tall and would reproduce at 100dpi (Dots Per Inch) A printing terms that relates to the number of dots that make up an image.) To be of any real use to a professional printer the works would need to be at least 300dpi - 600dpi and often very much higher - and of course a lot larger than 6 inches tall. So, although the gallery works could be resampled to 300dpi, they would then need to be reduced to 2 inches tall to gain or retain any real quality - Hardly the stuff for any major print run. SARA MOON COPYRIGHT AND CROSS STITCH PATTERNS Please be aware that creating your own patterns from Sara Moon artworks does offend the copyright of the artist and/or official cross-stitch pattern owners and as such would be illegal. Even if your work is not an exact copy, by stitch or by colour codes or even by minor changes to the actual image, if it can be seen to be ‘substantially similar’ to those artworks and/or patterns licensed, then this would constitute an infringement of copyright. Of all the copyright questions and queries that arise, requests to use Sara Moon works within PSP Tutorials and Stationery etc., by far exceeds the rest. The use of Sara Moon works as an integral part of PSP creations is acceptable provided that the quality of the image used does not exceed 600 pixcels at its greatest length and has an original resolution not greater than 100dpi. Any such works used should be credited to the artist Sara Moon. This website address - http://www.sara-moon.com - must also be provided within the finished work, though this need not be a live link. If a dedicated page of Sara Moon related works is created, then (once approved) a link to that page can be provided on this site's Links Page. Should any viewer be able to challenge, modify or correct any statement made above, I would be very happy to listen and to make adjustments, modifications and/or deletions where inaccuracies or omitions can be proven. John D Moulton ||
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