Copyright
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If you are a Decoupage enthusiast who is considering of re-selling your creations, then the question of copyright is a very important area to learn about.
Many designs in general are safe to use, however, most importantly – and in simple terms – if the design is from an individual artist, and you are thinking of re-selling your craft with their design on, and make a profit on that, it will raise legal questions. If however, you are creating crafts for your own pleasure, own purposes, and as hobby, then in most cases you are welcome to use the designs.
Please note, that each company uses individual artists to different extents, and each of them work in a slightly different way. The copyrights policies will therefore be different with all companies, depending on what sort of agreements or contracts they have in place with their own artists. It is therefore very important that you ensure, the designs you are planning to use are “safe” to use for the intended purpose.
As a general guideline, please see our example below, that will help you decide if the design is from an individual artist or not:
1) If there is an individual’s name showing in the title of the napkin
2) The name of the artist is also likely to show clearly on the actual design of the napkin, so please check the pictures
3) The individual’s name appears in the product tags at the bottom
4) There is likely a copyright warning message written in red in the description of the product.
5) If you haven’t noticed any of this in time, and purchased the product already, you can also check the corners of the napkin as there is likely be a ‘C’ mark for the copyright in one of the corners.
We have gathered some of their policies here, but please also read their permissions in the individual brands’ descriptions.
- Ambiente, has no particular problem with resale of products with their napkin designs. They would however appreciate seeing pictures of the crafts and creations, so please send us, and we will happily forward these to them for their considerations.
- For Paper+Design, it is ok to use the designs for hobby purposes but with regards to the products being sold on, using the designs to make a profit, there is the legal problem. It is best to contact P+D and ask for the designer’s permission and there may also be a consideration to pay commission to the designer.
- For Nouveau, the use of napkins for example napkin decoupage or general decoupage is allowed for the private hoppy or craft sector. In principle, the purchase of a design by a designer for the Nouveau company always includes the well-defined use of the design only as a napkin. In theory, if Nouveau would grant you a release for any other use, they would violate the rights of use, as the copyright for Nouveau – as the purchaser of the design – is clearly defined. Nouveau has also asked directly some of their designers and have been informed, that in principle the use is only allowed for the private hobby and craft sector, and as the company Nouveau, they may not grant any permission for any other use from their side in writing to third parties. But how far an alternative use will be done through a third party is of course difficult to control. What the reselling of single or small number of pieces concerns, is at the customers discretion.
