![]() ![]() ![]() (Although some would argue heavily against anyone altering another person’s artwork). I don’t even mind that they are digitally updating them to ensure they come out looking their best when printed. I actually don’t mind the fact that they are doing the hard work of digging through these archives and curating collections of images for people who don’t have the time or inclination to do so. While I will admit that most of these services do in fact put in many many hours of hard work to sources these images, digitally update them for optimal printing, crop them to better fit various common size format needs for our modern day audiences, or even go as far as altering them to remove details they find distracting, and yes, while all that hard work is valuable, it still does not change the fact that they are not the original authors of the work they are selling and are choosing not to credit the original artist in any way.ĭo I think it is wrong for them to sell these images? No. Or if there is recognition that these are “vintage” images and not their own artwork that they are selling, there is still no attribution of the work to any artist. Why am I harping on this? Because there are, A LOT, of digital download services out there right now gathering up artwork in the public domain, stripping the pieces of their original titles and artist’s name, throwing them up on their digital storefronts and then selling the digital downloads of the images with no recognition that the work is not their own. Just because the creator is dead and has been dead for the past 70 years, doesn’t give anyone the right to strip their name from their artwork. ![]() In my personal opinion, just because a work is no longer copyrighted to the artist who created it, doesn’t mean that the artist doesn’t deserve recognition for their work still. This is an important question that I think too often goes unasked. In addition, things that are Public Domain in the United States, may not be in other countries, so just do your research. To be 100% certain, always be sure to carefully read any information on the website where you are obtaining your images from to ensure that they have the rights to be sharing the images and have not set any limitations on your use of them (ie can be used for personal or educational use only). What all that means for you is this: if a work is in fact 100% in the public domain, and you obtained it from a public domain source, then it is in fact legal to print, sell, or do whatever you would like with the work. ( You can read more about CC0 here) What That Means To You The term CC0 was created to help solve this problem by giving creators a more universal way to waive all their copyrights. The legal system is a bit of a tangle over the term “Public Domain” with some jurisdictions recognizing differing rules for how and when rights are automatically removed or granted from a creative work. (This is how websites like Unsplash work).Īnother term that has been newly created to designate those creative works that no longer have any copyrights assigned to them is CC0 (Creative Commons Zero). Meaning that anyone can use it freely without having to seek permission, or pay usage fees to the original creator.Īrtists can also CHOOSE to place their work into the Public Domain right away if they so desire. In general, copyright protection lasts the lifetime of the artist plus an additional 70 years after their death. Which means that during that time, the artist, or their family, own the exclusive rights to the work, and if anyone else wants to use it, show it, print it, etc they need to gain some form of permission from the copyright owner first, often this permission includes a usage fee.ĪFTER this period expires, meaning the creator has died and 70 years have passed since their death, the copyrights on their creative work are terminated and the item passes into the “Public Domain”. When an artist creates a piece of creative work, that work is immediately granted a copyright to them. A Quick Guide To Using Public Domain Artwork What Does The Term “Public Domain Mean? ![]()
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