A Word About Copyrights and an Artist's Intellectual Property

The hot topic of the day is copyright protection. It is common sense that copying someone else's work is stealing, but there are many people out there who think that its ok. For those of you who think stealing is ok, I frown upon the person or people who failed to instill moral values in you. Most of the time, people will steal because they feel that the consequences of their actions are minimal if any. So I'm publishing my two cents in this blog to hopefully change your mind about stealing other people's artwork.

Remember that an artist owns the copyrights to their works the very second is it created. If you copy their work, you can be sued. It is true that a person must register their works with their local copyright office in order to legally enforce their copyright. However the concept, which is common sense, is that the work belongs to the artist, so don't copy it.

On the other hand, I believe in idea sharing. Being a software designer, I know that it's not always a good idea to reinvent the wheel, so we reuse code all the time. We call this reusable code "libraries." In an art sense, it's a bit more complicated. If you reproduce even a portion of the artwork, you are still infringing on copyrights. So I'm making this blog my official permission grant for other artists to get ideas from - but NOT COPY - my designs. Let me add a bit more fine print just to make sure we understand each other.

I post pictures of my designs in my blog and on MySpace mainly to promote my Etsy store, but also to inspire beginning jewelry designers. In fact, it would be the biggest ego-booster for me if someone would send me a picture of a jewelry piece that was inspired by one of my designs. However if you make an exact copy of my work, it's ok until you make a profit from it. So if you copy one of my designs and sell it as your own, you are stealing from me. On the other hand, I will give you permission to modify my design in any way, as long as you give due credit. For example, let's say you make a necklace I designed, but you use different color beads. Now this is truly your design, but when you display it please state, "Inspired by O June Jewelry" or something to that effect. This way, you will be respectful to myself and other artists who inspire your work.

The whole concept about copyrights and intellectual property is about respect. So I encourage you to be respectful to other artists and not copy their work. I have officially given permission for artists to "partially" copy my work, but other artists may not be so giving. Remember that you must ask permission if you would like to copy their work or even post pictures of their work on your website or blog. I DO NOT give permission to take my photos of my jewelry for your own use, but I will allow you to post links to the sites where my photo is located - that is, the whole website and not just a link to the file. If you must use my photos, you must ask for my permission in writing and I will grant it on a case-by-case basis. Also, just to add more fine print, I can reverse these permissions I have granted at any time without notice.

So I hope after reading this blog I have changed your mind about copying another artist's work. As an artist, I put my heart into all my work and I think you should, too. If you put your heart into it, then there is no need to copy someone else's work.