07 October, 2009

Copyright quotes Creativity - a blog disclaimer

In recent years there has been a boom in internet and related pursuit like blogging. Hence, most of the people of such creative line are aware of the crimes and laws like copyright against those crimes for protecting the original ideas.

So what is Copyright ?

Copyright, this © symbol means that from the moment you create something which is original on the paper, it is believed as copyrighted. Therefore, if someone wants to use your work, they will eventually have to ask your permission to republish it. The alterations or remix to your work can be done only when you permit it for.

In the most convenient way to quote Copyright is like an umbrella protecting your original ideas from any damage. Perhaps it gives the originator to claim few exclusive rights of the product created.

Creative people put so much of their attention and hard work in their art to be created. Being an artist, I understand the emotions attached with the art-work. They put so much of their time, thought and idea to create that unique piece. And then the other person uses your created art-work, and gets all the credit. You can imagine, what goes through the creator’s mind at such moment!
Perhaps, Creativity must be cared by Copyright.
Many a time, creativity/art of others inspires our own thought. Hence, while blogging, people tend to use the pictures/ photographs found in Google image or other similar platforms. Although, it is found that the bloggers use such pictures/ photographs as a source of inspiration or simply as an enhancer of blogger’s write-ups.

But law is a law and there is no scope of excuse for self-defense and under no condition the artist/creator’s feelings can be hurt. So at present scenario, one has to be very careful while using the art-work of some other person whether it is copyrighted or not.
The only standard solution to the problem is to respect art and practice that the copyrighted works must always be used with the permission. Key rule or a legal clause to remember, that only giving the credit to the copyrighted esteem art-work is not enough, it is mandatory to take the permission from the creator of the art-work.
Ever since I have acutely understood the blogging sphere, I made sure to protect my art-work which is in public forum, from any infringement and reuse without my permission.

I was very fortunate enough to get the pictures/photographs/poems contributed for my blog from my very dear friends.

Yes! They Willingly gave me their art-works.Or let me declare it like this I took their permissions before publishing their art-works in my blog.
Needless to say, my friend’s art-work is so inspiring and moving. So a section in the blog was created to list the friend’s names for the contribution made. This was an alternative way to give credit to those people. And I still maintain such Best practice.

But between those perfect shots few mistakes were made. Yes! In the beginning of my careers in blogging, I used in my blog, few photographs/pictures from Google Image search and other similar platforms, which is quite a common ritual among the bloggers. However, I made sure to link all those pictures linked with the backlinks. I wanted to believe it was enough done by my part.

The perception vanished, the moment I got a mail from anonymous "X". I never came across to anything like this before which is why it was a strange setback for me.

Below follows the mail from the anonymous, then a mail followed by me as a reply and then another mail as a feeling revert back from the anonymous, “X”. Please go through the mails mentioned below to understand it better:


  • Mail from the Anonymous “X
"I am very surprise to see that my photo of the pebbles has been used without my permission... I am not sure how this has happened since the image was listed on flicker and I do not allow access to my images for blogging unless specific requests are made???????????????? I do allow some of my images to be used if I am fully referenced and if I agree with the subject matter of the blog or article! I did not give permission in this case."


  • then goes MY response...
"Hi 'X',
With reference to your mail, I heartily apologize for the photo of your been used without permission.
Honestly if you believe me, I had no idea that this photograph was reserved with rights. If I had any idea, I would have definitely taken your permission.
I have removed the picture form my blog, kindly check the link and forgive me for the sheer mistake been done!
I heartily appriciate and adore the creativity and definitely understand you concern over this issue. However, I still beleieve You will understand after reading this and accept my apology!!"


  • and here goes X’s response to my Mail..
"thank you for your kind note! I do understand mistakes are made. I have not put a copy right on all my images because I thought the flickr security measures were adequate...apparently not.
I have been losing revenue with some of my images especially the borealis photographs and decided finally I had to get on top of things. I have had to contact 3 blogs this week.
Thanks for the speedy response. I did like the concept of the blog! Lovely. Now we have spoken I am happy for you to use it or I can send / upload one with my copyright on if you like.
I do appreciate your comment thanks and kind regards 'X'."


Everybody have a right to claim for their belongings. Therefore, I heartily respect the concern over the issue.
I also have one of my posts of the blog which have been used in some other website by a stranger. I got aware of it recently. I tried contacting that person to claim, even commented but till now neither any response came nor my blog post have been removed from that site.

Hence, being an artist myself, I definitely can understand this vulnerability of such deep issue and can empathize with such circumstances completely. It was very upsetting. It definitely hurts when, despite your so many efforts to avoid such issues, you end up in something so embarrassing. I waited eagerly for the response from 'X' and got comforted only after getting positive 'X' response. I’m glad that 'X' understood, it was a mistake made and accepted an apology.

With this post, I also take an opportunity to create my blog disclaimer and other the blog-rights. Please go through the Link for mutual benefits.
Creative Commons License


Note
  • Also would like to declare that Few images used in my Blog are taken from Google Image.
  • "If in case, I am using any image with rights reserved, please let me know I shall remove them immediately.
  • I appreciate the exclusive rights of the art-work.
  • Hope you learnt something useful from this post..try earning the benefits :)

11 comments:

  1. Greetings Rachana... Landing here through Pri's blog.

    I have had a similar experience with a picture from deviantart... the photographer was kind enough to send me a similar mail.

    2 points to take home... display ur copyright info/status and respect other's too by asking permission if the copyright is restricted.

    Good informative post.

    Its a pleasure to meet you here.. Have a nice day.

    cheers...

    ReplyDelete
  2. well said ..

    Definitely Creativity must be copyrighted.

    you have a very nice blog ...

    following you

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very Nice post..
    Well, Very often I use pictures from google images without permission or providing link..after reading your post, I would try my best to avoid it...
    Very true said..that creative people do a lot and using it without giving credit to them would not be right... :)
    And the best way to feel what happens when someone use you creative work without giving you credit is to empathize yourself with the Artist... :)

    Cheers!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rachana,

    In my blog if I use google image, in the end of the post, I just write off Source from Google.

    Yes in Flickr many misuse ( including newspapers where ppl get the image without permission from the author and use for their page) and its better to get permission before you use.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ Arv
    Welcome to My Space..

    COmpletely agree with u, Yes! Copyright is a very big issue and only this is that We need to be very careful in handling the creativity.

    Keep the Spark alive..

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ Suree
    Welcome Virgo-fellowhood..

    Thank you so much for your encouragement...it helps a lot!

    Keep the Spark alive..

    ReplyDelete
  7. @ Amit Singh
    I,m glad that You could learn something from my experience...Its very imp. to understand right legal rights when it comes to creativity!

    Celebrate(c)Blogging Bond..

    ReplyDelete
  8. @ Priya
    Yes! Dear...after this I learnt my lesson for sure.

    I'm glad that U are always there supporting and helping me think right throughs. Feel so secured!Indeed!


    Celebrate Life..

    ReplyDelete
  9. a very informative post rachana..
    kudos!!
    m also doin the same copy paste task for my posts...i ll take care of it nw onwards..bt m wondering if i shud delete already used pics or wait for Mr. X to send me a mail :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. @ Vishal

    May YOU never come across any such mail from Mr.X,

    But remember...Being a bit cautions will help in the Long run.
    Wish U all the best :)
    And keep updates!

    Cheers!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I had issues with copyrights so many times, but usually that was me who had to write mails to people when they republished my stories and articles without my permission. And while some people took them off their blogs after I contacted them, some were ignoring me and it took a lot of efforts to make them remove my content from their space.

    I too use mostly images from google images, most of them supposedly are copyrighted, however it is always very tough to track it down since many times one and the same picture has been reposted on different sites.

    Lately I thought Wikipedia is a good source of pictures when you write some travelling articles for example. They always show the copyright license and explain if and how you can reuse the image.

    For my e-book I had to contact all the authors of the pics and asked them for the permissions which took a while but now I can be sure noone will write me such mails.

    It is very simple to plagiarise in Internet and claim as yours something which is not. But most of bloggers do it unknowingly, especially when it comes to pics, though it does not excuse them. It is worse though when the articles and stories are plagiarised, then it means someone did it absolutely conciously and it brings only negative feelings.

    ReplyDelete

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