A Warning about Copyright in this forum

The Craft Robo Robo Master (or Adobe Illustrator) can be used to create CR readable templates from many sources. While we encourage you to post COPYRIGHT FREE templates (those made from copyright free or hand drawn images) you may not post templates that have been produced from COPYRIGHT PROTECTED images. This includes things like:

QK dies and fonts
Sizzix dies and fonts
commercial die cuts
commercial punches

Some sources of copyright free images would be:

Dover copyright free image collections
crafter's sourcebooks that state they are copyright free
anything you yourself own the copyright for (hand drawn art)

Be sure to read the UKS T&C for more info on the UKS policy on posting by members.

If you feel something posted here is not copyright free, please contact me. If it proves to be so I will immediately remove it.

Dover are not strictly speaking copyright free, only for your own projects and not for passing on the images or presumably templates

From the T&C:

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Considering the real-time nature of the UKScrappers, it is impossible for UKScrappers to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of UKScrappers...Although this Discussion Board does not and cannot review the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we at UKScrappers reserve the right to DELETE ANY MESSAGE FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages...

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and

Quote:

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You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this Bulletin Board.

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Having been caught up in copyright disputes in the past, it is important to state this is now the UKS policy on Copyright.

UKS is NOT the Copyright Police. It is not up to UKS to determine if something is copyright protected or not, or to determine when a violation has taken place. UKS WILL comply with any legal entity which contacts us regarding copyright violations, including the owner of the copyright or their legal representative when presented with proof of a violation and will remove the offending post/template immediately.

If you feel something posted on UKS violates copyright please use the legal channels provided for this - contact the copyright owner and report the post. THEY will examine the work and determine if the work is, indeed, copyright protected and contact UKS officially if the post/template needs to be removed.

If you suspect that YOUR OWN WORK has been copied, you need to pursue that legally, not with UKS. As we have seen recently it is all too easy to say something is a copy but proving it is difficult. UKS does not have the authority or the expertise to make that determination, not should we. But if you receive any judgment stating your copyright has been violated, we will comply with that and remove the item in question immediately upon notification of that judgment.

Just Cutters has offered their expertise on copyright issue but be aware they are only advisory in nature, and are not a legal entity. Even if they say "Yes, we believe this to be a copy" your best course of action is to contact the person you feel has violated your copyright (or allow JC to contact them on your behalf) and see if you can sort things out outside official legal channels. If that does not work, then this link to the UK Copyright Law site may offer some good guidance for you.

I need to flag this up again and state very clearly what the UKS position is on this sort of thing.

If you feel your copyright of work has been infringed on you need to:

1. Contact a copyright lawyer or Trading Standards or some other legal entity.
2. Open a case - that could be filing a lawsuit, or getting an agreement from Trading Standards that they feel there is a case to examine.
3. Await a judgement.
4. Notify UKS of a judgement against the member who posted the work. A case or judgement number and the person to speak to if it is Trading Standards, or an official letter from your lawyer will be al the verification UKS needs.

Until such time as there is a judgement, UKS will NOT remove work if an examination by us show that we feel there is doubt that the work is a copy.

Keep in mind that some things are simply not copyright-able. For example a basic flower, a circle or other common geometric shape or pattern unless it is an EXACT copy (or scaled copy) is unlikely to be upheld as a copyright violation. And "idea" is not copyright-able. Rather than case doubt on members we will leave their work in place until there IS a judgement against them, in which case UKS will remove the work.

We strive to be fair to all on UKS - we want neither open season on people's work (ie fair game for all to copy and share/sell) nor do we want the hint of possible violation with no proof and no judgement to tar any member unjustly. The only way to do this is to let the legal process run it's course and abide by any judgement handed down.

We will not tolerate posts that accuse a member of violating copyright without proof of a judgement. Please keep these discussions to PM or email until such time as there is something official to report!