We Greeks have a funny way to deal with copyrights. We just ignore them.
It’s true, and sad. What’s more pathetic is the fact that obvious copyright violations are performed even by professionals. God knows how many times I’ve seen external work used without previous consent in various websites, advertising posters, even book covers. And it makes me wonder : how much were these people paid to perform this kind of “work”?
A relevant example : months ago, I happened to pass by a bookstore, where I saw something familiar : a book, using as a cover a well known picture in Internet artistic cycles, which was hideously “painted-over” to simulate a wine stain over the girl’s dress.
I contacted the artist, just out of curiosity, and I found out (not surprisingly) that of course, he had not given permission for using this picture. I don’t know what came of this story, obviously nothing happened. I find it outrageous though that some designer probably got paid for this kind of job. Well done, mate.
Copyrights policy is not something to be taken over lightly. Just because you found it at Google or an online gallery, it doesn’t mean that you can use it anywhere without asking for permission. Most professional artists I know will willingly give their permission for using their work for non-profit projects. Take your chances.
Not to forget : the first greek blog e-zine is no different. For their cover, they used this well known picture by Jenni Tapanila. Ask for permission, people, then use, for God’s sake.
Greece is a strange country. It has all the manpower and know-how it needs to push its Internet and Web services further, but it also has a portion of absurd Web “professionals” that take away all the credibility we could earn. It is sad.
7 comments on this post
Maria #1
25.Jan.06
*sarkasm* Now, to be fair, the artist who made the book cover changed the original design.
All inn all it’s sad that there are out there such people who call themselves professionals.
I assume that devianart has a disclaimer about copyrights, but are the works really protected? I believe it’s not, as long as the artist doesn’t have an official paper. Claims such as “I first posted this …” won’t hold in court.
Btw, is the second photo used as it was originally created? I’m not a member at devianart and I can’t access the photo.
Now, on a funnier note, I always get a chuckle when I see people at livejournal, who create user icons based on movie stills, claiming copyright rights. Not quite, dear, I don’t think the studio gave permission for derivative work.
Maria #2
25.Jan.06
Eeek! Where’s the edit comment plugin when you need it?
sarkasm –> sarcasm
inn –> in
Sugar #3
25.Jan.06
No edits, hun, no edits.
The second photo was used exactly as it is, a bit cropped maybe.
*sigh* some people…
Jim K #4
5.Feb.06
I’ve found two more pics from DeviantArtin the e-zine you mentioned above.To be frank they do mention that the photos are from DeviantArt but they don’t have permission to copy them.There are various copyright and privacy policies …blah …blah on DeviantArt.
Too bored to link them.
The think you describe, in my opinion,is part of the reason our country is SO F#$^ed up.But that’s a big discussion.
Anyway, just found your blog and i rather like it.I’ll keep on reading!
Sugar #5
7.Feb.06
Just stating that the photos are taken from DA is not enough. After all, DA does not own these pics, the creators do.
It is, indeed, a big discussion.
Thanks for your kind words, anyway.
Anthony #6
13.Feb.06
Copyright? In Greece? What’s that? Did you forget already all these books we were photocopying in the library? But to be honest, what do you expect when our own professors copy their notes from other Universities without even properly citing?
sugarenia.com - Web Standards, Accessibility & other Girly Stuff » Blog Archive » Why Greece will never succeed - Internetwise #74.Nov.06
[...] Reason #3: No respect for copyrights laws It’s not all about the music and how piracy kills it. When I devote my time to assemble a nice photo collage for use in my website, I don’t expect to see it everywhere in the greek internet. I don’t know why, but Greeks tend to ignore copyright laws as far as the Internet is concerned. And this does not concern only individuals… Even web design companies adopt this kind of techniques to get their job easily done. [...]