Designers of digital scrapbooking elements and kits typically license the products. This protects their copyright and is an important part of their business. Whether you make digital scrapbooks to sell, for friends and family, or for your own enjoyment, understanding digital scrapbooking licenses and how they work is important.
Most digital scrapbooking products are sold with a license. This license clearly states how these items may be used. This isn't too much of an issue if you intend to use the digital scrapbooking items purely for personal use. However, if you are a designer and wish to sell them or if you are a scrapbooker for hire, then ensuring that you have the right license is very important.
Types of Digital Scrapbooking Licenses
There are two main types of digital scrapbooking licenses:
- Personal Use (PU) – when you buy a digital scrapbooking kit or item with a personal use (PU) license, this means that you can only use it to make digital scrapbooks for yourself. If you are looking to make digital scrapbooks for others then you need to check the PU license and see if this is acceptable or look for a scrapbook for others or S4O license.
- Commercial Use (CU) – a commercial use license allows the user to make and sell digital scrapbooks. There are variations on a commercial use (CU) license. These include a CU4CU license. This allows users to use the items to make kits or elements to sell to other designers. These designers, in turn, can sell products that incorporate these products. Another variation on the CU license is a scrap for hire or S4H license. This is for digital scrapbookers who create scrapbooks for others.
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to the licensing of digital scrapbooking products. For instance, giving credit to the designer may form part of the license with some designers and not be a requirement for others. Therefore, it is important to read an individual designer's terms of use (TOU) before proceeding. These are typically available from the designer's website.
Tips for Digital Scrapbooking Licensing
Here are some tips that will help you to keep you on the right side of digital scrapbooking license agreements:
- If the license terms are included within the downloaded files then make sure you keep this safe. You can then refer back to this at a later date if necessary.
- If the license terms aren't clear or if you want to check whether something specific is allowed, contact the designer directly and make sure that you keep a copy of their reply.
- Most designers will allow customers to "trade up" their license, for instance to pay an additional fee to convert a CU license into a CU4CU license.
- Just because an item is sold with a CU or commercial use license does not mean you are free to do what you like with the product. Some designers have very specific requirements, for instance that the items must form part of a kit.
If you produce digital scrapbooks purely for your own enjoyment then you do not need to worry too much about license terms. You certainly do not need to buy a commercial license. However, if you sell digital scrapbook services or make digital scrapbooks for others then you definitely need to be aware of licensing and terms of use agreements.
Kate Pullen - Kate Pullen is a freelance writer specializing in arts and crafts , and is an accomplished craftsperson. As well as being a designer / ...
