4 ms·

I'm a lay person, but selling this book highlights: "CD-ROM included: easy-to-use screen resolution TIFF files of every image" If I'm buying a $200+ book with

I'm a lay person, but selling this book highlights: "CD-ROM included: easy-to-use screen resolution TIFF files of every image" If I'm buying a $200+ book with an "easy to use" CD of the images - they'd better be highlighting very very clearly that I can't use these in projects.

nsajko 5y ago
They're selling art, not a copyright law primer for lay people.
- whoknowswhat11 5y ago
  They are selling a book of surface textures to scenic artists including an easy to use CD of the images in digital format. Are you serious that this is like buying art? This really then feels like a TOTAL scam.
  - nsajko 5y ago
    It's not art meant for viewing pleasure, as far as I understand the intended use is rather as a reference work. I.e., the artist who uses the book should base their art on the photographs in the book (but of course without copying, unless they get a license to do so).
    - whoknowswhat11 5y ago
      Then this is SUCH a scam. I should base my art on the photos without copying. If it's just for me to look at and not copy, why the CD? I can look at the printed picture to base my art on that. Here is the amazon blurb "ready to be used in your designs, presentations, or comps, as backgrounds or for general visual information" What absolute garbage.
      - lukebitts 5y ago
        A good library of references is very much worth the price, even these days where you can find anything on the internet.
haswell 5y ago
I agree that the product description should be clear about acceptable use, but at the same time, the onus is on the person purchasing the product to ensure it's appropriate for the intended use. If I'm buying something like this with the intention of redistributing the artifacts, I'm going to be scrutinizing the hell out of this and possibly choosing not to buy based on the ambiguity in the product description.
- whoknowswhat11 5y ago
  It's not that ambiguous. Instead of a reference book of printed pictures only, they provide a CD with high quality images. The blurb says "... ready to be used in your designs, presentations, or comps, as backgrounds or for general visual information." Come on - this type of gotcha lawyering stuff is ridiculous.
  - rossjudson 5y ago
    I'm gonna "oh please" your "Come on". Take two seconds and google for a royalty-free image licensing agreement. The first one I found is six pages long, and contains all sorts of long and complicated legal fripper frappery. Something says Copyright (c) Somebody Year. Don't copy it, particularly for commercial use, unless you also have one of those 6 page "I'm allowed to do this without paying anything more" agreements.
bigiain 5y ago
Would that wording lead you to believe you have the right to republish the entire CDROM? Every audio CD I own has "easy to use high resolution audio files" on it, I've never been under the misapprehension that I'm allowed to "use those in projects" without negotiating an appropriate license. I do know I'll "get away with" ripping those CDs to use on my iPod, or putting them in as background music to a limited viewership work presentation, but that if I "share" those files I'm risking a copyright lawsuit. Why would images/textures be any different.
- whoknowswhat11 5y ago
  Because books of pictures 1) Don't normally come with a CD of the images in digital format 2) Don't include a blurb that says "... ready to be used in your designs, presentations, or comps, as backgrounds or for general visual information"! It would take 10 seconds to put in similar size font - not to be used for commercial use of any sort (which is most use these days).
  - klyrs 5y ago
    > It would take 10 seconds to put in similar size font - not to be used for commercial use of any sort (which is most use these days). That's not their obligation. The obligation is on the person who intends to use the work in a commercial context, to ensure that they have license to use it.
    - bigiain 5y ago
      > The obligation is on the person who intends to use the work in a commercial context, to ensure that they have license to use it. In _any_ context, not just commercial context. Copyright is "default deny". Unless you've been granted specific permission to copy a copyrighted work you cannot copy it for any reason apart from a few very tightly defined "fair use" exceptions - criticism, parody, news reporting, research and scholarship, and teaching. And keep in mind that "works" include pictures or photographs and are are by default copyrighted to their creator. You con't need to "register your copyright", although it's smart to as a way to help prove ownership it's not a requirement. Any photo you take or picture(/texture) you draw automatically is copyright to you.
anotherman554 5y ago
The subtitle of the book is "Visual Research for artists, architects, and designers" not "free pictures to include in your projects" so I don't think you would have bought the book thinking it was okay to use it in a video game.

nsajko 5y ago

They're selling art, not a copyright law primer for lay people.

whoknowswhat11 5y ago
They are selling a book of surface textures to scenic artists including an easy to use CD of the images in digital format. Are you serious that this is like buying art? This really then feels like a TOTAL scam.
- nsajko 5y ago
  It's not art meant for viewing pleasure, as far as I understand the intended use is rather as a reference work. I.e., the artist who uses the book should base their art on the photographs in the book (but of course without copying, unless they get a license to do so).
  - whoknowswhat11 5y ago
    Then this is SUCH a scam. I should base my art on the photos without copying. If it's just for me to look at and not copy, why the CD? I can look at the printed picture to base my art on that. Here is the amazon blurb "ready to be used in your designs, presentations, or comps, as backgrounds or for general visual information" What absolute garbage.
    - lukebitts 5y ago
      A good library of references is very much worth the price, even these days where you can find anything on the internet.

haswell 5y ago

I agree that the product description should be clear about acceptable use, but at the same time, the onus is on the person purchasing the product to ensure it's appropriate for the intended use. If I'm buying something like this with the intention of redistributing the artifacts, I'm going to be scrutinizing the hell out of this and possibly choosing not to buy based on the ambiguity in the product description.

whoknowswhat11 5y ago
It's not that ambiguous. Instead of a reference book of printed pictures only, they provide a CD with high quality images. The blurb says "... ready to be used in your designs, presentations, or comps, as backgrounds or for general visual information." Come on - this type of gotcha lawyering stuff is ridiculous.
- rossjudson 5y ago
  I'm gonna "oh please" your "Come on". Take two seconds and google for a royalty-free image licensing agreement. The first one I found is six pages long, and contains all sorts of long and complicated legal fripper frappery. Something says Copyright (c) Somebody Year. Don't copy it, particularly for commercial use, unless you also have one of those 6 page "I'm allowed to do this without paying anything more" agreements.

bigiain 5y ago

Would that wording lead you to believe you have the right to republish the entire CDROM? Every audio CD I own has "easy to use high resolution audio files" on it, I've never been under the misapprehension that I'm allowed to "use those in projects" without negotiating an appropriate license. I do know I'll "get away with" ripping those CDs to use on my iPod, or putting them in as background music to a limited viewership work presentation, but that if I "share" those files I'm risking a copyright lawsuit. Why would images/textures be any different.

whoknowswhat11 5y ago
Because books of pictures 1) Don't normally come with a CD of the images in digital format 2) Don't include a blurb that says "... ready to be used in your designs, presentations, or comps, as backgrounds or for general visual information"! It would take 10 seconds to put in similar size font - not to be used for commercial use of any sort (which is most use these days).
- klyrs 5y ago
  > It would take 10 seconds to put in similar size font - not to be used for commercial use of any sort (which is most use these days). That's not their obligation. The obligation is on the person who intends to use the work in a commercial context, to ensure that they have license to use it.
  - bigiain 5y ago
    > The obligation is on the person who intends to use the work in a commercial context, to ensure that they have license to use it. In _any_ context, not just commercial context. Copyright is "default deny". Unless you've been granted specific permission to copy a copyrighted work you cannot copy it for any reason apart from a few very tightly defined "fair use" exceptions - criticism, parody, news reporting, research and scholarship, and teaching. And keep in mind that "works" include pictures or photographs and are are by default copyrighted to their creator. You con't need to "register your copyright", although it's smart to as a way to help prove ownership it's not a requirement. Any photo you take or picture(/texture) you draw automatically is copyright to you.

anotherman554 5y ago

The subtitle of the book is "Visual Research for artists, architects, and designers" not "free pictures to include in your projects" so I don't think you would have bought the book thinking it was okay to use it in a video game.