Plain English copyright information

Hello Photomanip--Club members.

 A note about rejection. If I reject a submission you have made, it is generally because I don't believe you have provided adequate accreditation, or you have not complied with the explicit rules of one of your stock providers. If, in a stock accounts rules of stock use, there is a clause that says -

'you must always credit me in the artist notes by putting either - :dev username: or ::icon username: '

...then I expect that you do what that stock provider asks for. I don't write their rules but I will expect that users agree to them before using their stock.


I have written a journal which, hopefully, will help to clarify copyright and dA's policies about stock use.

Copyright and stock use (in plain English)A plain English interpretation of all things copyright in relation to photomanipulation.
This journal is an attempt to remove any confusion about the FAQs and deviantArt copyright policy that relate to photomanipulation and using other people's work as a component or resource in your own.


  The official Copyright Policy - about.deviantart.com/policy/co…
You should read it all and try to take in what it is saying, but the part of most relevance, when it comes to using other people's work (in your own), starts at the paragraph headed - What is Copyright Infringement? ...and ends at the end of the paragraph that is headed If you take my work down am I protected from a lawsuit? Pay attention to the cautions from deviantArt.
In plain English... You can't use or upload all (or parts of) other people's work without permiss

There still seems to be some confusion about what is, and what is not, acceptable stock, and while each group makes their own rules about what is accepted into their galleries, I wanted to explain my own criteria when I look at submissions here.

I will accept submissions where there is a clear authority from the copyright owner for you to use it. That can be via licence, or terms & conditions of use, or written authority from the copyright owner. In the comments on your submission, I expect links back to the actual resource and, if it is not so obvious, maybe a link back to the licence or conditions of use so that I can see you have respected the copyright owners wishes. You must include links back to the actual resource, rather than just to the website where you found it.

Conforming to dA's recommendations, I will not accept submissions containing screenshots, celebrity images or video game sprites unless you have obtained written permission from the copyright owner.

The most important thing is to respect the wishes of the owner of the work you want to use. If I have any doubts about whether you have done that, I will reject, rather than accept, a submission.

There are a lot of copyright free, or photo-manipulator friendly resources out there and I will try to put a journal together in the near future that lists some of them. For now, a dear dA friend has previously compiled a list and I can do nothing better than point you to it

Great Option: Copyright Free ImagesDid you know that there are tons of wonderful copyright free photos? They are called 'public domain images'. It takes a bit more to find the right one for your design (and the resolution is varied although not worse than a lot of DA stocks ), but hey, you don't have to worry about begging for model releases, waiting for permissions and so on! On the long run I bet you even save some time.
"Works in the public domain are those whose intellectual property rights have expired, been forfeited, or are inapplicable. ... Derivative works include translations, musical arrangements, and dramatizations of a work, as well as other forms of transformation or adaptation. Copyrighted works may not be used for derivative works without permission from the copyright owner, while public domain works can be freely used for derivative works without permission. Artworks that are public domain may also be reproduced photographically or artistically or used as the basis of new, interpretive works."  

Sooon I will try to collect some of my favourite works from our galleries for a feature here, but for now, best regards.

David