Kinder Friends,
I had to share this with you because I am still confused. I asked if I could repost this post so that maybe we could get some discussion about this HOT Topic! Each time I read it I take a different perspective on this situation. Please let me know what you think.
Hello DJ friends,
My name is Alix… I am the office manager here at DJ Inkers. We just wanted to take a few minutes to update you on our blogging & usage policies. This has been a hot point of discussion for awhile now… so we'd like to apologize for any confusion, miscommunication or inconvenience this may have caused you. We have been trying to figure out the best way to handle this so that we can grow as a company along with the ever-changing technology. The ways that people have used our clip art has changed a lot over the years! :)
Of course, we want our customers to be happy and to have fun using our clip art & fonts. We want you to be able to share & show your ideas too! However, as a business, we have to protect ourselves. We want new customers to discover DJ Inkers and to buy our products. But, will they still come to us if they can just download projects for free all over the internet? (This question is why this has been such a tricky situation for us.)
With all of that being said, we've had a company meeting to define our blogging & usage policies as clearly & simply as possible. Hopefully, in a way that benefits YOU as a user & customer… and protects us as a company as well.
DJ Inker's Usage Policy
1. Individual clip art images & fonts can NOT be posted for sharing on the internet (no sharing CD's, downloads, fonts, clip art).
2. You can NOT, under any circumstances, sell projects you made using DJ Inker's products. This is a copyright violation.
3. You CAN post projects that you've made using DJ Inkers products, as long as you follow these guidelines:
· Only post your projects on personal or educational websites, blogs & groups. No commercial sites (including teachers pay teachers & other businesses).· Files MUST be saved & posted in a 'flat' format (.PDF, .jpg, .gif, etc.) if they are available to the general public. (Password protected is preferred.)
· Do NOT post editable files (.doc, .eps, .ai, etc.) unless they are password protected and only given to people you know (students, parents, teacher aides).
· Every project must clearly state: "Graphics/fonts copyright DJ Inkers. http://www.djinkers.com/"
· If a single project is being downloaded more than 100 times (publicly), please contact us to discuss further terms *& possible purchase of your project.
· Businesses may NOT use our graphics on websites/blogs/marketing in any way.
4. You CAN decorate your personal or school blogs & websites using our products. Just be sure to note on your site: "Graphics/fonts used with permission from DJ Inkers" & link to http://www.djinkers.com/.
Again, we sincerely apologize for any confusion or misinterpretation of our terms of use. I hope this helps to clarify & settle the situation. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions. smiles@djinkers.com 1-800-325-4890
SHOULD I REMOVE MY FREEBIES OR NOT? I SHOULDN'T LET THIS STRESS ME OUT THIS MUCH...BUT I LOVE TO SHARE...THANKS, AMBER
Thanks Kinder friends for letting me repost your post!
8 comments:
When all this hoopla first started about DJI I went and looked at their TOU and they clearly stated that you couldn't share anything you made unless it was password protected and available only to friends/students. This email however says "password protection preferred" - the preferred being the key part. Since it isn't a requirement now, as long as your freebies are in pdf format I say its safe to leave them up! I think maybe DJI realized the uproar they had created and backtracked hurriedly! So, yay! you get to keep your freebies up and I get to keep downloading them - that's a win win for me!
Jennifer @ Herding Kats in Kindergarten
I agree with Jennifer. The letter from the DJ rep said you could give away your freebies as long as you document that you are using it. Kristin from A Teeny Tiny Teacher said she has the DJ clipart logo on her blog sonshe feels that's enough proof that she is giving them credit. Keep on doing what you love. And thank you for doing it so well.
I read this as you can leave your free files AS LONG AS the files are pdfs or other flat flies (these can not be edited). Oh and they have to have the little blurb about being DJ Inkers and have the link. I'd leave them up..
Please keep it up! What did you purchase them for but to use? Very irritated at DJ Inkers.
MY interpretation is that you can't sell things, but you can post free stuff...just not on TpT or TN, it'll have to be on your blog - and it has to be a PDF...
Jen Ross
The Teachers’ Cauldron
I took mine down when Tammy and I first found out that they changed their TOU. Then they had this "meeting" and changed again. So now, I'm going back and putting up my freebies. However, I do have one that only includes like 2 of their graphics and it's reached almost 2,000 downloads, so I might not put it back up. You are right though..it is SO confusing!
Laura
Kinder Kraziness
Thanks for sharing! Is is ok that I repost this on my blog for all to read? it is really confusing & its really sad that they don't support us :(
Color Me Kinder
It seems to me that if some bloggers take their DJ downloads down and then find that others have not, you may find some jealousy issues arise and they will "turn you in" to DJ Inkers.
I guess the question is how you interpret (and how DJ interprets) their policy. If you have a TPT store, and you regularly post about your products on your blog with links about it, is your blog a commercial blog or a personal blog? If you accept commercial ads on your blog, is it a commercial blog or a personal blog?
Then to me, the next question is this: What are the possible penalties? What are you really risking? Would they ask you to pay a fee for all of the previous downloads of your material, if they determined that your blog was a commercial blog? Or would you just receive a letter that asked you to remove them again? It's really about what you are willing to risk, I guess.
In any case, thanks for sharing what you have shared with us so far! Your material is great! I am sure that eventually, it will all work out somehow. Probably the safest thing to do is to just start replacing all of that artwork with Scrappin' Doodles and repost those freebies! It's a ton of work, I know. Maybe if you start with the most recent posts or the most popular ones, it won't be so bad....
Heidi Butkus
http://heidisongs.blogspot.com
http://www.heidisongs.com
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