This is important and concerns everyone.
 
All GCU artists should check this blog:
 
http://mysimplethoughtsncreations.blogspot.com/
 
The blog owner is a digital scrapbooker from the Philippines who apparently uses GCU as a place to get art to use to make digital scrapbooking elements which she allows other people to download - a clear copyright violation unless she's asked your permission to use your art on her creations. In a brief examination, I noted Kathy Richardson's zodiac designs were being used, and so are designs from other GCU artists. The blog owner seems to have started raiding GCU in June, so it hasn't gotten very far yet, but of course, since other scrapbookers link to her stuff... well, you can imagine how it's going to spread.
 
I found several of my designs being used, and I immediately contacted her to tell her to remove my designs from her site at once. All GCU artists should check to find out if YOUR copyright is being infringed. If so, and her copyright violation bothers you, you should write and let her know that she doesn't have your permission to use your designs, and ask that she remove them.
 
Corrie
http://www.corrieweb.nl

Crediting me doesn't matter. She didn't ask permission, therefore she's in violation. And on the actual downloadable product, my name is never mentioned - it's Tess Creations on the kit.
 
Corrie
http://www.corrieweb.nl

Quote from Corrie_131338 on Jul 8^th, 2009, 12:14pm:

 
you're right about that!  I didn't see any of my stuff there, but i will have to check back from time to time.
 
she is also using popular cartoon characters........THAT can land her in court.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention Corrie.  We will contact her then follow up here.
 
Shaun

This reeks of copyright infringement. Bang on Corrie - regardless of credit given, without permission, this digital scrap booker should not be offering the creative of others and calling it her 'Freebies'. She states she "is just thankful for all the designers out there who keeps on sharing with us their talent and their gorgeous creations." and then adds  " I also created a separate blog to showcase my digital scrapbooking projects using all of the freebies offered by various designers" Perhaps a cease and desist letter from GCU to explain the designs on GCU (or otherwise) are not freebies and cannot be used without artist permission and arrangements made directly with artists whether that be granted freely or with image use remuneration. It is my experience that those who use the work of others in their 'own' creative without permission are cognitive of the copyright infringement. Her friend (Gina in Japan) should be located and contacted too since she is credited as the one who influenced this gal with her works and then 'shared' with her all of the sites to steal images from.

Thanks for reporting this Corrie.   I took a look at a her site.    I don't think she has any malicious intentions, just incorrectly assumes its ok to use images as long as you mention the source.
 
We can send her a scary email and I'm pretty confident she'll remove all the GCU artist graphics.   Before we do that lets make sure that is a smart move on our part.    There could potentially be hundreds/thousands of bloggers like her out there, so lets think how this should be handled from a big picture perspective .   Would a smarter move be to require her to display our Card Seller Widget?   Would we rather have hundreds of bloggers showcasing the card widget or is it more important for them to not use your graphics?      
 
Let me know your thoughts.    Its your art, so its really up to you.    My opinion is if the art is not be being used for profit or in a malicious manner, we should take the opportunity to sell some cards and improve our search rankings.  
 
Thoughts?

Quote from Nasser_16 on Jul 8^th, 2009, 1:07pm:

 
I"m brand new here, still setting up. I care more about my art and having some control over where it ends up and how it is used than I do about selling a few greeting cards.  My vote is cease and desist.  Guess I will follow how everyone feels before I upload more art.  Thanks for the discussion.

Nasser, we think there is *no* business opportunity here. While the blog owner may have no malicious intent - I didn't think so either - the fact is that she and her friends are illegally using *our* artwork to make their own online stuff, and what's worse, making it available for other digital scrapbookers to download. If you do make such an offer, I think you'll also have to allow GCU artists who do NOT want to participate in the scheme to opt out - and we'll be among them. In any case where my copyright is infringed upon, I intend to do everything available to me under the law to fight that infringement.
 
Corrie
http://www.corrieweb.nl