Avoiding Copyright Problems with Your Original Greeting Cards

I was looking for help with purchasing the appropriate software to use in order to sell my original greeting cards and not have a problem with copyright of someone [else's] software.

Thanks for your response.

Lawanda


Hi Lawanda,

You'd be amazed at how frequently this question comes up. So I've already written a pretty comprehensive answer in this article on Greeting Cards Software Copyrights.

Here is another article which offers design suggestions and goes into the concept of buying Commercial Use Licenses for graphics you would like to use for profit.

To summarize:

1. Don't use anyone else's clip art or graphic designs without permission. You can purchase commercial licenses for some. Other artists allow their work to be used without charge. Check out Darren Rowse's Digital Photography School. Each issue of Darren's newsletter includes links for free Photoshop brushes, textures and lots of wonderful design tutorials.

2. Always read the Terms of Use before using another artist's work or graphic design tool. They are usually very short and straightforward. You needn't be a lawyer to interpret a statement like, “You may use my brushes on your website or in items you make to sell. Credit to me is always appreciated.”

3. Some artwork is in the Public Domain and may be freely used.

4. To start a business selling original greeting cards, you need the flexibility of a program like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements which is designed for commercial use.

Good luck with your original greeting cards!

Regards,
Eileen