Digitized Embroidery Designs - Copyright and Licensing

Digitized Embroidery Designs - Copyright and Licensing

One of the most cumbersome elements of producing fabrics digitizing with embroidered images on them is avoiding licensing problems or infringements to copyrights. If you arrive at an image simply by copying from a website, there is usually no way to know if it is in the public domain or not. Unlike a phrase or document, images embroidery digitizing are hard to investigate thoroughly enough to know whether they are free to use or not. With words, it is simple to run them through Cityscape or other tools and find out if they have been published online; in printed form it is not as easy to determine. No software can scan an embroidery digitizing service image and respond to its copyright status. It is too complicated a process. If you find images on Goggle Images and other databases, there is usually a tag applied that indicates if the images are free to use or require the permission of the owner. If you plan to use the images commercially, you embroidery digitizers probably will need to pay some kind of royalty for the convenience of their use. This can be an expensive way to receive an image because many owners want a hefty one-time payment along with a minor percentage for each use. Another copyright problem can arise if you use a legitimate image that has reference to certain embroidery design organizations, either in letters or words. This gray area can get to be quite sticky if you are commercially successful with the product that bears the image. It is usually best to stay away from references to any incorporated company, sports team, government organization, or real person.