CreativeMYK

FAQ

Q: What’s up with the prohibition on “trademark” use of the artwork.  You may not necessarily use artwork from our site for a logo or trademark.  There are three main reasons for our prohibition. 

A:
1. We cannot guarantee that there is not a third-party already using the same or similar art for a logo or trademark.  We do not want liability for third-party infringement.

2. We do not wish to force our “submitting artists” to allow the royalty free use of artwork as a permanent brand for some third-party.  You may contact the artist and request such a license, but it is not part of our service. 

3.  Often churches or organizations upload artwork that contains their logo, which they intend to allow you to use for artwork, flyers or material that is intended for use in connection with that organization.  In this sense, if you are authorized by that organization to use their logo for your intended purpose, that is between you and the organization.  Because we cannot determine who may and who may not use certain logos, we simply prohibit use of a design as a trademark.

These prohibitions are not intended to prevent “use” but “use as a brand” for offering goods or services.

If a Calvary Chapel from “Smallton” puts its church logo up for its members to download and use for blogs and affinity groups, we suspect that the church would not want a totally unrelated church to use the same logo for its church or affinity groups.

 

Q: What’s the deal with not using the Creative Commons license?

A: We do not want to strip our artists of their underlying rights when they submit artwork.  In fact, some art might be already copyrighted and owned by the party submitting it.  The artwork might even be a church or organization’s artwork that it desires to disseminate, but it not “public domain” because the church or an individual artist created it and owns the underlying rights.

We obtain a “license” for the underlying artwork, which we then re-encode for our site and for our purposes.  We then offer free use of that under license.  The net result is that the end user gets free use of images without stripping third-party artists of their rights.

 

Q: When I submit my artwork, do I still own the copyright?

A: Yes, you own the copyright to your original creation.  We take your work and re-encode it to fit our digital specifications and take a copyright of our own in the derivative created by us.  You can still use your artwork in whatever way you see fit, including giving it, licensing it, or otherwise disposing of it in any way you would like.

 

Q: How do I know that I’m clear on copyright law when I submit artwork?

A: generally the law of copyright starts from this premise: “the owner of the copyright is the CREATOR of the work, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary.”

This means that if you created the work from scratch, and did not have an agreement (or a job as an artist for an employer who expects that you create for the company), then the work is likely yours to own and to grant rights to use.
Favorable:
Did you take the photo yourself?
Did you draw the artwork from scratch?

Unfavorable:
Did you copy something that pre-existed?
Did you use the image of a real person?

Example of infringement:
You see a photo of something in a magazine, and you look at the photo as you paint, draw or digitally create something that looks “similar.”  You have probably “copied” a pre-existing work that belongs either to a.) the original photographer, or b.) the magazine, or c.) an intermediary that manages the rights.

If you must paint or draw or create by looking at an image, you must either clear rights to the underlying image, or take the image/photo yourself.

The exception might be the use of underlying photos that are public domain (generally over 75 years old) or otherwise unprotectable, which is a difficult thing to assess.

 

Q: What rights will CMYK have to use or grant to others?

A: We have the right to use the images as encoded by us for any purpose except for trademark rights.  Our rights in the submitted artwork allow us to license, sublicense, and use the artwork on the site, on other sites, in syndication to third-parties, in magazine and print, and any other commercial or non-profit purpose. We will not use the artwork for anything that we deem immoral, scandalous or disparaging.

 

Q: I’m with a magazine, website or other publication.  Can I use some of the images on your site?

A: We grant a royalty free license to use our artwork for non-advertising based periodical use.  We do not grant rights to any book use, cover art, or for use that is not considered “periodical” with a shelf-life of more than six months.

Typical uses that are permitted without further licensing:

--magazines for editorial use (non advertising)
--churches for PowerPoint or other multimedia displays
--blogs, websites, flyers, and other media that is not intended as advertising
--backgrounds on church worship, sermon overheads and projectors for church services

If you wish a commercial license, you may contact CMYK or the author.

 

Q: I’m a church employee. How can I use the artwork on your site?

A: You may use the artwork in any way that is outlined in the Terms & Conditions, or not prohibited therein.  Typically, churches and organizations may use the artwork for anything except as the “logo/brand” for the organization, and not for advertising.  You may obtain these permissions from the original creator.

Typically churches will use the artwork for:

--websites, blogs, emails
--bulletins, brochures, bulletin boards, internal church print matter
--overhead media such as worship lyrics, sermon outlines, dramatic performances

 

Q: Can I change the artwork that I download from CMYK?

A: Yes, as long as your use of the artwork is in conformance with the Terms & Conditions, you may manipulate, remix, tweak, and edit the artwork.  Because we do not have the right to grant you the underlying copyrights, your derivative is considered a licenses work under the CMYK agreement and you may only do with it what you could have done if the artwork had remained unchanged.

 

Q: Can I redistribute the artwork from CMYK?

A: We ask that you use our site for any redistribution.  In other words, whether you alter an image and want to redistribute it, or simply want to distribute the original image from CMYK, we ask that you upload the image to the site and ask your readers, members or friends to come through a link to CMYK to download the image.