Legal Info for Artists: Dog Eat Dog Legal System
There are so many cases of the big dog scaring the little dog that it’s refreshing to find an educational and entertaining tale where the bigger dog’s bark is worse than its bite. Disclaimer: upon reading this case, I couldn’t help the dog puns. So throw me a bone! Haute Diggity Dog is a puppy-sized business in a …
All About Etsy FAQs: Playing by the Rules
Don't get left out in the cold! Lauren aka stellaloella and the Community Team at Etsy have this important installment of the All about Etsy FAQ Series to share with you — especially newbie — Etsians! Etsy, over the company's short lifespan (two and a half years young!), has developed rules and guidelines that …
SarahSays: Trademarks
So you’re sitting in a cafe and you're online with your laptop —you know, the one with the cute little fruit logo. You're buying handmade items from that web site with the orange and white brick rectangular symbol on every page. You suddenly get a craving for a hamburger from the golden arches and a soda with the …
Etsy’s Copyright Policy
As a marketplace, Etsy serves, on the one hand, as a place where people come to buy and sell, but on the other hand, it's also a place where ideas and inspiration flow. Sometimes this is in a friendly way, and sometimes in a not so friendly way, and sometimes in a misinformed way. In any case, there's a lot of anxiety on …
SarahSays Copyrights: Register for U.S. Copyright Online
As Etsy's in house attorney and as a jeweler, I was so exited to hear this news I'd been waiting for for a long time. The United States Copyright Office announced that it is conducting a beta test of its web-based registration system. The public can request to participate in this test. Beta testing covers …
Poster Contest Opt-Out Week
The time has come to begin printing the winning entries from the poster contest we had last month. The contest itself was a great success. We had over 1000 entries, 60 winning posters, and 180 honorable mentions. The original plan was to individually contact every seller who had an item included on a winner …
Pull My Finger Fred
Sometimes a court case comes along that really affects my life. And sometimes a court case just makes me laugh and want to share it with the world. JCW Investments, Inc. v. Novelty, Inc., 2007 WL 817673 (7th Cir., March 20, 2007) is entertaining but also illustrates an important copyright question: where is the line …
Sarahsays Copyrights: Creative Commons Licensing
You're walking through an art museum and see an amazing work of art. It's inspiring. Maybe you feel compelled to knit a sweater with its crazy color combo. Or maybe you just want to keep a personal scrapbook of your tour through the museum. Or maybe the fluid lines of the artwork hit you with the creative …
Using Fabric in your Creations: Not All Fabric is Created Equal
SarahSays will be writing a series on Using Fabric in Your Creations. I have seen a lot of forum debate on the use of fabric in creations. I hope to shed a little light on this complicated topic. *Not all Fabric is Created Equal:* When discussing United States copyright and fabric, usually someone brings up the …
