The best solution is to do your artwork yourself to avoid copyright issues.That’s the best solution you gave at the end of the video.Thanks so much for your clarification!👍👍👍👍
Thanks Craig, I appreciate you doing the "deep-dive" work that I should have done before I purchased subscriptions on any of these websites claiming that we have the commercial rights to their designs. Because what I interpret Amazon to be really saying is that we have to own the copyright AND the publishing rights. They don't say we have to own the copyright OR the publishing rights. I don't believe that Amazon really cares if we have the publishing rights (i.e. commercial license), they want us to OWN the copyrights for the images that we're uploading to their KDP platform. Now, on their Merch by Amazon platform, they will accept the commercial license agreement. But they seem to be very particular about their Book Publishing platform. And the more I think about it, the more sense it makes, because they have a very high-class reputation for satisfying their customers' needs. And they don't want to be sued under ANY circumstances. As far as all these sites like Creative Fabrica and Vecteezy - they promise us everything but guarantee NOTHING! They don't care if our books get blocked, because they already got their money from us when we purchased their "subscription". Why in the heck would I purchase a subscription to their platform if they want me to completely change the image that I want to use. The reason I want to use the image is because I like it the way it is. I apologize, Craig. I know I'm ranting. But damnit, I get so aggrevated when I discover that a website I trusted is really just rippin' me off. I have several books on the KDP platform and I've decided to UNPUBLISH/ARCHIVE all of them. They were making me a little money, but I'm not going to risk losing my Amazon account because of questionable images that I've used. I still have almost a year left on some of these image sites that I've subscribed to. But I'm not going to use them anymore simply because sites like Creative Fabrica and Vecteezy can't guarantee that the sellers on their platforms are legitimate, their "sellers" might be stealing images from somebody else. Thanks for the video because it opened my eyes wider than you could ever have imagined it would!
I get where you're coming from Amma, the legality of this issue is very complex and confusing. This is the very reason that I'm always recommending that people just learn to draw their own original artwork. What you have to realize is that in Creative Fabrica's Commercial Licensing Agreement, nowhere do they ever mention or refer to self published books. They only discuss "Print on Demand", which although technically does include self publishing, it also includes apparel, mugs, towels, etc. And using commercially licensed artwork for those things is clearly acceptable, as you just mention with Amazon Merch. Authors buy non-exclusive commercial rights to use 3rd party artwork in their books all of the time. Very few authors actually illustrate, shoot the photos, or design the fonts for their books. So there is clearly a legal way to do it. The problem is, Amazon isn't willing to specify exactly what that process is. I've contacted them about this very situation and this was their reply "When we find that publishers are out of compliance with a Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) policy, we let them know so that they can address the issue. This helps ensure a better experience for customers. For security reasons, we can't provide details about our internal procedures. To learn more about our policies, check our help." Which tells me nothing. So until someone lays out a definitive policy for using this type of content, it's going to remain a grey area of confusion. I prefer that my viewers don't use this type of content in their books, but I know that many of them are going to anyway. So I try to help them to do it in a manner that is least likely to result in legal issues. There are millions of books on Amzon that are using 3rd party commercial licensed artwork (illustrations, fonts, patterns, photos, etc.) in them. And until Amazon comes out and says that this is illegal to do, they will continue to do it. I'm just doing my best to keep those people out of trouble until that time.
@@CraigBabin And Craig, we appreciate all of the assistance that you provide because it makes sense. You might find this funny, but for 3 years, I have owned Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo. I go in there and dibble and dabble but honestly, that is my least favorite part of the whole process. I have viewed your videos, they are very well put together and they are informative. When I'm viewing them, I can tell that you love that part of the process. I love the research part, discovering niches and keywords then coming up with ideas for my medium-content books. So I've decided to use my energy doing the things that I like to do and outsourcing the things that I don't like to do. However, before I jump in and spend more money, I'm going to do my research. The creative professional I decide to hire has to be willing to put in writing that whatever they do is ORIGINAL and that once I pay for the design, I own the copyright. It cost more to do it that way but to me, it's worth it. We don't need a zillion books to make money on Amazon because quantity doesn't sell, quality sells.
Thank you so much, I feel like I have a fresh starting point. I only have 35 books published and now I'm thinking I should take them all down and start over because I am in this for the long haul so why start out with the stress of a potential lawsuit. Thanks again! Cheers from Nova Scotia!
Thanks for this excellent follow-up, Craig. 1000% agreed === learning to draw (and keeping your original drawing files to prove your work) is MUCH easier than navigating the copyright bs. Thanks again. -- Frank
Thank you for putting this in layman's terms. I am just beginning my KDP journey and have wondered about the copyright aspect of low and medium content books. Even though you've stated these comments are your opinions based upon your understanding of the copyright and publisher rules, you've made the info easy to understand.
Thanks for the clarification on this topic as you understand it. I would actually prefer to do everything from scratch - I don't mind commiting more time to practice and becoming more consistent with my digital illustration skills.
Excellent video and great explanation! YES, always take time to alter and remix third party art! It’s better to cover yourself from the beginning, rather than having a copyright violation in the end. AI is just sampling art and photography that is available on the internet. I’ve seen stuff generated that still has the copyright watermark here and there. That’s how you know the AI stole the art. It just combines and filters what it comes up with but there is no guarantee that the end result has been substantially altered enough to circumvent existing copyright.
I've learned if you go into the creator's page on creative fabrica, it's pretty easy to tell if they are from the same artist or if the artist is emulating other's art. Also I discovered talking to creative fabrica helps as well. I'm a new author putting together a high content book but with some illustrations between the pages. The illustrations are colored which helps my end quite a lot but I still have MANY questions. KDP doesn't have the best customer service but it's still great that I can have an open line of discussion with them BEFORE I release anything. The questions I have are for creative fabrica and I'm currently waiting for a response from them.
It's definitely a good idea to do your due diligence when creating a book. So talking with Creative Fabrica and KDP is worth the time, unfortunately getting answers from them is a task in itself. If you're creating a children's story book with only a few illustrations in it, you might be better off actually commissioning an artist to create original pieces for you. It's really not that expensive for a few drawings, plus you get the peace of mind knowing that you own the copyrights to the images.
@@CraigBabin It's not a children's book. More 16 and up, who might enjoy adventure short stories. I would love to hire an author but my budget is painfully tight.
@@LeeAnnJ Oh I thought you were authoring the book and just wanted to include a few illustrations throughout the book, like there are in the Hobbit. I just figured that if you were only going to be including 4 or 5 illustrations throughout the entire book, that you could have those created as originals, that you would hold the copyrights on, for probably just a few hundred dollars. I say this simply because I worry about creators who use artwork (unmodified) that already appears inside of books that are already being sold on Amazon. KDP has a very strict policy on recycling artwork and they're not big fans of it.
@@CraigBabin I got a bit of an answer from Creative Fabrica and Kdp. Basically saying the same thing you have already spoke upon. Creative Fabrica noted most of their images are for first party and direct sales. Changing the imagery is within a subscriber's right as long as you don't resell it as an original piece. Kdp, recommends notably changing the image 3 to 5 different ways should help end the copyright imagery issue. High content books really don't have such an issue because the lack of images used, but it was noted that if you prove you went out of your way to change the image with proof of sales, you have a higher chance of editing your work and able to get your account back. I was promptly told this of course is not a guarantee. Also was informed to copyright the contents of my book before launch. It will also clear up most issues with Kdp.
Thank you. I uploaded same video explaning this 6 months ago as an artist and designer on Creative fabrica and last month I published same video again with more info regarding Canva ansd AI images but more creators should make videos about this to widen the reach.
I'm wondering if you'd consider doing a video on trademarks, since a lot of people don't understand the difference between trademarks and copyrights. When I check for trademarks I use the trademark databases of the following countries: Canada US UK New Zealand Australia I also check the global trademarks database. Maureen
I may down the road, I don't want to overwhelm my viewers with too much legal content all at once. I will address the trademark issue when I start uploading videos about how to create merch such as t-shirts and such.
4:50 *Copyright's Originality:* Craig, (US) copyright’s “originality” element does NOT mean unique. Rather, “original” means the work is original to the AUTHOR, in that it was *INDEPENDENTLY* created (NOT copied or stolen from another artist’s work) AND include some creativity. Consider the following scenario: My Grand Canyon vacation photographs will look very similar to those tourists photographing right next to me at the same picturesque vantage point. As long as my Grand Canyon photographs were created INDEPENDENTLY (I did not appropriate/steal them from another tourist or elsewhere - I’m using my own creativity & skill to create the photographs by selecting camera composition, lens selection, lighting, shutter timing, aperture, etc.), I’m granted an immediate & automatic US copyright claim upon capturing those images with my DSLR. Those tourists photographing right next to me also have their OWN automatic copyright claims. And if I choose to register those photographs with the US Copyright Office (USCO), it will issued me a copyright “Certificate of Registration,” EVEN if my photographs may look similar, substantially similar, or even near-identical to other photographers who stood next to me or to those previously registered Grand Canyon photographs in the USCO’s database. I and other creatives/authors help *“presumptively PROVE” (via prima-facie EVIDENCE)* our INDEPENDENT copyright creation by “timely” (quickly) registering our works with the USCO. That also equally applies to Canadians & international creatives who are listing, selling, licensing, sharing, and/or distributing their creative works on US selling platform or directly to US clients.
I agree with what you're saying but this situation, because it's dealing with a compilation of other artist's work, is a little bit different. When you're taking a photo, you're creating the artwork yourself (the photograph), the Grand Canyon is just the subject of the photo and cannot be copyrighted in and of itself. But in this situation, these people are using someone else's "copyrighted" work to create their piece of art. So if they use just one drawing from one artist to create their artwork, their artwork would not be original, it would be a copy of the original. If they were to use two different pieces of art from two separate artists to create their artwork, their work would be "more" original than the first image, but still may contain too much of each of the two pieces of artwork used, to not be considered a derivative of the two original pieces. So the more individual pieces of artwork they pull from when creating a compilation work of art, the more original their work of art will be in the eyes of KDP, or Creative Fabrica. As it says in 4:21 the piece must have a "sufficient degree of originality", so their definition of originality is not binary, it's on a sliding scale. At least that's how I'm reading it, but I'm not a lawyer so I could be wrong.
@@CraigBabin *end screen... Sorry was typing on my phone and it has that swipe feature I don't like, that paired with spellcheck can make for some interesting comments lol
@CraigBabin Thank you I will watch that too. But I was just letting you know that a few of your videos have you pointing at nothing while you say that there is a video or playlist but nothing shows up. Thought you should know. That way if you can fix it, it could help point them to the ones you suggested.😀👍😀👍
Hey Craig, I just watched your video and I must say that it was really informative, very useful and well-made. I loved your videos. I was wondering if I could help you edit your videos and also make highly engaging shorts for you?
FYI-Ingram Spark blocked a couple of my books for violation of their integrity guideline #7 which states "Content created using automated means or mass-produced processes." are not permitted. Since I make AI generated coloring books using Midjourney, my entire catalog was in violation. I deleted my titles and closed my account with them. Sticking with KDP.
@@benicio1967 AI created art is going to go through some serious legal issues in the very near future and this will include all AI generators that are using copyrighted material to train their algorithm. If the courts decide that using copyrighted artwork to train AI generators is no longer legal to do, then sites like MidJourney, may have to delete their entire catalogues and start from scratch. And if that were to happen, any artwork that was created using MidJourney, and that is now being sold, may have to be pulled from the market as well, or face copyright infringement lawsuits.
@@CraigBabin I realized i had a typo in my question so I thought I’d follow up once more to find out if you think sites that generate puzzles, such as book bolt and the like, will still be safe to generate puzzle books?
Thank you Craig for the video, i have a question about the trademark issue, I found the word bold under 016 also the word easy is under 016 so we can't use these words despite these words a general words and everybody can use them?
I just did a search on T.E.S.S. and the word "Bold" is not registered on it's own under class 016, so you can use that. As for the word "Easy", the two that are registered as Standard Character Marks (which is the word itself), are for plastic bubble wrap and computer reference manuals, so you wouldn't be infringing on either of them. The other two registered marks are Design Marks, which means the word itself isn't the trademark, it's the design of the logo that's protected. So you wouldn't be infringing on them either. I think you should be good to use those words on your book cover.
@@CraigBabin thank uuu soo much i really appreciate your effort may God bless uu . can u please explain to me what we should avoid completely under 016 What should be written? I thought as soon as I saw the word under 016 I should stay away from it.
@@user-rk8hg9ic3dYou want to stay away from single words that are registered as a Standard Character Mark (Mark Drawing Type - 4) as opposed to a Design Mark (Mark Drawing Type - 3). A Standard Character Mark covers the word itself, regardless of the design of the logo, whereas a Design Mark only covers the artwork design. And just because a trademark is listed in a particular class (016), doesn't mean it's protected for every item in that class. It's only protected on the items specified, and in the field specified, in the Goods and Services section of the trademark listing.
@@CraigBabin Thank you sir for your response and generosity, i'm confused about that topic, for example, the word bold is registered under mark drawing type 4 how do we use it? and what do you mean about the word bold is not registered on its own under class 016?
@@user-rk8hg9ic3d The only trademark submission for the individual word bold is not registered, it's pending, which means it's not a registered trademark and any further action on the mark has been suspended, so it may never be registered. You need to read the status of the mark.
Hi! I have been working on designing an activity book. I am primarily using Inkscape to create my own designs. One thing you mention is getting flagged for publishing duplicate content. In your experience/with your knowledge, how does that apply to your own work? For example, using the same original content in multiple size paperback books?
That's exactly what they don't want. They don't want a customer buying one of your books and then later buying a second one of your books, only to find that it has the same artwork in it. The customer feels like they've just paid for the same product twice. Try to make each product unique. Unless you're just promoting your other books at the back of a new book, by showing a sample of the artwork.
@@CraigBabin Thanks for the info! How does that also apply towards potentially reusing my own designs in a totally different type of work? For example, say I make a mermaid activity book for kids with my own artwork, then decide I want to use elements of that same artwork on the pages of a themed lined notebook. Because they are two different types of works with different uses, is that okay, or could that be flagged as well?
@@uhohpub If one book is purely a mermaid coloring book and the other is an under the sea themed puzzle book with a few of the same mermaid characters scattered on the pages (around the puzzles) for more of a design effect, then that's fine. Amazon is more concerned about people who create multiple full page coloring books with the same images in them. But try to limit the illustrations that you do reuse, to just a few in any one book.
Hello 😊 How to get copyright licenses from these sites like ex.Creative fabrica, to show amazon kdp, if they asked Rights for using it & how i can Prove amazon its my own artwork if i Created Myself?
The license key is available in the download section of your Creative Fabrica account after you purchase something. If you create the artwork yourself, you automatically own the copyrights to it and as long as you didn't copy some other artist's work, then KDP shouldn't ask you to prove it's yours. The only time KDP asks you to prove you created the artwork is when some other artist files a copyright claim against your art, and in that case, they will have to prove that your work is a copy of theirs and that they created it first.
A few comments: Your understanding of how copyright law works is in line with mine. 👍 Regarding CF in particular, providing the license key if Amazon asks for proof you have the right to use an image might not be enough. It might also be necessary to prove you're a paying member of the site. Also, I once downloaded some artwork from CF that I found out had been stolen after doing some reverse image searches. I reported my findings to CF along with proof of what I was saying in the form of links they could use to verify things for themselves. They followed up and got back to me to thank me and tell me they had terminated the account of the thief. It was at that time I discovered a reverse image search engine called Tineye. It's much better than Google's. Regarding AI "art", I absolutely detest it. It all looks like you know what, and there are too many ambiguities regarding copyright ownership. I suspect that Amazon will eventually ban the use of AI generated content.
You don't need a membership to purchase content from CF, so your license key is your proof of purchase. If Amazon was to double check that key with CF, your name and credit card would be attached to it as the purchaser. And you're right, it's always a good idea to do a reverse image search on any content that you use from a third party. The best thing to do is search out the seller of the artwork that you're purchasing from, to make sure that they have a presence elsewhere on the internet.
Nice video and extremely difficult topic. Don't try to then talk about international copyright law. It may be similar as the US but can differ drastically!
Appreciate the effort but why the hell can’t KDP just say what’s allowed in simple language? This guesswork by multiple non lawyers with a disclaimer saying they take no responsibility for what they’re saying is bs!
Copyright laws are not like intellectual property laws; when you violate someone's IP, it's cut and dry. Put an illustration of Mickey Mouse on a t-shirt and sell it, Disney will sue you and they will never lose that lawsuit. But with copyright, there is a "degree" of infringement that needs to be met, and how much you have infringed on someone is a matter of opinion. So everyone is just trying to cover their asses while at the same time, run a successful business. You would think that I should be able to point you to the copyright law literature and just say here are the rules, follow them ... but I can't. Due to the ambiguity of copyright law, even I have to cover my own ass by throwing 3 legal disclaimers into my video. It sucks, but that's the way it works! Because Amazon is covering their ass and Creative Fabrica is cover their ass, I have to cover my ass as well.
I completely get what you’re saying. You have to protect yourself. I just can’t believe the waters are so muddy. You have third parties selling artistic content, via subscriptions or one-off purchases, saying you can use it commercially. Then you have Amazon KDP using ambiguous language to say, hold on, maybe you can’t use that material on our platform because even though you’re the license holder you’re not the copyright holder. Then why am I buying the license in the first place? Meanwhile, KDP is jam packed with books containing the very licensed content we’re theoretically not supposed to use. 😳 This is so fckd up!
The best solution is to do your artwork yourself to avoid copyright issues.That’s the best solution you gave at the end of the video.Thanks so much for your clarification!👍👍👍👍
You're welcome.
Thanks Craig, I appreciate you doing the "deep-dive" work that I should have done before I purchased subscriptions on any of these websites claiming that we have the commercial rights to their designs. Because what I interpret Amazon to be really saying is that we have to own the copyright AND the publishing rights. They don't say we have to own the copyright OR the publishing rights.
I don't believe that Amazon really cares if we have the publishing rights (i.e. commercial license), they want us to OWN the copyrights for the images that we're uploading to their KDP platform. Now, on their Merch by Amazon platform, they will accept the commercial license agreement. But they seem to be very particular about their Book Publishing platform. And the more I think about it, the more sense it makes, because they have a very high-class reputation for satisfying their customers' needs. And they don't want to be sued under ANY circumstances.
As far as all these sites like Creative Fabrica and Vecteezy - they promise us everything but guarantee NOTHING! They don't care if our books get blocked, because they already got their money from us when we purchased their "subscription". Why in the heck would I purchase a subscription to their platform if they want me to completely change the image that I want to use. The reason I want to use the image is because I like it the way it is.
I apologize, Craig. I know I'm ranting. But damnit, I get so aggrevated when I discover that a website I trusted is really just rippin' me off.
I have several books on the KDP platform and I've decided to UNPUBLISH/ARCHIVE all of them. They were making me a little money, but I'm not going to risk losing my Amazon account because of questionable images that I've used. I still have almost a year left on some of these image sites that I've subscribed to. But I'm not going to use them anymore simply because sites like Creative Fabrica and Vecteezy can't guarantee that the sellers on their platforms are legitimate, their "sellers" might be stealing images from somebody else.
Thanks for the video because it opened my eyes wider than you could ever have imagined it would!
I get where you're coming from Amma, the legality of this issue is very complex and confusing. This is the very reason that I'm always recommending that people just learn to draw their own original artwork.
What you have to realize is that in Creative Fabrica's Commercial Licensing Agreement, nowhere do they ever mention or refer to self published books. They only discuss "Print on Demand", which although technically does include self publishing, it also includes apparel, mugs, towels, etc. And using commercially licensed artwork for those things is clearly acceptable, as you just mention with Amazon Merch.
Authors buy non-exclusive commercial rights to use 3rd party artwork in their books all of the time. Very few authors actually illustrate, shoot the photos, or design the fonts for their books. So there is clearly a legal way to do it. The problem is, Amazon isn't willing to specify exactly what that process is.
I've contacted them about this very situation and this was their reply "When we find that publishers are out of compliance with a Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) policy, we let them know so that they can address the issue. This helps ensure a better experience for customers. For security reasons, we can't provide details about our internal procedures. To learn more about our policies, check our help." Which tells me nothing.
So until someone lays out a definitive policy for using this type of content, it's going to remain a grey area of confusion. I prefer that my viewers don't use this type of content in their books, but I know that many of them are going to anyway. So I try to help them to do it in a manner that is least likely to result in legal issues.
There are millions of books on Amzon that are using 3rd party commercial licensed artwork (illustrations, fonts, patterns, photos, etc.) in them. And until Amazon comes out and says that this is illegal to do, they will continue to do it. I'm just doing my best to keep those people out of trouble until that time.
@@CraigBabin And Craig, we appreciate all of the assistance that you provide because it makes sense. You might find this funny, but for 3 years, I have owned Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo. I go in there and dibble and dabble but honestly, that is my least favorite part of the whole process.
I have viewed your videos, they are very well put together and they are informative. When I'm viewing them, I can tell that you love that part of the process. I love the research part, discovering niches and keywords then coming up with ideas for my medium-content books. So I've decided to use my energy doing the things that I like to do and outsourcing the things that I don't like to do.
However, before I jump in and spend more money, I'm going to do my research. The creative professional I decide to hire has to be willing to put in writing that whatever they do is ORIGINAL and that once I pay for the design, I own the copyright. It cost more to do it that way but to me, it's worth it. We don't need a zillion books to make money on Amazon because quantity doesn't sell, quality sells.
@@ammashani9298 You are absolutely right my friend. Best of luck to you.
Thank you so much, I feel like I have a fresh starting point. I only have 35 books published and now I'm thinking I should take them all down and start over because I am in this for the long haul so why start out with the stress of a potential lawsuit. Thanks again! Cheers from Nova Scotia!
I'm glad I could help.
Thanks for this excellent follow-up, Craig. 1000% agreed === learning to draw (and keeping your original drawing files to prove your work) is MUCH easier than navigating the copyright bs. Thanks again.
-- Frank
You're welcome.
Thank you for putting this in layman's terms. I am just beginning my KDP journey and have wondered about the copyright aspect of low and medium content books. Even though you've stated these comments are your opinions based upon your understanding of the copyright and publisher rules, you've made the info easy to understand.
Glad it was helpful Kim.
Hi Craig, you explained it so well that I found answers to questions I couldn't get answers to for days. You are great! Thank you 🙏
You're quite welcome.
You are the best person to talk about copyright, thank you
You're welcome.
Thanks for the clarification on this topic as you understand it. I would actually prefer to do everything from scratch - I don't mind commiting more time to practice and becoming more consistent with my digital illustration skills.
That's the best way to do it.
Thanks. These copyright-related videos are very helpful. Your conclusions seem reasonable.
I'm glad they help.
Excellent video and great explanation! YES, always take time to alter and remix third party art! It’s better to cover yourself from the beginning, rather than having a copyright violation in the end. AI is just sampling art and photography that is available on the internet. I’ve seen stuff generated that still has the copyright watermark here and there. That’s how you know the AI stole the art. It just combines and filters what it comes up with but there is no guarantee that the end result has been substantially altered enough to circumvent existing copyright.
AI is definitely a tricky subject to navigate legally.
Great video, you certainly have a talent with presenting clear explanations. Thanks!
Thanks Sue.
I've learned if you go into the creator's page on creative fabrica, it's pretty easy to tell if they are from the same artist or if the artist is emulating other's art. Also I discovered talking to creative fabrica helps as well. I'm a new author putting together a high content book but with some illustrations between the pages. The illustrations are colored which helps my end quite a lot but I still have MANY questions. KDP doesn't have the best customer service but it's still great that I can have an open line of discussion with them BEFORE I release anything. The questions I have are for creative fabrica and I'm currently waiting for a response from them.
It's definitely a good idea to do your due diligence when creating a book. So talking with Creative Fabrica and KDP is worth the time, unfortunately getting answers from them is a task in itself.
If you're creating a children's story book with only a few illustrations in it, you might be better off actually commissioning an artist to create original pieces for you. It's really not that expensive for a few drawings, plus you get the peace of mind knowing that you own the copyrights to the images.
@@CraigBabin It's not a children's book. More 16 and up, who might enjoy adventure short stories. I would love to hire an author but my budget is painfully tight.
@@LeeAnnJ Oh I thought you were authoring the book and just wanted to include a few illustrations throughout the book, like there are in the Hobbit. I just figured that if you were only going to be including 4 or 5 illustrations throughout the entire book, that you could have those created as originals, that you would hold the copyrights on, for probably just a few hundred dollars.
I say this simply because I worry about creators who use artwork (unmodified) that already appears inside of books that are already being sold on Amazon. KDP has a very strict policy on recycling artwork and they're not big fans of it.
@@CraigBabin Ah, noted. Thanks for the advice. I will see what the costs would be to get them modified.
@@CraigBabin I got a bit of an answer from Creative Fabrica and Kdp. Basically saying the same thing you have already spoke upon. Creative Fabrica noted most of their images are for first party and direct sales. Changing the imagery is within a subscriber's right as long as you don't resell it as an original piece. Kdp, recommends notably changing the image 3 to 5 different ways should help end the copyright imagery issue. High content books really don't have such an issue because the lack of images used, but it was noted that if you prove you went out of your way to change the image with proof of sales, you have a higher chance of editing your work and able to get your account back. I was promptly told this of course is not a guarantee. Also was informed to copyright the contents of my book before launch. It will also clear up most issues with Kdp.
Thank you. I now finally do understand this complicated matter. One of the most easy-to-understand explanations of one of the most complex matters.
Glad I could help Niaz.
Thank you. I uploaded same video explaning this 6 months ago as an artist and designer on Creative fabrica and last month I published same video again with more info regarding Canva ansd AI images but more creators should make videos about this to widen the reach.
Yes they should.
I'm wondering if you'd consider doing a video on trademarks, since a lot of people don't understand the difference between trademarks and copyrights. When I check for trademarks I use the trademark databases of the following countries:
Canada
US
UK
New Zealand
Australia
I also check the global trademarks database.
Maureen
I may down the road, I don't want to overwhelm my viewers with too much legal content all at once. I will address the trademark issue when I start uploading videos about how to create merch such as t-shirts and such.
Well done!
4:50 *Copyright's Originality:* Craig, (US) copyright’s “originality” element does NOT mean unique. Rather, “original” means the work is original to the AUTHOR, in that it was *INDEPENDENTLY* created (NOT copied or stolen from another artist’s work) AND include some creativity.
Consider the following scenario: My Grand Canyon vacation photographs will look very similar to those tourists photographing right next to me at the same picturesque vantage point. As long as my Grand Canyon photographs were created INDEPENDENTLY (I did not appropriate/steal them from another tourist or elsewhere - I’m using my own creativity & skill to create the photographs by selecting camera composition, lens selection, lighting, shutter timing, aperture, etc.), I’m granted an immediate & automatic US copyright claim upon capturing those images with my DSLR. Those tourists photographing right next to me also have their OWN automatic copyright claims. And if I choose to register those photographs with the US Copyright Office (USCO), it will issued me a copyright “Certificate of Registration,” EVEN if my photographs may look similar, substantially similar, or even near-identical to other photographers who stood next to me or to those previously registered Grand Canyon photographs in the USCO’s database.
I and other creatives/authors help *“presumptively PROVE” (via prima-facie EVIDENCE)* our INDEPENDENT copyright creation by “timely” (quickly) registering our works with the USCO. That also equally applies to Canadians & international creatives who are listing, selling, licensing, sharing, and/or distributing their creative works on US selling platform or directly to US clients.
I agree with what you're saying but this situation, because it's dealing with a compilation of other artist's work, is a little bit different. When you're taking a photo, you're creating the artwork yourself (the photograph), the Grand Canyon is just the subject of the photo and cannot be copyrighted in and of itself. But in this situation, these people are using someone else's "copyrighted" work to create their piece of art.
So if they use just one drawing from one artist to create their artwork, their artwork would not be original, it would be a copy of the original. If they were to use two different pieces of art from two separate artists to create their artwork, their work would be "more" original than the first image, but still may contain too much of each of the two pieces of artwork used, to not be considered a derivative of the two original pieces. So the more individual pieces of artwork they pull from when creating a compilation work of art, the more original their work of art will be in the eyes of KDP, or Creative Fabrica.
As it says in 4:21 the piece must have a "sufficient degree of originality", so their definition of originality is not binary, it's on a sliding scale. At least that's how I'm reading it, but I'm not a lawyer so I could be wrong.
Thank you for helping explain, also, not seeing any ends creep videos
Happy to help. And I'm not exactly sure what "ends creep" videos are?
@@CraigBabin
*end screen... Sorry was typing on my phone and it has that swipe feature I don't like, that paired with spellcheck can make for some interesting comments lol
@@jodimetcalfsgreatdiysfordesign That makes more sense. Here's a video about end screens: th-cam.com/video/zg3ZzC4NJg8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=C682RMyFDPqz0nH4
@CraigBabin Thank you I will watch that too.
But I was just letting you know that a few of your videos have you pointing at nothing while you say that there is a video or playlist but nothing shows up. Thought you should know. That way if you can fix it, it could help point them to the ones you suggested.😀👍😀👍
@@jodimetcalfsgreatdiysfordesign What device are you watching on and on which browser? The video recommendations don't show up on mobile devices.
Hey Craig, I just watched your video and I must say that it was really informative, very useful and well-made. I loved your videos. I was wondering if I could help you edit your videos and also make highly engaging shorts for you?
Thanks for the offer, but I'm good.
FYI-Ingram Spark blocked a couple of my books for violation of their integrity guideline #7 which states "Content created using automated means or mass-produced processes." are not permitted. Since I make AI generated coloring books using Midjourney, my entire catalog was in violation. I deleted my titles and closed my account with them. Sticking with KDP.
It doesn't surprise me. Unfortunately, you're going to be seeing this happen with all print on demand companies in the very near future.
@@CraigBabindoes that include all generating sites of just AI?
@@benicio1967 AI created art is going to go through some serious legal issues in the very near future and this will include all AI generators that are using copyrighted material to train their algorithm. If the courts decide that using copyrighted artwork to train AI generators is no longer legal to do, then sites like MidJourney, may have to delete their entire catalogues and start from scratch.
And if that were to happen, any artwork that was created using MidJourney, and that is now being sold, may have to be pulled from the market as well, or face copyright infringement lawsuits.
@@CraigBabin I realized i had a typo in my question so I thought I’d follow up once more to find out if you think sites that generate puzzles, such as book bolt and the like, will still be safe to generate puzzle books?
@@benicio1967 Those sites are fine. They're not using copyrighted material.
Thank you Craig for the video, i have a question about the trademark issue, I found the word bold under 016 also the word easy is under 016 so we can't use these words despite these words a general words and everybody can use them?
I just did a search on T.E.S.S. and the word "Bold" is not registered on it's own under class 016, so you can use that. As for the word "Easy", the two that are registered as Standard Character Marks (which is the word itself), are for plastic bubble wrap and computer reference manuals, so you wouldn't be infringing on either of them. The other two registered marks are Design Marks, which means the word itself isn't the trademark, it's the design of the logo that's protected. So you wouldn't be infringing on them either.
I think you should be good to use those words on your book cover.
@@CraigBabin thank uuu soo much i really appreciate your effort may God bless uu .
can u please explain to me what we should avoid completely under 016 What should be written? I thought as soon as I saw the word under 016 I should stay away from it.
@@user-rk8hg9ic3dYou want to stay away from single words that are registered as a Standard Character Mark (Mark Drawing Type - 4) as opposed to a Design Mark (Mark Drawing Type - 3). A Standard Character Mark covers the word itself, regardless of the design of the logo, whereas a Design Mark only covers the artwork design. And just because a trademark is listed in a particular class (016), doesn't mean it's protected for every item in that class. It's only protected on the items specified, and in the field specified, in the Goods and Services section of the trademark listing.
@@CraigBabin Thank you sir for your response and generosity, i'm confused about that topic, for example, the word bold is registered under mark drawing type 4 how do we use it? and what do you mean about the word bold is not registered on its own under class 016?
@@user-rk8hg9ic3d The only trademark submission for the individual word bold is not registered, it's pending, which means it's not a registered trademark and any further action on the mark has been suspended, so it may never be registered. You need to read the status of the mark.
Hi! I have been working on designing an activity book. I am primarily using Inkscape to create my own designs. One thing you mention is getting flagged for publishing duplicate content. In your experience/with your knowledge, how does that apply to your own work? For example, using the same original content in multiple size paperback books?
That's exactly what they don't want. They don't want a customer buying one of your books and then later buying a second one of your books, only to find that it has the same artwork in it. The customer feels like they've just paid for the same product twice. Try to make each product unique. Unless you're just promoting your other books at the back of a new book, by showing a sample of the artwork.
@@CraigBabin Thanks for the info! How does that also apply towards potentially reusing my own designs in a totally different type of work? For example, say I make a mermaid activity book for kids with my own artwork, then decide I want to use elements of that same artwork on the pages of a themed lined notebook. Because they are two different types of works with different uses, is that okay, or could that be flagged as well?
@@uhohpub If one book is purely a mermaid coloring book and the other is an under the sea themed puzzle book with a few of the same mermaid characters scattered on the pages (around the puzzles) for more of a design effect, then that's fine. Amazon is more concerned about people who create multiple full page coloring books with the same images in them.
But try to limit the illustrations that you do reuse, to just a few in any one book.
Thank you so much for very useful information. ⚘️💛⚘️😊
You're quite welcome.
@@CraigBabin 😊😊😊😊
Where do I start learning digital drawing?
I'll be launching my new series "Draw With Me" in November on this channel. So stick around.
Hello 😊 How to get copyright licenses from these sites like ex.Creative fabrica, to show amazon kdp, if they asked Rights for using it & how i can Prove amazon its my own artwork if i Created Myself?
The license key is available in the download section of your Creative Fabrica account after you purchase something.
If you create the artwork yourself, you automatically own the copyrights to it and as long as you didn't copy some other artist's work, then KDP shouldn't ask you to prove it's yours. The only time KDP asks you to prove you created the artwork is when some other artist files a copyright claim against your art, and in that case, they will have to prove that your work is a copy of theirs and that they created it first.
😊 thanks, Craig
Perfect video!! 😊
Thanks Chris.
A few comments:
Your understanding of how copyright law works is in line with mine. 👍
Regarding CF in particular, providing the license key if Amazon asks for proof you have the right to use an image might not be enough. It might also be necessary to prove you're a paying member of the site.
Also, I once downloaded some artwork from CF that I found out had been stolen after doing some reverse image searches. I reported my findings to CF along with proof of what I was saying in the form of links they could use to verify things for themselves. They followed up and got back to me to thank me and tell me they had terminated the account of the thief.
It was at that time I discovered a reverse image search engine called Tineye. It's much better than Google's.
Regarding AI "art", I absolutely detest it. It all looks like you know what, and there are too many
ambiguities regarding copyright ownership. I suspect that Amazon will eventually ban the use of AI generated content.
You don't need a membership to purchase content from CF, so your license key is your proof of purchase. If Amazon was to double check that key with CF, your name and credit card would be attached to it as the purchaser.
And you're right, it's always a good idea to do a reverse image search on any content that you use from a third party. The best thing to do is search out the seller of the artwork that you're purchasing from, to make sure that they have a presence elsewhere on the internet.
I do that as well. If I see that a designer has a presence on many marketplaces, and also their own website, that indicates to me they're legit
How do I find a copyright lawyer if you are in a country other than the USA?
Regardless of where you live, most law firms have a branch that deal with copyright law.
Nice video and extremely difficult topic. Don't try to then talk about international copyright law. It may be similar as the US but can differ drastically!
Copyright laws are different throughout the world, I'm referring to copyright laws in North America in this video.
@@CraigBabin yeah realised that but copyright law is such a quagmire in all countries let alone the US. 🙂
@@Bigbad2000 True.
Appreciate the effort but why the hell can’t KDP just say what’s allowed in simple language? This guesswork by multiple non lawyers with a disclaimer saying they take no responsibility for what they’re saying is bs!
Copyright laws are not like intellectual property laws; when you violate someone's IP, it's cut and dry. Put an illustration of Mickey Mouse on a t-shirt and sell it, Disney will sue you and they will never lose that lawsuit. But with copyright, there is a "degree" of infringement that needs to be met, and how much you have infringed on someone is a matter of opinion. So everyone is just trying to cover their asses while at the same time, run a successful business.
You would think that I should be able to point you to the copyright law literature and just say here are the rules, follow them ... but I can't. Due to the ambiguity of copyright law, even I have to cover my own ass by throwing 3 legal disclaimers into my video. It sucks, but that's the way it works! Because Amazon is covering their ass and Creative Fabrica is cover their ass, I have to cover my ass as well.
I completely get what you’re saying. You have to protect yourself. I just can’t believe the waters are so muddy. You have third parties selling artistic content, via subscriptions or one-off purchases, saying you can use it commercially. Then you have Amazon KDP using ambiguous language to say, hold on, maybe you can’t use that material on our platform because even though you’re the license holder you’re not the copyright holder. Then why am I buying the license in the first place? Meanwhile, KDP is jam packed with books containing the very licensed content we’re theoretically not supposed to use. 😳 This is so fckd up!
@@nogginnogg1788 Copyright law is a very confusing issue!