Friday, February 9, 2024

TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT

 Hello Friends! It would appear that I am growing up a little and becoming more of a real artist. Life is getting busier and messier and I'm trying to streamline things and get all my bases covered. It has come to my attention that I need to have some actual shop policies and legal things in place.  So please forgive the boring stuff in the rest of this post.  It is necessary.  These are my newly updated Terms of Use. You may notice that I have stopped allowing any commercial (for profit) use of my artwork. Thank you all for supporting me and my little Etsy shop over all these years. I love you all! 


Susan Fitch Illustration

TERMS OF USE


WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANY ART FROM SUSAN FITCH ILLUSTRATION, YOU ARE PURCHASING AND AGREEING TO A STANDARD LICENSE AGREEMENT. 

A Standard License Agreement includes usage for personal, educational use including religious education. The rights in which the illustrations can be used for each usage according to the Standard License Agreement are listed below.


The license agreement is between the licensor and the licensee and is non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-assignable. The license does not extend to publishers or manufacturers.

 PLEASE BE AWARE THAT BY PURCHASING PRODUCTS FROM SUSAN FITCH ILLUSTRATION, YOU ARE AGREEING TO THESE TERMS OF USE.


Section One: Important Legal Notes
You may not resell, share or distribute the clip art. You may not sell the clip art as a standalone product. The clip art must be used as a design element (part of the overall project design) of your personal projects. A design element is integrated with and compliments text and other design pieces on a page or project to create a new design/material and cannot be the main and/or only component. Furthermore, a design element consists of more than placing a border around an image or placing multiple images on a page.
You may not use the artwork in a platform or program where the artwork is not secured or does not prevent others from taking, lifting, downloading, copying, saving, or removing the images. Additionally, regardless of format, the images may not be loose in any file nor on any platform or program that has not been approved by Susan Fitch Illustration and included under the allowed uses listed in Susan Fitch Illustration’s Standard License. Furthermore, the images cannot be posted, used or displayed in such a way that they can be cataloged or indexed by a search engine.


Susan Fitch illustrations may not be posted on the Internet in any format. Please read more about this under “Disallowed Uses”.


Susan Fitch Illustration retains all copyright to the clip art images. You may not claim the clip art as your own. You may not copy the clip art designs to create your own clip art. You may not use the clip art to create graphic designs or to create graphics-based products.


The permitted uses listed in Susan Fitch Illustration's Standard License Agreement is an exhaustive list of permitted uses.


Upon each purchase of a license it is recommended that you review the license to ensure your desired usage falls in line with the rights and permitted uses listed in this agreement. If the Standard License Agreement does not include a desired permitted usage please contact Susan Fitch Illustration to discuss the possibility of an extended license for your desired use.


You may terminate the agreement by discontinuing past and current use of Susan Fitch illustrations. Failure to comply with the terms of the Standard License Agreement may result in the license being terminated at the sole discretion of Susan Fitch Illustration.

Section Two: Attribution (giving credit and how)

  • Commercial credit is required on ALL digital products (free or paid) in the form of a clickable link back to Susan Fitch Illustration’s store. This can be done by creating either a text link or by linking to a logo.
  • Commercial credit is required on ALL tangible products where appropriate. Credit to Susan Fitch Illustration in the form of a copyright notice is sufficient.
  • Section Three: Personal Allowed Uses (items for personal use that don’t earn a profit)
  • Personal Use
  • Personal scrapbooking, greeting cards, invitations, calendars, bookmarks, printable projects, personal crafts, flyers, brochures, notices, announcements, t-shirts
  • Wedding, birthday, and party items such as party supplies and décor such as cake toppers, wrappers etc.
  • Non-profit items for non-profit organizations
  • Videos such as on YouTube or Vimeo

 
 
Personal Classroom Use

  • Personal classroom activities, printable projects, worksheets, and games.
  • If you are creating things that only you will use in your classroom you can skip this step - BUT If you share a file you create with a team member, parent, school, or anyone else, or post on your school page or anywhere online, then all images must be secured in a PDF file with a password that prevents, saving, copying, or lifting the images.
  • Personal classroom Smart Board lessons, PowerPoint , SeeSaw -
  • If you are creating things that only you will use in your classroom you can skip this step - BUT If you share a file you create with a team member, parent, school, or anyone else, or post on your school page or anywhere online, then the images must be flattened as part of the fixed slide background AND NOT LOOSE - (Whimsy Clips provides a tutorial on How to Create a Flattened Background HERE and how to properly insert the background into the PowerPoint slide HERE )
  • Personal classroom use in Google Slides, Google Classroom.


If you are creating things that only you will use in your classroom you can skip this step - BUT If you share a file you create with a team member, parent, school, or anyone else, or post on your school page or anywhere online other than Google Classroom, then the images must flattened as part of the fixed slide background AND not loose in the file.
 

  •  Boom Card activities.
  •  Personal classroom decorations, wall décor, labels, binder covers, wall posters
  •  Progress reports and report cards
  •  Classroom or school communication such as letters, newsletters, letterhead, posters, signs, programs, flyers
  •  School yearbooks (including yearbooks that are sold to students/families to recover the cost of printing)


Section Four: Commercial Allowed Uses (or entrepreneurs and small businesses who create products to earn a profit – excluding publishers and manufacturers)


No commercial or for profit use is allowed.  If you have specific questions regarding commercial use, please contact Susan Fitch Illustration.
 
Section Five: What is NOT allowed in a Standard License Agreement: (rights that are not included in this license agreement – this is a non-exhaustive list)


Disallowed Uses

  • You may not use Susan Fitch illustrations to directly or indirectly infringe on the intellectual property of another party including without limitation copyright, trademark, service mark or other intellectual property
  • You may not use the clip art to make political statements or social commentary in any format or medium including without limitation online, social media, or tangible printed formats
  • You may not use the clip art in a derogatory or defamatory manner
  •  The clip art may not be used as a part of a business logo, trademark, or service mark
  •  Standalone Images (isolated graphics) as mentioned in the legal notes above
  •  The clip art may not be used as part of a scrapbook kit, embroidery designs, rubber or digital stamps, or SVG cutting files sold for a profit or used for commercial purposes
  •  T-shirts, clothing, board games, diaper products, stickers, puppets sold for profit.
  •  Digital collage sheets, papers or backgrounds, digital greeting cards, graphics, graphic design, graphics-based products sold for profit.
  • Digital website or blog templates, graphic templates, editable templates sold for profit or used for commercial purposes
  • iPhone, iPad, Android, Tablet, Facebook or Tiny Tap apps, software design, or embedded in software programs or websites
  • You may not recolor or alter the images
  • The clip art may not be used in products sold to manufacturers, large corporations or mass-produced including but not limited to published books and workbooks
  • Coloring pages are not permitted for commercial purposes.
  • The illustrations may not be used to illustrate books sold for a profit
  • You may not resell, share or distribute the clip art
  • The illustrations may not be used on online presentation sites or print on demand sites of any kind


Additional Terms:

 

  • "Non-transferable" as used herein means that except as specifically provided in this Agreement, you may not sell, rent, load, give, sublicense, or otherwise transfer to anyone, the images, the right to modify the images or the right to create their own work with the images. Non-transferrable also means you may not incorporate the clip art images into a product such as to encourage a third party to modify any portion of the product after the third party purchases your product, including but not limited to providing a third party with an editable file containing the clip art images.
  • Susan Fitch Illustration reserves the right to update or amend the Standard License Agreement. Susan Fitch Illustration will post a notice on its website when terms are updated. The licensee agrees to be bound by any update to the terms of this license.
  • This Agreement shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Idaho, which the parties agree shall be the sole and exclusive jurisdiction for any suit or cause of action based upon or arising out of this Agreement. The parties further agree that the venue for any suit or cause of action based upon or arising out of this Agreement shall be Bonneville County, Idaho.
  •  If, after the date hereof, any provision of this License Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable under present or future law, the remaining provisions of this agreement shall be fully enforceable.

 
Returns and Refunds Policy

 
As my products are computer files, there really is no way to return a set. However, I am happy to try to find a way to rectify whatever issues may arise.  Please check your purchase as soon as it arrives to assure that the download is successful and complete. If you need help, feel free to contact me through SusanFitchDesign.Etsy.com

Disclosure

 
All images are owned by Susan Fitch Illustration.  Any violation of the above rules will be prosecuted.  (It is my intention to help support my family through my artwork, please be sensitive to this fact) Susan Fitch Illustration is not responsible for any harm resulting from use and/or downloading images from this site.  By opening your files through your email, you accept responsibility for any harm done to your property.

Susan Fitch Illustration reserves the right to modify this agreement at any time without giving prior notice.  Updated 02/09/2024.
 

1 comment:

Amber Volle said...

I fully support you protecting yourself, your business, and your talent.