As a part of a moust pad I'm making I went around looking for things to do with it and I came across these free textures at http://gomedia.us/arsenal/freestuff.php

With that at the bottom it says, "Terms of Use (please read):
All Contents Copyright © Go Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All vector art, textures, fonts, etc. on this website is royalty free and can be used for both commercial and personal works. The items sold on this website may not be redistributed or resold in any form. Violation of these terms will result in appropriate legal action. If you have any questions about these products or would like to inquire about getting custom design work done, please don't hesitate to send us an email. If you encounter any errors, please let us know and we'll try our best to fix them in a timely manner. Thanks!"

I'm guessing this means that I could use the texture freebie from that page on my mousepad without having any trouble. Though as I'm not a lawyer I still don't know for sure what that means and I was wondering if anyone else could confirm or deny this so I dont' end up making a mistake

It means that the person who wrote the blurb did not get any legal advice. The scope of permission is unclear.

People confuse the terms "free" and "royalty-free" and "public domain" all the time. Those are three different things. You can be charged a license fee for something that is "royalty-free". All "royalty-free" means is that you don't have to pay on a per piece basis. Something that is "free" means you have the use of it without cost. "Public-domain" essentially means that there is no legal copyright holder so no one with a legal right to complain about copyright violation.

I don't think the images in question are public domain, but they are stated to be free (without cost), and without a per use charge (no royalty). Can you use them on CP products? Maybe, at least until the copyright holder revokes the privilege, which they can do at any time and for any reason, or just because they feel like it. CP shop keepers have found this out on numerous occasions. They grow their shop relying on a "license" only to have the license withdrawn. The person who wrote the terms of use is legally unclear, I wouldn't touch it, personally. But you may find it worth the risk.

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Thanks a lot for helping me,I guess then I could take the risk and check back on the site every now and then to make sure everything is ok

quote:

Originally posted by danman_9000:


Thanks a lot for helping me,I guess then I could take the risk and check back on the site every now and then to make sure everything is ok

I'm not sure what/how you mean to go about this?

If you mean that you'll risk it by using the art and "check back" ...with Cafepress? It's possible they could be flagged. It's also possible Cafepress will have nothing to do with the process server knocking at your door letting you know you're being sued.

Checking back at that website won't reveal anything, either, most likely.

I always recommend that when a person asks questions like these or similar... probably not fully informed about what could happen and the risk might be greater than you'd expect. Even I have to remind myself of that from time to time.

I'm copying and pasting the paragraphs below directly off Go Media's FAQ page. I think this should clear up the company's stand on the use of their products:

******************

Q: What am I ALLOWED to do with items downloaded from Go Media's Arsenal?
A: You can use our products on designs that you are working on such as logos, tshirt designs, posters, digital art, web sites, etc. If it's a printed product, it's alright to use our vector packs. If a client hires you to design something, it's OK to use our products in their design. It's OK to design a t-shirt and then later sell that shirt as part of a clothing line. These are how our products are supposed to be used.

Q: What am I NOT allowed to do with items downloaded from Go Media's Arsenal?
A: You are not allowed to resell, repackage, share, give away, or redistribute our products in any way, for free or sale. For instance, taking a skull, recoloring it red, and uploading it to your website for your visitors to download the original vector form, or even a high resolution image, is prohibited. Basically you are not allowed to make available the original source files. It should be obvious.

******************

Here's the link to the FAQ in case there are other questions you need answered: http://gomedia.us/arsenal/faq.php

blip, I think danman was talking about checking back with the gomedia site to see if they change their license -- as Diane mentioned that sometimes happen.

danman, I've been hit by the "licensing change" issue, but I still choose to use licensed art (including items from gomedia).

quote:

Originally posted by MizLigia:
I'm copying and pasting the paragraphs below directly off Go Media's FAQ page. I think this should clear up the company's stand on the use of their products:

******************

Q: What am I ALLOWED to do with items downloaded from Go Media's Arsenal?
A: You can use our products on designs that you are working on such as logos, tshirt designs, posters, digital art, web sites, etc. If it's a printed product, it's alright to use our vector packs. If a client hires you to design something, it's OK to use our products in their design. It's OK to design a t-shirt and then later sell that shirt as part of a clothing line. These are how our products are supposed to be used.

Q: What am I NOT allowed to do with items downloaded from Go Media's Arsenal?
A: You are not allowed to resell, repackage, share, give away, or redistribute our products in any way, for free or sale. For instance, taking a skull, recoloring it red, and uploading it to your website for your visitors to download the original vector form, or even a high resolution image, is prohibited. Basically you are not allowed to make available the original source files. It should be obvious.

******************

Here's the link to the FAQ in case there are other questions you need answered: http://gomedia.us/arsenal/faq.php

Wow thanks, I totally missed that. that solves a lot of my worries. ^^'