Links/downloads forum is locked for now - UPDATE!

[Carolc]

I have reluctantly locked the Links/Downloads forum until I have a chance to consult some legal counsel. I am worried that some of the items in these threads infringe on Disney trademarks/copyrights - not just the items for sale, but perhaps the freebies as well. My apologies for the sudden closure and I ask for your understanding and patience while I (hopefully) can get some information.

Thank you,
Carol

[kaylalovesminnie]

Wow Carol, I am sure everyone hear can agree we don't want you or the site to encounter any legal trouble. I hope you can get some clear answers and I know you will make the best decision possible!!

[Carolc]

Thanks for your support, and I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

[roxana]

Originally Posted by kaylalovesminnie

Wow Carol, I am sure everyone hear can agree we don't want you or the site to encounter any legal trouble. I hope you can get some clear answers and I know you will make the best decision possible!!

I´m sure nobody wants MS having legal issues.

[kateolas]

Carol I have done more in dept research on this subject as of late since there are people out in the digi world that want to 'stir the turd' so it seems.

EVERYTHING is copyrighted.

Even those images for the avatars that are posted on this site.

Do you ever wonder why most of the books about the Disney parks has NO images in them ... that is because the images are also copyrighted. That means you can't put a picture of the castle on the cover of a book WITHOUT Disney's permission.

So all our digital pages ....... guess they are illegal too huh?


I'd love to have a face-to-face forum with the "haters" who started this battle as of late. We were all just fine and dandy ... not hurting anyone ... some just have to nag and complain because of their jealousy that some are making a small profit from digital creations ... not like they are making millions off their kits.

All this "finger pointing" is ridiculous !!!! Great people who take the time out of their busy lives with their families .... put these kits together and share them with the rest of us. Now they are being "punished" because of a few people who feel the need to ***** and moan about things.

They need to take up a new hobby ... and leave the Disney-scrappers alone !!!


My hats go off to all the digital designers that have offered Disney like offers here ...... and I stand behind them 100%.

When you drag "legalize" into a hobby ..... it sucks the fun right out of it. That is my opinion.

But Carol you being the owner of this board ... you have to do what you have to do. And we all understand that.


I look at it this way (and I have said it many times before) ... if I am going to be in JAIL .... by all means let it be Disney jail !!!!

ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH !!!!!

[CarmenF]

I am sure nobody will be upset! Being involved in the craft word this is something that has come up alot. I'm not sure of all the exact rules, but I think freebies are okay. Has anyone ever looked at the disney ribbon you can get at Walmart it actually says "Not to be used for anything other than personal use. Not to be resold" It is crazy. I can't remember how the Mousehead ribbon people get away with it but they can sell it. Maybe becasuse they design it there self and just call it mouse head not mickey mouse?? When I do my ribbon sculptures I always called them something else like Cindy for Cinderella or just Fairy for Tinkerbell and stuff. Someone had said that if we used some of our bows at Disney they would make us take them out which isn't true at all. Same for all the shirts I made us all...if that were true there would be a lot of naked people walking around Disney World. LOL Maybe one day we will figure out all this Disney Copyright stuff....it seems that this stuff gets realy scarey once every few months and it comes in waves. If I didn't love Disney so much I might get upset with them! LOL

[CarmenF]

Originally Posted by Goofys_girl

Carol I have done more in dept research on this subject as of late since there are people out in the digi world that want to 'stir the turd' so it seems.

EVERYTHING is copyrighted.

Even those images for the avatars that are posted on this site.

Do you ever wonder why most of the books about the Disney parks has NO images in them ... that is because the images are also copyrighted. That means you can't put a picture of the castle on the cover of a book WITHOUT Disney's permission.

So all our digital pages ....... guess they are illegal too huh?


I'd love to have a face-to-face forum with the "haters" who started this battle as of late. We were all just fine and dandy ... not hurting anyone ... some just have to nag and complain because of their jealousy that some are making a small profit from digital creations ... not like they are making millions off their kits.

All this "finger pointing" is ridiculous !!!! Great people who take the time out of their busy lives with their families .... put these kits together and share them with the rest of us. Now they are being "punished" because of a few people who feel the need to ***** and moan about things.

They need to take up a new hobby ... and leave the Disney-scrappers alone !!!


My hats go off to all the digital designers that have offered Disney like offers here ...... and I stand behind them 100%.

When you drag "legalize" into a hobby ..... it sucks the fun right out of it. That is my opinion.

But Carol you being the owner of this board ... you have to do what you have to do. And we all understand that.


I look at it this way (and I have said it many times before) ... if I am going to be in JAIL .... by all means let it be Disney jail !!!!

ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH !!!!!

Same thing in the crafting world. The funny thing is that you hear that something happened to someone, but you never hear it from the someone. I know that some people do get in trouble but typically it is the people that are selling things out right that they are taking from Disney. (pictures and stuff that is) The haters out there just need to get over it... Like I said it comes in waves and then it goes away. Honestly we aren't taking any business from Disney since they do not do anything like most of this stuff. I will keep making my Disney inspired stuff...make small changes and call them something else. hahaha Us true Disney lovers know what it is (Not just digital scrapping but also my craft stuff)

[This Dixie Pixie]

I hope that this isn't something that will be deemed necessary to stay permanent. Those links have been such a wonderful resource for me and I'm finally getting pages scrapped from our 2004. Unfortunately all our pages will be so blah without Disney papers and embellishments to enhance them. I do understand that you have to CYA though Carol. Of course you do and I support that decision. It's just a very sad day when the poo disturbers have to stir up trouble for people who are basically a very insignificant worry to the Disney corporation and their copyrights.

Melissa has pretty much hit it bang on the head - I am a moderator at a large Disney fan website and the owners of the boards happen to put out the best Disney Guide Books there are. We have copyright discussions frequently with them and because they are authors and they write about Disney they are very careful about copyrights. However at the same time, every avatar and many signatures do technically violate copyright laws. This holds true with Disney, The Peanuts, Universal, Hello Kitty... if there's a message board, there are copyright violations on those message boards. Disney has never said anything to any Disney message board (not to my knowledge and I've been involved with Disney message boards since 2002) regarding people using Disney property in their avatars.

I truly hope this is a very short temporary measure!!

[Mama-si]

What I heard was that Lauriescraps was reported for Disney copyright violations and I know for sure she has taken down some of her Disney inspired work.

SO - knowing that it is out there.... trying to put a positive slant on it...

We can scrap all we want as long as we are not making money from it. We can use Disney pictures and things we create ourselves as long as we are not making money from it.

Even the freebies that are given out are technically in trade mark violation, particularly if they are a freebie that leads someone to a 'for sale' kit.

However, even though the forum links are gone from Mousescrappers, you can still look at the great layouts and when a credit is linked to a kit, you can easily find the kit and any freebies that may be offered. If a designer links her blog in her signature, you can use that to find kits and freebies to.

Disney is really protective of their trademarking. If they were not, then the courts wouldn't let them pick and choose who to go after. There are lots of ways to support disney scrappers and still stay withing the boundaries of trademarking. My educated guess is that Disney only goes after people who include trademarked images (such as the mouse ears and disney characters) and name (such as specific character names like the seven dwarves who were not in the original stories, park names or ride names).

I think, with a little engineering (removing an ear or two ) all the kits out there could support Disney scrappers (and designers) and keep Disney happy too!

[Sand]

Disney Co. got on the (traditional) scrapbooking train late, in my opinion, but at least now they have made supplies available in the parks as well as granting licenses to many scrap companies, like Creative Memories, Cricut and EK Success. Since digi scrap is not technically a physical product so a license would not be necessary (I think, I am not a lawyer) then what about copyright permission? Can't permission be granted to the Disney-inspired designers if they request it? Why couldn't they and Carol be granted a Terms Of Use from the Disney Interactive Media Group? (DIMG are the ones that oversee the official Disney internet sites.) Wouldn't this alleviating the threat of Disney lawyers threatining everything they own and thought of owning? Obviously, these can only be answered by Disney. So, I searched online for "Disney Copyrighted Permission" and found a DIMG address from a post on the cricut.com message boards (August 2009). This person wanted to sell journals with Disney characters on it at a school craft fair and got this response from Disney:

Thank you for contacting us.

To use our materials, please send your request in writing as follows:

The Walt Disney Company
ATTN: Margaret Adamic
Permissions
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-6305

Our permissions department can also be reached via telephone number
(818) 569-3128.

Thank you for your interest in Disney.

Best Regards,

Matt
Disney.com Guest Services

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Carol, I would LOVE LOVE for Mouse Scrappers to be THE OFFICIAL DISNEY DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING SITE!! There is a huge Disney digital market that, I hope, Disney Co. recognizes and would take MouseScrappers under their wing.
Sandy