Copyright issues - Tarot cards on blogs

Please move this post if it is in the wrong place. I wasn't quite sure.

If a person uses individual tarot cards on blogs for personal reflections, does he or she have to obtain permission from the deck publishers? I suppose the same question could apply in open forums like this. If images of current decks are published, does permission need to be obtained?

The blog issue concerns me more, however. The images are used for personal purposes, not for profit, but they are accessible via the web. I have a blog on which I do publish individual images. Some people who do the same say Published with permission but many others don't.

Any informed advice would be welcome. Thanks .

In the United States, "acceptable use" permits usage of up to 10% of a work for educative, personal, non-profit purposes.

The problem then comes from people Linking these copyrighted items onto a private, commercial Forum or server, such as this, particularly international, one.

Thanks for your response.

The 10% rule applies here as well. I guess the question that is of interest here is how "private" the internet is seen to be, especially given your observation about people "linking" to images.

The 10% principle was developed at a time when internet publishing was almost unknown. Use of information in hard print is a very different matter. But the law is the law.

It is such a minefield and I did not want to disturb publishers, or individuals. I guess it may well be courteous to contact publishers. I initially thought of doing that but contacting 20 or so publishers was not a task I wanted to undertake given the relative unimportance of a personal blog.

Yes, you are correct; it applies to print and non-print media (i.e., film). Mother is a librarian LOL!

Because you are using them in a different context - ie to support your study of the Tarot there's somthing called 'transformative use' (very gray area though) but you'd be okay to use them, esp, if you don't have any advertisements on your site. Because I get paid for my website, I couldn't, even if the article itself was educational, because I'm making a profit out of it.

To protect the artist it might be worth putting a copyright sign watermark across your scans, and making them as small as possible to still be useful. I hear Kat Black had all sorts of problems with people stealing her Golden Tarot images. You could also provide a link to the artists/publishers website.

One of the issues with Copyright law IMHO is that it protects 'big business' - those big companies that can afford to drag people through the courts - but does little for individual artists who can't afford an international lawyer. Sorry, that was getting rather OT.....

Thanks for those really useful suggestions .

I went ahead and wrote the various card publishers to ask permission for the use of their images on my blog. They have various rules, each company was different. Each image is credited and links are given to both the artist/author (where possible) and to the publisher. One publisher wanted a "click through" link on each image of their cards to their website where someone could purchase the deck. I also have links to the publishers on my sidebar. I do this both to comply with copyright laws and to make it easy for readers to find a deck they might see on my blog.

Good stuff, MercyMe. Taking that extra step to 'do it right'. Glad to know that they've been co-operative rather than just saying 'no'.

MercyMe said:

I went ahead and wrote the various card publishers to ask permission for the use of their images on my blog. They have various rules, each company was different. Each image is credited and links are given to both the artist/author (where possible) and to the publisher. One publisher wanted a "click through" link on each image of their cards to their website where someone could purchase the deck. I also have links to the publishers on my sidebar. I do this both to comply with copyright laws and to make it easy for readers to find a deck they might see on my blog.

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I think these suggestions are very good as well. Thanks.

It seems to me, though, that there is a slight difference in your situation in that your blog is also a method by which you advertise your reading business.

But each time I use a card I could affirm the author, artist and publisher. I'd like to do that anyway.

Northwind said:

But each time I use a card I could affirm the author, artist and publisher. I'd like to do that anyway.

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Yes, this bibliographical referencing will keep it out of the realm of "plagiarism."