Do you copy? A word about scraplifting

Scrapbooking is a fun and exciting way for people to
express their thoughts, photos, memorabilia,
journals and family history. Attending meets, swaps
and crops can be a great way to share and learn with
others who have similar interest.

However, when you open yourself up to these
situations, you take the chance that someone just
might decide to copy yourwork. Yes, you are
there to share and learn, but not to
let others take all of your hard earned
ideas and exploit them for their own.

Some people immediately feel they should get their
scrapbooks copyrighted. This is not necessary. One
way to get around this is to agree to
scraplifting.

Scraplifting is a term used loosely by some scrapbookers.
It describes the process of seeing scrapbook layouts or
ideas in magazines or on theWeb and copying them for your
own layout(s).

Most scrapbookers are happy to share their ideas with
others because they realize that they too have received
inspiration, motivation or ideas from others in the past.

Scraplifting can be the highest form of flattery when
the person being copied views the “scraplifting” as an
opportunity for someone else to have a creative experience
with the help of another.

Other scrapbookers dont see scraplifting the same way.
They believe it to be unethical and call it CASEing
(copy and stealing everything).

For those scrapbookers who believe scraplifting is
okay, they say there are unofficial guidelines that
should be followed.

Scraplifting is a complicated subject too. The general rule
of thumb is: if you use 70% of another persons
scrapbook, its a scraplift, under that its an inspired
by you.

If you do scraplift,you MUST credit the original artist in
your comments, possibly even linking back to the original,
but do not try to pass it off as your own, unaided work.

This of course also means that you need to keep some
kind of track of who the original poster was. Some
will ask the artists permission first before
scraplifting.

In general, it is not necessary to copyright your
work unless you are selling it. There are always going to
be a select few individuals out there that dont follow
the rules of ethics.

However, those numbers are very slim and should not
scare you into spending needlessly on copyrights and
scare you away from something you enjoy so much.