I believe in you

Another month to play along with the PTI Blog Hop, this month Nichole has chosen a beautiful photo as the inspiration challenge and offered up some color samples and sketches.  When I saw the photo I clicked on the image source to see if I could see more of the photographer's work and discovered that the Pinterest board Nichole had taken the image from doesn't directly source the photo.  I emailed customer service asking if PTI had ever thought about asking the talented pool of PTI fans for images that they wouldn't have to worry about copyright images from and I got the following response.  Can I just say that I have a huge amount of respect for Papertrey Ink and the quality of work that they create and the Design Team, but I am amazed that their customer service representative doesn't understand the concept of copyright infringement.  The line in bold is what really worries me (I added the bold).  Any thoughts crafters?  The main concern is when you take a photo off Pinterest (and it's worthwhile reading their terms of service) and use the image to sell something.  And please, keep it positive, I feel as a photographer I am constantly educating people about using my work, especially for a business practice.

Hi Erin,

Thank you for your email. As artists that constantly have their original designs stolen, we completely understand where your concern stems from. I know that we do our homework when we use images from online sources and provide photo credit whenever possible. If the photo in question is not credited to someone specifically, it is possible we could not find the original artist. In that case, that individual can contact us and let us know that their photo has been used against their permission, and of course we would take it down. As you know, content on the internet is free to use. If an artist requires permission or payment to use their images, that information is available when the image is chosen. If you post an image on Pinterest without crediting yourself, people do not have to gain permission or give photo credit to you. Images on Pinterest are pinned, repinned and posted everywhere so there is no legal repercussions for reusing them. Nonetheless, we always want to do the right thing when using other people's art and therefore would never intentionally omit that information.

Thanks, Erin! If you have any additional questions regarding our practices, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Take care,

Julie Heskamp
Customer Service
Papertrey Ink

And as a note-- after doing a google search for the image, I'm fairly confident the photo is from this fabulous Swedish flower website.