Over the past few days, I’ve been catching up on all my blog reading and was surprised to discover a bit of drama out in cyberspace.  Who would have thought?  But then I quickly reminded myself that behind each post and comment is a live human being with thoughts and feelings…and well, we humans are sort of known for our drama.  On a day to day basis, I work with folks ranging in age from 9 to 95 (and everything in between).  You can believe me when I tell you that drama follows us at any age and how we choose to handle it is what makes all the difference.

(A quick side note: Yes, the majority of people I work with are girls and women.  Yes, the majority of blogs I read are by women.  No, drama and angst are not soley characteristics of the female species.  You haven’t seen nothing until you’ve witnessed some 80 year old men get their shorts in a bunch over a poker game.  It can get real tense.)

So someone has been leaving hurtful anonymous comments and judging bloggers based on a snippet of their lives.  We’re all judgmental and envy is a nasty quality.  I’m of the opinion, however, if you can’t own up to your own comments, perhaps you should keep them to yourself.

A bit more complicated an issue is that of intellectual property.  I decided to look up its definition, and here is what the wiley world of Wikipedia says:

Intellectual property (IP) is a term referring to a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law.^[1] Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions.

Now, for those of you that are unfamiliar with the art blog world, there is an issue going around of artists taking other artists’ ideas/style.  It is a much more complicated issue than you  would think and Chucklebutt and I have been having a pretty good conversation about the whole thing.  Simply put, one artist is accusing another artist of stealing her designs.  You would think it would be pretty black and white –not so.  In the world of etsy (the website where folks can buy and sell handmade items) there is a fine line between being inspired and out right copying another individual’s work for profit.  The problem comes when you start to talk about the legality of it all.  Most of the folks on etsy do not have their work copyrighted or licensed.   This is primarily cottage industry at its finest.  If, however, I wanted to make a whole slew of artwork with Disney characters, I would definitely be in violation of copyright infringement.  Disney is sort of the mother of all companies to be feared.  (Interestingly enough there are approximately 7000 works of art on sale at etsy using Disney characters and/or designs.  Hmmm…I hope they have a good lawyer.)

So, back to the artists in question.  (Bear with me, my analytical thought process is creaky and out of shape.)  No laws have been broken.  No copyrights infringed.  Legally, there is no issue.  Now what about the ethical issue?  Chuck thinks there isn’t one since the materials used to create said artwork are unique (fabric, trims, notions, etc) and the images used are in the public domain.  Coming from a photographer’s perspective, he uses Ansel Adams as an example.  Everyone knows an Ansel Adams photograph and yet all landscape photographers aspire to take a similar shot of El Capitan (and if they’re lucky, make some money off of it.)  I agree to an extent, however, were it me, I could see getting upset over someone profiting from my designs.  Mind you I haven’t had an original thought in all my 36 years, so I’m not too worried about people taking my ideas.  I guess the whole issue gives me reason to pause and think about crafts and ethics.  I certainly don’t have any answers, but I’m definitely doing a lot of thinking.

Whew!  Can you hear the wheels squeaking?  So much for Wordless Wednesday.  😀  I’ll leave everyone with a pic I found quite refreshing.