General Forum

For some of the cards I have been missing in my sets I have been scouring Ebay for examples of good scans so I can get a nice warm feeling when the set becomes a gallery :).

I've found a couple.

Before people get worried about copyright, I have been personally contacting the Ebay account holder, politely asking for permission to use their image on the site (cropped/adjusted).

In both cases the image owners have been very nice and said it was fine to use their images. However, one of them would like to be credited (of which I have no problem with).

What's the best way to add that credit? I assume either of the note fields is a big no-no as it does not relate directly to the card information itself.

The only other place I can see would be to add a comment? Does that seem like a sensible place or is there some other site magic that can be utilised?

Cheers, Dal

To put it shortly, you don't have to give credit. Copyright for a card image is held by the card companies, not anyone who takes a scan of it.

That's not true.

It's a chain of copyright. While the card company have overall copyright of the card's design and image, they then have to get permission from the original source (in this case LucasFilms). Likewise, someone taking a scan or photo of an item (in this case a trading card) are then copyright holders of that scan/photo.

Ebay photos are a funny case. The copyright agreement when you post an item for sale isn't the norm. Other users can use your photos within EBay, but only within EBay, unless you specifically express you do not want your images used by other users. This usage does not extend beyond EBay usage.

For further details on EBay read the full policy here: EBay Images / Text Policy

Technically all our scans are breach of copyright on the card companies. However, as there are millions of scans and it would appear no complaints or cease and desist cases are in action I think we are ok. There would be nothing stopping a trading card company from insisting all their cards be pulled from the database (unless there is a formal agreement in place with each of them). Let's just hope that doen't happen.

Regardless of all that, I've taken someone elses time, effort and usage of their property and used for my own ends. It simply seems courteous, polite and correct to give the credit in some form when asked for.
 

hmmm, having read a bit more into this, it would appear scans / digitised copies of work that have not modified the original content in any way are indeed exempt from Copyright themselves. The original owner Copyright remains as is.

Some form of creative amendments / additions need to have been made to them to gain a new copyright on that material (Just like the Card Companies do with original film stills) and permission from the original Copyright holder obtained if they are to be redistributed.

Would also seem that Copyright rules differ from country to country.

Take whatever image you want. No one cares. This is America

I'm not a lawyer, but I've delved into the use of copyrighted material as an educator. Technically our scans are okay because they are not being used to sell the scans, they are for all intents and purposes to educate. That basically opens the door wide. Also, note that the copyright information is stated on the card somewhere (in the case of officially licensed product), so that information is correctly displayed and within the guidelines of credit due.

There was a discussion on the boards about this about a year ago or so. ADMIN chimed in at the end. Scans from other card websites etc... are taboo. Scans from the public domain such as Ebay are fair game.

Here is a link to his/her/their response. If the link defaults to the first page of the thread the answer is on page 7.

https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Forum.cfm/Page/S/ID/136480/?MODE=VIEW&ThreadID=9790&PageIndex=7

Thanks for finding that thread.  I've got it bookmarked now.

To solve the problem, only enter scans of the cards you actually have.   I see no reason to do otherwise