Who Owns a Tarot Spread?

Metafizzypop

I was just browsing around on Pinterest, looking at tarot card stuff. Pinterest is such a wonderland of intriguing things. Anyway, I did a search on Tarot Cards. A lot of cards, and a lot of spreads, came up. And one of the spreads that I found.......was my own. I had posted it right here on AT a few years ago. It's called the Haunted House. Apparently it was found by ArcaneMysteries.Tumblr.com. I guess it's on their website, and now it's floating around on Pinterest. And I didn't know anything about it.

This is actually not the first time I've seen this spread appear elsewhere outside of AT without my knowledge. I also found it on someone's blog some time ago, but it was kind of an obscure blog, so I didn't worry about it. But now it's on Pinterest. And I don't get any credit for coming up with it. And no royalties, either, lol.

Are there any rules about this? Is it OK to just take a tarot spread and add some art and put it wherever you want and do whatever you want with it? Are tarot spreads in the public domain or something? I can't help feeling cheated.

You can find the spread on this board (and probably a few others). The picture shows a drawing of a haunted house on an orange background.

https://www.pinterest.com/858houk/oils-natural-things/
 

Chrystella

I'm not an expert on copyright and trademark. I'm a social media and online community manager and I have some experience with this issue.

I imagine that spreads would be treated like any other piece of original content or art. The moment you create it, it's yours. However, that would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove unless you officially registered it. Even then, enforcing it is problematic on the web and the legal procedures and expense of trying to get something removed or obtain compensation for unauthorised use are typically not worth it even for big brands sometimes.

I generally advise that, if you don't want your stuff used without authorisation, don't put it on the web at all. I also understand that we want to share our content and resources. Personally, I put my stuff out there. I ask that people credit me and I hope for the best. Sometimes I do find photos I've taken around the web. If possible, I leave a comment such as, "I'm glad you like my photo. Check out more of my stuff on my blog" and I leave a link. Although there are people that feel that everything should be free and everything on the Internet is up for grabs, more often than not, people are just sharing content without knowing the source and are happy to add that information once they learn it. And I also try to encourage people to credit material they share.
 

Metafizzypop

Chrystella said:
I'm not an expert on copyright and trademark. I'm a social media and online community manager and I have some experience with this issue.

I imagine that spreads would be treated like any other piece of original content or art. The moment you create it, it's yours. However, that would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove unless you officially registered it. Even then, enforcing it is problematic on the web and the legal procedures and expense of trying to get something removed or obtain compensation for unauthorised use are typically not worth it even for big brands sometimes.

I generally advise that, if you don't want your stuff used without authorisation, don't put it on the web at all. I also understand that we want to share our content and resources. Personally, I put my stuff out there. I ask that people credit me and I hope for the best. Sometimes I do find photos I've taken around the web. If possible, I leave a comment such as, "I'm glad you like my photo. Check out more of my stuff on my blog" and I leave a link. Although there are people that feel that everything should be free and everything on the Internet is up for grabs, more often than not, people are just sharing content without knowing the source and are happy to add that information once they learn it. And I also try to encourage people to credit material they share.
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Hi Chrystella, and thanks for your reply. It sounds like there's pretty much nothing I can do. I'd be happy just to get credit, but it doesn't look like it's coming.

I just realized there's something I forgot to mention. I don't know if this makes a difference, but I think it should. My spread appeared in an e-book published by AT. There are three books of tarot spreads that were published a couple of years ago. Wouldn't an e-book be copyrighted? I would guess yes. And I would also guess that no one on the internet would give a hoot.
 

Chrystella

The options kinda suck, to be honest.

If you can prove the spread is yours (and it sounds like you can), you could contact the blogger and Pinterest and request that it be removed. If they don't oblige, then you'd need a lawyer.

If you have a Pinterest account, you can leave a comment there explaining that you created this spread and where it originally appears, etc. Maybe you could leave a comment on the Tumblr or contact the blogger and ask for credit.
 

Metafizzypop

You know, I was thinking along the same lines. I'd like to pursue the issue, at least to a mild extent. Not with a lawyer -- that seems a bit much. But I wouldn't mind insinuating myself into a website or two and see what happens when the creator of the spread shows up and actually has something to say. I don't expect much, but I'm curious now. I just want to see how the Monster of the Internet really works in the end.
 

KarmaPug

I work in the intellectual property legal field in Canada, and I can be honest to say that the route of getting a legal cease and desist procedure can be quite costly if it proceeds to litigation. It can take months to well over a year or longer to get someone to remove content from a website, which doesn't guarantee that other websites might have copies of the material also (which then you'd have to go after those parties also). The preventative measure to get a registered copyright is comparably cheaper than the after-math of proceeding with a lawsuit on material that isn't a registered copyright, which might be something for most of us to consider when creating spreads and decks, to look into the intellectual property rights and securities to protect our creative endeavors.

It's a shame your spread has gone unaccredited. Best of luck to you, in whichever method you choose.
 

Metafizzypop

KarmaPug said:
I work in the intellectual property legal field in Canada, and I can be honest to say that the route of getting a legal cease and desist procedure can be quite costly if it proceeds to litigation. It can take months to well over a year or longer to get someone to remove content from a website, which doesn't guarantee that other websites might have copies of the material also (which then you'd have to go after those parties also). The preventative measure to get a registered copyright is comparably cheaper than the after-math of proceeding with a lawsuit on material that isn't a registered copyright, which might be something for most of us to consider when creating spreads and decks, to look into the intellectual property rights and securities to protect our creative endeavors.
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Hi KarmaPug, and thanks for popping in.

I think that the spread just may in fact be copyrighted. As I mentioned earlier, it appeared in an e-book published by AT. I did some research just now and I found that those e-books do say copyright by Aeclectic Tarot. The spread also appeared in the e-magazine of the American Tarot Association. I think it's called Tarot Reflections. And I am reasonably certain that that's copyright also. Can the rules be different just because this stuff is on the internet? I don't see why they should be. Copyright is copyright.

I have no intent of going through months of litigation over this. It just isn't worth it. But I wouldn't mind making a pain in the buttocks out of myself about it.
 

jema

my advice is to send just a message to the site owner of arcanemysteries and let her know you created it, ask that she adds the copyright AT or whatever to the image and let it rest.
 

danieljuk

Pinterest is notorious for other people's work and creations being shared around with no credit! Years ago I found some amazing art work by a lovely lady that I wanted to put on my art blog. I emailed her and asked for permission and I would link to her site where people can buy prints of it. She emailed back, so shocked someone would ask permission and credit her! So I posted it. When I joined Pinterest I found her artwork sharing around all the time with no credit and no name of author, made me sad :(

I see a lot of tarot related stuff being shared around with the same thing as you Metafizzypop :( The spreads area here is public, so like Jema suggested contact the person and include a link to the original spread. I had a look through pinterest terms and conditions and it's very murky indeed. They think the site is a bit like a museum and gallery and really it's hard to complain about copyright violations. If you do want to complain you have to prove you hold copyright legally :( search pinterest copyright online and lot's of critical posts about their lacklustre approach to it! Try and get your name on it or credit at least :(

This is their own site privacy policy on copyright if it helps here
 

gregory

It might be worth asking Solandia about the copyright status of the ebook ? That would carry more weight than the fact that you had posted a thread here.

ETA the arcanemysteries person has LOADS of spreads up there - some that I swear I've seen here...
 
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