Image copyright on Tarot blogs?

Aina

OK so there are hundreds of blogs on tarot, such as daily reading blogs, instructional, collectors and so on. Most of them use tarot card images, scans and photos because (naturally) imagery is important in tarot and if it's a review or collector's blog, the image is very important.

However we all know that these images are copyrighted and, as far as I know, only 6 images are allowed in a review. However I can swear that bloggers use a lot more that that! Now, why I am posting this is because I also have a blog that is my online tarot journal and it's full of scans (it's currently on private). I love my blog to be full of images but I sometimes worry about being punished somehow because of this copyright. So I decided to keep it private.

Anyway, do you have any opinions/info on this? I'm sure everybody will agree about the importance of showing the card images (would someone read a tarot blog that doesn't have images? ). From the other side though, what do those that own copyrights to tarot decks (Us Games, Lo Scarabeo, independent publishers) think about so many images being showed all over the net and what is the real copyright law of the tarot cards?
 

biddy9

Copyright - do your research

It's very important to make sure that you are covering your bases when it comes to using copyrighted images.

You need to contact the publisher of the Tarot deck that you want to display on your blog. For the Rider Waite, it is US Games. You'll find the details at http://www.usgamesinc.com/pages.php?pageid=13.

While there is debate about whether the RW deck is indeed still under copyright, I think it is much safer to ensure that you have copyright permission.

Oftentimes, copyright permission is provided free of charge. However, you must check with the copyright owner.

It is also a breach of copyright to use card images from other sites. For example, I have the Radiant Rider Waite deck on my site (with copyright permission from US Games). I invested in having photos taken of each card to use on my website. Now I see those images right across the internet, without any reference back to my website. The polite (and probably formal) thing to do is ask for permission to use card images taken from other sites as well as getting copyright permission from the publisher. Or create your own images from your selected deck.

No matter how big or small your blog/business is, make sure that you investigate what your copyright obligations are and follow through on them.
 

AJ

there is no single opinion here, do what feels correct to you. What does our opinion matter if you already know the answer?

there are millions of blogs, most get very little traffic by the way.
 

happyfish

According to Wikipedia (which may or may not be a reliable source...) the original Rider Waite deck, published in 1909, is in the public domain in the United States. However, other countries have other laws. Even in the US, you have to be very careful that you are using images from the ORIGINAL Rider pack - US Games has republished many newer versions. US Games is pretty hardcore about the copyright stuff. I live in the US, and I've taken images straight from Wikipedia to use on my site, to try to ensure I'm doing everything legally.

biddy already linked to the general site, but here is the specific PDF that outlines the reproduction policy: http://www.usgamesinc.com/info/TarotReproductionPolicies.pdf

Another thing you might want to consider is using images from other decks. I have a lovely picture from Seven Stars' Deck of The Bastard on my site, which I got her permission to use. It's nice working with an indie deck instead of dealing with corporate policies.
 

Aina

It's very important to make sure that you are covering your bases when it comes to using copyrighted images.

You need to contact the publisher of the Tarot deck that you want to display on your blog. For the Rider Waite, it is US Games. You'll find the details at http://www.usgamesinc.com/pages.php?pageid=13.

While there is debate about whether the RW deck is indeed still under copyright, I think it is much safer to ensure that you have copyright permission.

Oftentimes, copyright permission is provided free of charge. However, you must check with the copyright owner.

It is also a breach of copyright to use card images from other sites. For example, I have the Radiant Rider Waite deck on my site (with copyright permission from US Games). I invested in having photos taken of each card to use on my website. Now I see those images right across the internet, without any reference back to my website. The polite (and probably formal) thing to do is ask for permission to use card images taken from other sites as well as getting copyright permission from the publisher. Or create your own images from your selected deck.

No matter how big or small your blog/business is, make sure that you investigate what your copyright obligations are and follow through on them.

Thank you so much Biddy, for kindly providing all this information. I feel I did the right thing by putting my blog on private that had loads of scans from the decks that I've bought. I was thinking of contacting the publishers but was "sure" they will either:

1) don't answer;
2) say "no";
3) charge a lot;

I think to be on the safer side, I will just use the decks that I illustrated and for the Rider Waite (which I like), I will try and contact them. RWS has been around for a long time and perhaps they would be "gentler" to those wanting to use their images. So, thanks a lot for this link :)
 

Aina

there is no single opinion here, do what feels correct to you. What does our opinion matter if you already know the answer?

there are millions of blogs, most get very little traffic by the way.

Yes, that's true about the millions of blogs. There are so many tarot blogs with beautiful images and so little time to read them all! I guess that most people tend to stick to the most famous ones, the ones that teach tarot...Others are visited "accidentally" when stumbling upon some beautiful image on Google Images. (Well, that's how I stumble)
 

Aina

According to Wikipedia (which may or may not be a reliable source...) the original Rider Waite deck, published in 1909, is in the public domain in the United States. However, other countries have other laws. Even in the US, you have to be very careful that you are using images from the ORIGINAL Rider pack - US Games has republished many newer versions. US Games is pretty hardcore about the copyright stuff. I live in the US, and I've taken images straight from Wikipedia to use on my site, to try to ensure I'm doing everything legally.

biddy already linked to the general site, but here is the specific PDF that outlines the reproduction policy: http://www.usgamesinc.com/info/TarotReproductionPolicies.pdf

Another thing you might want to consider is using images from other decks. I have a lovely picture from Seven Stars' Deck of The Bastard on my site, which I got her permission to use. It's nice working with an indie deck instead of dealing with corporate policies.

Thanks for the other link dealing with reproduction policies. Perhaps we (non US dwellers) won't be able to use the images that are straight from Wikipedia. Somehow I've always felt like featuring many decks on my blog (like many others do) and if so, I won't be able to get all their copyright permissions.

I think I might need to consider using the deck that I've made although it's not as nice as I would love it to be :) Anyway, it will make me feel safe about the copyrights. I'm just happy to finally have the real picture. Most of those beautiful daily draw blogs wouldn't have all the permissions to post, I guess. It's better to be on the safer side and, if needed, use my own images, yay! (idea)
 

AJ

Something else I've done to my blog was add HTML to stop the pin it ability. That whole site of billions of images are all stolen if you care to look at it from my point of view.