All Rights Reserved Copyright 2008-2009 -What does this mean?  (NOTE: you may NOT use my photos or text to sell your stuff!) 
Really, I am not THAT good.  I'm not an award winning photographer, nor a Pulitzer Prize wining author, but for lazy people trying to sell their stuff, my work seems to fit the bill perfectly.

You see, they appear to think that it is perfectly ok to copy and paste several paragraphs from my blog and use this plagiarized text to sell their stuff on eBay and Craigslist.  It's not. 

I usually find out about these thefts when other people run across them as they are surfing, and they send me an email. (There ARE some very caring people that read this blog -thank you!)  The last two incidents were on eBay.  One was a "copy & paste" job of  4 or 5 paragraphs from my 15-91 review.  The other was not only a copy & paste of the text, but they also inserted several WATERMARKED photos from my 15-91 review.as well. Oddly enough, this selling wasn't even listing a Singer 15-91.  It was a Japanese made, HA-1 class 15 machine. So, I suppose this person is not very enlightened on multiple counts.  

I first contacted both sellers directly and asked them to remove the stuff that they copied and pasted from my blog.  The "text-only" seller simply refused.   This seller did remove the wording in the listing that referred to the machine as a  Sew-Classic℠ sewing machine, but insisted that all of the remaining, copied and pasted (word for word, verbatim) paragraphs constituted "fair use".  Nope, sorry. Guess again.  If they had read the blog, absorbed the information and then used it to write, in their own words,  their very own description- no problem.  Or if they were writing a spoof or commentary on my blog, then copying and pasting portions of it  would be fair use.  To copy and paste multiple sentences and paragraphs in order to market goods that they are selling, there's NO WAY that is fair use.

The other seller just ignored me altogether. Photos, text, everything just stayed put. So, I had to pursue it further.  

I issued yet another DCMA take down notice.  I've sent several to Craigslist, but this was my first to eBay.  It took about a day, but the listings were removed.

Here's the deal-

It's perfectly OK to link to my blog, even in a Craigslist ad.  I don't think that eBay will allow it because the sew-classic.com domain sells "non-eBay" items through the shop.sew-classic sub domain.

It is not OK to post my photos anywhere else on the web without my permission. You can link to the photo, but you cannot post it.  Now, I do reserve ALL rights, but I generally only pursue the issue when people use my work (writing and photos) to sell their stuff.  When it's used for learning or non-commercial purposes, I could get pissy about it, but I usually don't.

You cannot imply that you are associated with Sew-Classic℠ in any way.  You cannot call your sewing machine a "Sew-Classic℠" machine.  

So, to make things easy, if you are selling something, take your own photographs of it and write your own description about it.  By simply doing that, you'll be free and clear of any problems from anyone.

If you want to purchase the right to a photograph to use commercially or hire me to write your description, just asked.  I'm always open to applying my skills in order to earn an honest dollar.


If you see someone doing something questionable with my photos or text, PLEASE let me know. I need all the help I can get....