Art Tool or Art Reference: A Copyright Thing

BEFORE MY STUDIO SHOP GOES LIVE IN 2013 this is a
Note To EVERYONE

I have changed my texture and action usage agreement:

You can use my TEXTURES and ACTIONS resources anywhere and however you want in your artwork and photography and in pre-mades!


That includes:

 -Scrapbooking, Fine Art, Crafting, Digital Art, Illustration, etc
 -ANY other commercial use or non-commercial project.
 -You do not have to alter/change it to use them for these purposes.
 -*Premades* My textures and actions can be used in pre-mades with significant changes!

PLEASE, please don't redistribute and sell as your own RESOURCE UNLESS you make significant changes. You are not allowed to claim as your own or sell my textures or actions in their original state.
*This is a new agreement that carries over into the licensing of all my textures and actions when purchases and downloaded and applies to my giveaways from the past to present.

The reason I have made this decision is partly due to the nature of the "monster" when it comes to selling textures and actions. I am continually being informed of people stealing them and really, while I appreciate the "watch dogs" in the community, it becomes much too time consuming  to keep up with. Many textures out in the market have "similar" qualities and looks and often times people are reporting things to me that are in all actuality NOT MINE.

Secondly, I spoke to my own legal representative in regards to the copyrights of such "resources" that has left me rather, well, stunned, but I get it, and I understand now. I can see why there is a huge mass of confusion regarding the copyrighting of "resources". Stock Tools are different from STOCK REFERENCES as I have been informed. I will do my best to explain what I learned in regards to this aspect.

Texture and Action resources are not looked upon the at same as actual STOCK photos (photographs of people, places, things, etc) for the reference and or editorial market are. Those have recognizable subjects are treated under the copyright law quite differently than just action and texture resource. Textures and actions are labeled as art tools, not reference materials. What's the difference?

Here is how I will break it down for your understanding:

Let's start with textures:

Textures are created by an artist for use as an "art making" tool for other artists. It is a tool, much like a crayon. Only in its original form is it truly able to be "copyrighted". If this was not the case then every artist would have to license usage agreements for EVERY WORK OF ART THEY CREATED USING THAT TEXTURE! That means an artist who has purchased a texture can in fact DO WHATEVER they want with it, within their artwork and the creation of other works (even additional "tools" they want to sell).

Let's say, I have a red crayola crayon called Rose Red, that name is copyrighted to me.I may have a secret forumula used to create that red, but in all actuality, everyone has the "ingredients" to create a red crayon of their own, and by all accounts can do their best to match my Rose Red, through their own experimentation. The crayon was created as an art making TOOL, not a "reference". Anyone can take a red crayon and melt it down and mix it with other crayons or waxes or paints, what-have-you, and sell their creation in any form, including another "tool", yes that is right- they can sell the outcome of that "experiment", even if it is another texture.

THE COLOR RED cannot be copyrighted. I can make my own mix of red that may be similar even nearly exact but that is my red, and I can call it Royal Red. That is why paint companies when creating paints of their own (outside traditional paint names like Ochre etc) can only "copyright" the name of their paint and to some extent the "secret" formula. Anyone can take paints and mix colors to create paints that are similar to colors already created.

Now Let's Talk Actions:

Actions are just recorded steps that ANYONE can do themselves in the program they are using, be it Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom etc. The only thing that is copyrighted in actions is the actual name given to the "recording" the creator has chosen  and the way the creator as organized/tweaked the steps inside that action.

Let's pretend I am Rembrandt and I have an apprentice, I teach my apprentice my step by step method I use to mix paint, how I hold brushes while I a paint, and all the "other steps" I take to create a painting with the materials that everyone already has at their disposal.

Photoshop, Lightroom, and all these fancy computer programs have the tools already built in for your disposal to create all the steps that are recorded in the actions, they allow you to purchase additional plug-ins etc to supplement the tools already there. So, when I copyright an action, I am copyrighting the name and the "set" of that action. I cannot prevent the additional tweaking that customers do to my actions, including but not limited to, re-recording my actions with new tweaks and steps.

Textures, Actions, and other "art tools" made for artists to create with are not copyrightable the same way STOCK IMAGES ARE. Reference "stock" images are created to be used as a reference source for all traditional and or digital works where the final completed image takes influence from the look/feel/mood of the subjects within the referenced image or images. Artists who use stock images HAVE TO LICENSE for usage. (buyout exclusivity, dated/timed, general market, etc).

Textures, actions, and presets do not fall into the "reference" category according to the way they are defined by law for usage rights, as they are deemed as TOOLS and not reference. I can only imagine the paperwork that would entail from licensing usage agreements with every single artist for every artwork they create with that texture and or action preset in addition to commercial usage rights that entail from running prints and editions other editorial commercial work of their completed works that contain all the actions and textures (in some case well over a hundred textures can be used in a single piece)....See the problem here?