Hello everyone,
 
The ferret community is a fairly tight one and thankfully pretty vigilant
when it comes to ferret issues.  Two very kind individuals e-mailed me in
the last few months to alert me to the unauthorized use of two of my
copyrighted photographs for products manufactured by third parties and
auctioned on eBay.  In one case it was a ferret mousepad and in the second
a ferret button.  We also recently had someone scan one of our ads and use
some of the photographs for their own advertisement, another direct
violation of copyright!
 
The unauthorized taking someone else's work is essentially theft of
property and the federal 1976 copyright laws take a very hard line on
violators.  When I spoke to both of these manufacturers, I was told that
they were sent the photograph by another person and I have no reason to
disbelieve them.  Unfortunately, that does not absolve them of the
violation.  It is their responsibility to find out whether or not they can
legally use the photograph for their own purposes.  It is also illegal to
represent another's work as your own.  Sending a photograph to a
manufacturer for use, when it does not belong to you, is also a violation
of copyright.  It is also a violation of copyright to copy a photograph by
making a copy via illustration, then producing an item for sale.  Another
violation is to make and sell a third product from the original-- such as
matted pictures or placemats from our calendar photographs.
 
Knowing these rules ahead of time can save thousands in fines and
penalites, plus the cost of litigation.  Please pass the word that all of
The Ferret Company's photographs are protected under the Federal Copyright
Law.  If you see anyone or hear of anyone intending to use them in any way,
please let me know immediately.  If I can stop it before it happens, there's
no damage done.  If not, I will have to consider some form of redress.
 
You will see some new products using our photographs from a third party
sometime this summer because I recently licensed some of our images for a
new line of ferret gift items.  The gift line is called Grin & Ferret and
you will easily recognize them because the logo is one of our photographs
as are the photographs.  Each product carries our copyright prominently.
(We will have these for review and purchase on the website
http://www.ferretcompany.com as soon as we receive samples).
 
I really appreciate the support and vigilance of the ferret community.
Thanks for helping out.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jeanne Carley
[Posted in FML issue 2675]