> Well I have to get in on this discussion. Firstly, people have been using the displays of other ebayer's without permission. One New York TImes writer did an article on ebay - it was supposed to be this cute thing about ebay and how clever she was to link to another ebayer's display. I wrote an overly polite letter to her pointing out that I spent a lot of time creating a nice display for each item I sell and it was not considered very nice to use the work of someone else without permission. (I would not have minded if someone selling something who had no way to show it asked me if they could tell people I had one for sale, too, and they could look at my picture - you know , like a Scrabble set or a set of dishes, etc.) They didnt print my letter, but they did print one who blasted her soundly for the reasons we have been discussing here.
After reading a while back about the guy who had used one of the photos of a camera from one of our guys and the funny tricks that were played on him, I decided it was time to discourage use of mine by others by putting my copyright on all the displays I do (Now and then I don't bother, because it is an item someone else is very unlikely to be offering - one of a kind something,etc.) No one should be using other people's art to sell anything without permission of the artist. Chances are there are situations where the owner of the copyright might give permission to use it in exchange for - at the very least - credit; But would respect the owner's wishes not to use it. annsan
