Have you heard about the Angel Policy that is available to the stamps users? I will explain this, since you have to protect yourself from future complaints or even legal actions from the makers of rubber and acrylic stamps:
- According to many manufacturers, you buy a stamp but you are not allowed to use it for business purposes, only for personal use. For example, you can’t make cards with the stamp and sell them. That sounds very limiting to me; I like to share my designs freely and I like software like Inkscape that is totally free. I understand that they don’t want you to make another stamp with the same design or make molds using their stamps, but not to use it for your business…I don’t agree.
- Some companies have the Angel Policy and the Limited Angel policy for their stamps. You can make and sell your creations with none or some restrictions and regulations if the company agrees. For example, you may be limited to produce no more than 20 pieces using the same stamp, or you may not be allowed to sell your product online. Another regulation could be that you create the final product by hand or that you state that you used a stamp from a certain company (i.e. give them the credit).
- Sometimes, one company has different lines of stamps with different policies for each.
- Some companies require a registration fee prior to using the stamp.
- Read the entire company’s angel policy, not just the title. You may be surprised by the small print.
- The limitations of using rubbing stamps are confusing, since you have to research before you buy a stamp if you have in mind selling the final product.
- As for me, I don’t support restrictions to artists and their right to earn some money out of their work. All these regulations only add stress and fear for some crafters to use stamps. Necessary? I don’t see the reason for such protectiveness as long as you don’t step on the right of other artists by directly copying their work.
- What do you think, my friend?
Tags: angel policy
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