So you are ready to dive into digital scrapbooking. There are a few rules and courtesies that you should consider before beginning your scrapbooking journey.
I’ll start by explaining the term copyright. A copyright is a form of legal protection for the author (designer) of an original work, whether it be published of unpublished. Copyright infringement or digital piracy is the violation of the copyright. More details on this to follow.

No matter what type of digital products you use (purchased or free, personal use or commercial use) chances are the creator of the product will include a terms of use file. The terms of use (abbreviated in the digital community as TOU) are an important set of guidelines from the designer/creator that describe what you are allowed to do with the product.
Trixie Scraps Terms Of Use
Some of the common things that you will find in a TOU file include but are not limited to:
* Personal Use or Commercial Use – Personal Use items are for your personal use ONLY. Commercial Use items are avaiable for use in items that can be sold – designer terms will differ.
* Altering the product – Most designers allow simple editing of their products like resizing and recoloring.
* Distribution – In nearly all cases a designer will put in the TOU that you may not redistribute the product and you are also not allowed to claim the product as your own work. Even if the item has been altered by you the copyright remains with the original author.
* Other – Designers request that you keep it G rated. Do not use for obscene or immoral work.
* Contact Information – A designer will also inlcude contact information in the TOU file in the instance that you might have a specific question about the product or terms. When in doubt it is always best to contact the desinger to be absolutely sure that you are not breaking any of the rules set forth by the designer in the terms.

Digital Piracy/Copyright infringement is a serious offense that is punishable by law. This offense occurs when a copyrighted product is reproduced, distributed, publicly displayed, or altered and made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.

It is always polite (and a TOU requirement) to credit the designer of the product you have used in your finished creation. This is especially necessary when publishing to online galleries. Never claim products from other designers as your own work.

Examples of giving proper credit, specifically in online galleries:
Plain Text Credit

Coded and Linked Credit (When posting in forums and galleries you can use the bracket coding shown here to link back to the desinger. This link is not always required but is certainly something the designer appreciates.

The coding shown above will generate a clickable text link to the product. All you need to do is edit the information after the equal sign (=) and before the closing bracket (])
Credits:
Oceanside by Trixie Scraps
Photo Actions from My4Hens Photography
Font: Century Gothic
Program: Photoshop 7

Information from this post was gathered from youthandmedia.org and copyright.gov.

All Trixie Scraps Designs products can be found in the following online stores:
Trixie Scraps Shop * Gotta Pixel * Scrapbook Bytes * Funky Playground