Blue Giraffe Art Works - hand painted custom pet portraits

Some quick legal jargon for you concerning your commissioned portrait.

This is how image copyrights work, why your portrait is copyrighted, and why the artist retains image rights. When in doubt, please contact me prior to using or sharing an image of your portrait.

What is copyright?

Copyright is a protection provided by the United States Law (Title 17, U.S. Code) to the creator of an “original work of authorship”. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act gives the owner of copyright (the artist) the exclusive right over the original work of art in the following ways:

Only the artist can reproduce the work as copies in any form.
Only the artist can distribute copies of the work to the public by sale.
Only the artist can display the copyrighted work publicly.
Authors of works of visual art also have the rights of attribution and integrity as described in Section 106A of the 1976 Copyright Act.

It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the copyright holder.

According to Copyright Laws, the sale of art work does not mean the person who buys or commissions the art has the right to make copies of it, adapt it into another form, photograph it, or distribute the art work to the public. The artist owns the image rights and is protected under copyright law to be the only one to use, reproduce or sell the image. When you buy or commission an art work, you own the physical painting, not the image itself.

Artist and Copyright Owner:

Micah McCombs Jones of Blue Giraffe Art Works

Artist retains all rights outlined in the 1976 Copyright Act.

The Client is authorized to use the image according to the specifications below:

The client may display the art work in a private location, such as home or personal office. The client may not display the art work in a public setting, such as a gallery or public collection, without expressed written permission from the artist.
The client may use the image with a copyright watermark or a personal snapshot of the completed painting (un-cropped) on social media and in personal e-mail.
Any reproduction of the artwork can only be through the artist’s doing, such as ordering merchandise or prints of the image.

Signed: Micah McCombs Jones