Author Topic: Canva Etsy Copyright Problems (Read 3027 times)

Justanotherphotographer · « **on:** October 26, 2021, 11:34 »

I've noticed lately that when I issue DMCAs to people for selling my vectors on Etsy I get contacted with variations of "I have a Canva subscription so I am allowed".

These are often SVG or PNG files of the vector with a bit of text slapped on or whatever.

I wish Canva’s the terms were explicit about this. A plain English you can’t sublicense any design using Pro License media would be great. At the moment people are misreading (I suspect wilfully) the parts about being able to sell products featuring the images as long as you edit them as meaning they can sub-license vector or png files as long as they edit them or combine several together.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #1 on:** October 26, 2021, 11:46 »

Apologies, reading through the terms it's actually pretty explicit in a couple of places. These people are just full of s**t

https://www.canva.com/policies/content-license-agreement/

9. Prohibited uses
You definitely can’t do these things with any free or Pro Content on Canva:
1. sub-license, re-sell, rent, lend, assign, gift or otherwise transfer or distribute the Content or the rights granted under this Content License Agreement (subject to section 4B);
...
4. remove any notice of copyright, trade-mark or other proprietary right from any Content or Canva Design;
5. Use or display the Content on a standalone basis on websites or other venues designed to induce or involving the sale, license or other distribution of “on demand” products, including postcards, mugs, t-shirts, posters and other items;
...
8. use Content in a manner that competes with Canva’s business including, but not limited to, displaying content in any format (including thumbnails) for download or export on a website, or offering content for sale;
...
10. incorporate the Content in any product that results in a re-distribution or re-use of the content or is otherwise made available in a manner such that a person can extract or access or reproduce the content as an electronic file;
12. use or display the Content in an electronic format that enables it to be downloaded, exported or distributed via mobile devices or shared in any peer-to-peer or similar file sharing arrangement; or
13. use or display Content in a manner that gives the impression that the Content was created by you or a person other than the copyright holder of the Content (including without limitation, by claiming ownership of, or exclusive rights to, the Content).

Milleflore · « **Reply #2 on:** October 26, 2021, 18:30 »

Originally I would have agreed with you, but Etsy sellers can use your photos and illustrations, and even videos, within a Canva design for commercial use, if you have your files available to Canva - either directly or through iStock/Getty.

https://www.canva.com/help/article/licenses-copyright-commercial-use

Quote:

"By using content in a design or a composition, you’re creating something unique – once you do, there are very few restrictions on what you can do with your creations. Go wild!"

As the contributor, you will get paid every time someone uses your files in a Canva design, albeit a very small amount. For example, a Canva User with a FRee Account, pays $1 per download.

Milleflore · « **Reply #3 on:** October 26, 2021, 18:52 »

Lina · « **Reply #4 on:** October 26, 2021, 21:30 »

Milleflore, commercial use and reselling is not the same. At the end of article you linked, they say selling templates is allowed only if they are linked back to Canva.

Milleflore · « **Reply #5 on:** October 27, 2021, 00:53 »

Quote from: Lina on October 26, 2021, 21:30

commercial use and reselling is not the same. At the end of article you linked, they say selling templates is allowed only if they are linked back to Canva.

Thanks Lina. It would be great to have this whole situation clarified.

So can you explain the situation a bit more?

Yes, there is a difference. ie. Someone buys one of my stock photos and places it in one of their ads. That is commercial use.

But someone with more legal background than me, just told me that taking a stock photo and placing it in a design, and then selling the design - is NOT re-selling the original photo.

Here is what happens:

When a designer goes into Canva, they start with a blank canvas and create their own design, and say, use one the Canva database photos. They pay for that photo when they download that design (albeit its only $1) then they sell their design as a template, which links back to Canva. When the buyer comes along they get a link to the template, which takes them into Canva, where they can download the design for their own use. When the buyer now downloads that design, they pay another $1 for the use of that photo.

In other words, every time any design is downloaded, the user pays Canva $1 for the use of its content. So, depending on how many downloads that template receives, I am assuming the photographer can make several dollars from it.

(PS. All Canva templates link back to Canva.)

I was originally part of an earlier discussion re Canva.

https://www.microstockgroup.com/canva/canva-what's-the-plan-now/

and it would be great to get the whole situation settled.

Canva is saying: "By using content in a design or a composition, you’re creating something unique."

So what is the truth??

Milleflore · « **Reply #6 on:** October 27, 2021, 01:10 »

With regard to the scenario I described above, there are many variables.

Firstly, the images available on Canva are labelled either as FREE or PRO. I don't know where the free images are coming from or how the photographer is being paid. The Pro images are coming from Getty.

Secondly, a user who has a free Canva account pays that extra $1 on download for the Pro photos. They are not charged for free ones. If the user has a Pro account they pay a monthly subscription to Canva for the use of its Pro content and no extra on download of files. I am assuming (hoping) that Getty/Canva then tracks this and the photographer is paid, say, 15% of its total downloads on Canva.

Thirdly, if you have a portfolio on Getty, those images can appear in Canva's image database. I know a lot of mine are there as Pro images.

This appears to apply to any stock content - photos, illustrations, video and audio.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #7 on:** October 27, 2021, 02:53 »

Quote from: Milleflore on October 27, 2021, 00:53

...
Canva is saying: "By using content in a design or a composition, you’re creating something unique."
...

Well the design may be unique but that isn't what is relevant here and we don’t need to get sidetracked by that.

There are two types of content on Canva. Free content and Pro content. With free content the copyright is Canva’s problem and they allow a lot more leeway with usage. We are primarily concerned about pro content as that is where our work is.
https://www.canva.com/policies/content-license-agreement/

Take a look at section 5, permitted uses for all content (free and pro), the only place design templates is mentioned (5.5) specifically states “design templates solely for use on Canva”. No hint that you would be able to sublicense content no matter how much you muck around with it.
Okay now lets look at some of the Additional Permitted Uses for Free Content only (6.3-5) “Use the Free Content in templates for websites, social networking websites, documents, projects or otherwise for distribution and/or sale to third parties; Use the Free Content in design template applications intended for resale, whether online or not, including, without limitation, website templates, Flash templates, business card templates, electronic greeting card templates, and brochure design templates; and Install and use the Free Content in more than one location or post a copy of the content on a network server or web server for use by people employed by or performing services for you.” so these types of uses are explicitly spelt out to be an Additional Permitted Use for free content only (i.e. Canva’s collection of fonts and graphics, not that owned by us). Edit: It even says : "If your Canva Design contains any Pro Content, you can’t use it for these purposes". Maybe I just missed this on first read through or maybe it has been added?

So now lets look at some of the prohibited uses:

“9. Prohibited uses
1. sub-license, re-sell, rent, lend, assign, gift or otherwise transfer or distribute the Content or the rights granted under this Content License Agreement (subject to section 4B);” … “8. use Content in a manner that competes with Canva’s business including, but not limited to, displaying content in any format (including thumbnails) for download or export on a website, or offering content for sale”
“13. use or display Content in a manner that gives the impression that the Content was created by you or a person other than the copyright holder of the Content (including without limitation, by claiming ownership of, or exclusive rights to, the Content).”

So it is actually pretty cut and dry. Canva is there so people can create designs for themselves, their businesses and their clients using our work. Not so they can steal our work and sublicense on Etsy or similar.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #8 on:** October 27, 2021, 03:01 »

Quote from: Annie on October 27, 2021, 00:53

Quote from: Lina on October 26, 2021, 21:30
commercial use and reselling is not the same. At the end of article you linked, they say selling templates is allowed only if they are linked back to Canva.

Thanks Lina. It would be great to have this whole situation clarified.

So can you explain the situation a bit more?

Yes, there is a difference. ie. Someone buys one of my stock photos and places it in one of their ads. That is commercial use.

But someone with more legal background than me, just told me that taking a stock photo and placing it in a design, and then selling the design - is NOT re-selling the original photo.

Here is what happens:

When a designer goes into Canva, they start with a blank canvas and create their own design, and say, use one the Canva database photos. They pay for that photo when they download that design (albeit its only $1) then they sell their design as a template, which links back to Canva. When the buyer comes along they get a link to the template, which takes them into Canva, where they can download the design for their own use. When the buyer now downloads that design, they pay another $1 for the use of that photo.

In other words, every time any design is downloaded, the user pays Canva $1 for the use of its content. So, depending on how many downloads that template receives, I am assuming the photographer can make several dollars from it.

(PS. All Canva templates link back to Canva.)

I was originally part of an earlier discussion re Canva.

https://www.microstockgroup.com/canva/canva-what's-the-plan-now/

and it would be great to get the whole situation settled.

Canva is saying: "By using content in a design or a composition, you’re creating something unique."

So what is the truth??

Well this is something different to what I was discussing, I am talking about people downloading the content and reselling away from Canva (no link back), so no repeat sales for us. Of course it’s fine for people to use an image in a template ON Canva that results in a new license sale for us every time it is used. What I am discussing is very much not allowed under the no compete, no sub license, no claiming of rights clauses of the terms. Pretty sure most of these sites also make sellers declare they own copyright to the stuff they are selling anyway.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #9 on:** October 27, 2021, 04:13 »

I have PMd Canva's rep on this forum asking them to clarify, hopefully they will.

DannyCanva · « **Reply #10 on:** October 27, 2021, 05:19 »

Justanotherphotographer is correct, Canva does not allow sub-licensing of content, with an extremely limited exception ('Additional Rights for Client Designs') where a Canva design (and its licenses) can be transferred to one specific client. That is intended to cover a designer using Canva to create designs for their client, but it certainly does not extend to people reselling content to multiple people on Etsy.

Only Canva can issue licenses for content and this is done through our platform. This enables us to keep a record of licenses (so we can confirm when there is a dispute), but secondly and most importantly, pay the creator every time a Pro media is used.

In relation to Annie's link, the page states "Don’t sell, redistribute, or take credit for unaltered media provided through Canva."

We are working on some detection mechanisms that educate and/or block users from exporting designs solely consisting of one unaltered high-resolution Pro media, however there will always be workarounds. We do welcome any suggestions for how we can make this more clear.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #11 on:** October 27, 2021, 05:50 »

Quote from: DannyCanva on October 27, 2021, 05:19

Justanotherphotographer is correct, Canva does not allow sub-licensing of content, with an extremely limited exception ('Additional Rights for Client Designs') where a Canva design (and its licenses) can be transferred to one specific client. That is intended to cover a designer using Canva to create designs for their client, but it certainly does not extend to people reselling content to multiple people on Etsy.

Only Canva can issue licenses for content and this is done through our platform. This enables us to keep a record of licenses (so we can confirm when there is a dispute), but secondly and most importantly, pay the creator every time a Pro media is used.

In relation to Annie's link, the page states "Don’t sell, redistribute, or take credit for unaltered media provided through Canva."

We are working on some detection mechanisms that educate and/or block users from exporting designs solely consisting of one unaltered high-resolution Pro media, however there will always be workarounds. We do welcome any suggestions for how we can make this more clear.

Thanks so much for letting us know. It's fantastic to actually have reps that communicate with us here!

It would great if it could be changed to something like "Don’t sell, redistribute, or take credit for Pro Content parts of your design provided through Canva."

As there really are quite a lot of people creating "designs" prominently using our work and selling them on outside Canva as stock media. So competing directly with us, and Canva.

Some of these are vectors, does Canva allow the export of vectors or are these buyers/sellers disassembling template files/ auto-tracing pngs or similar?