COPYRIGHT, IMAGE USE AND LINKING INFORMATION Copyright Information All original graphics, photographs and text on this page are © (copyright) 1995-2008 Lara E. Eakins except where noted. All of the pages in the electronic texts section are in the public domain to the best of my knowledge. I would appreciate credit for the time that I've taken to put these documents into electronic format if you use them in a project, paper, website, etc. The copyright on the images of paintings is a little less straightforward. Almost all of the paintings on this site were created before copyright law even existed and are certainly in the public domain. However the owners of the artwork have often claimed that the *photographs* of the paintings are copyrighted. There are several problems with this assertion but the bottom line is that a photograph whose purpose is to exactly reproduce the public domain art in question does not have the element of creativity that grants it copyright protection. This was the basis of the decision in the Bridgeman v. Corel case of 1999. For more information on the case and why it is important please see this wonderful page at Marilee's English History site. That being said, you might notice that there are certain famous Tudor portraits that aren't here anymore which all happen to be in one particular portrait gallery in London. I received an email in 2001 from them telling me to remove them, and I basically let them bully me into taking them down because I didn't know about the Bridgeman decision at the time. I still haven't decided what exactly to do about that situation, but for now the images will remain on my hard drive but not on the webserver. Update June 2007 - Well, after not having some of the best known portraits of the Tudors on my website for over six years, I've decided to put them back up. When I responded to the gallery's original email, I mentioned that a lot of the portraits from their gallery were on many other websites and I hoped that if they were going to ask me to take mine down, they would go after all those other sites too (yes, I was quite bitter!). They assured me that they would. Well there are still a lot of websites out there with portraits from that gallery! Just do a Google image search on "Anne Boleyn" or "Elizabeth I". Basically I've decided that if they weren't going to start forcing other people to take down the portraits, there is no reason why my site should have to suffer by not having them. It has never been my goal to collect every image of every Tudor personage, but there are some paintings that are very important to have because they have become truly iconic (think of the Ditchly Portrait of Elizabeth I or the portrait of Katherine Parr formerly called Jane Grey). We'll see what happens, but I can guarantee that if I get contacted by the gallery again, I now know a lot more about copyright law than I did the last time. Image Use Information If you only want to print out an image for a paper, report, thesis, to wallpaper your bedroom with, to throw darts at, make a quilt with... (you get the idea), then by all means do it. You do not need to email me. The same goes for downloading image to use as a background for your monitor or some other personal (non-web) use, including Power Point presentations. That includes portraits, paintings and photographs. If you are using them in a paper or report or something you will be graded on, then please cite your source. If it's a portrait or painting you should note the location or owner of the original (in the right hand column on gallery pages or beneath the image on single images), and I'd certainly appreciate credit for taking the time to scan them in and post them on the web. If the image is one of my photographs, please credit me as the photographer. More information on citing me or the website is available on the Frequently Asked Questions pages. If you want to use any image on a non-commercial website (personal, for a class, a non-profit organization, etc.), again, feel free to do so. And again, it would be nice for you to credit my website. If you want to use one of my photographs, please give credit to me as the photographer. The only stipulation I have is that you copy any images to your own server and DO NOT link directly to the image on my website. I get huge amounts of traffic on the site and bandwidth can get costly. I soon plan to add some code to the site that will actually prevent people from being able to do this. If you do use an image for one of the situations above and would like to make a small donation to help support this site, you can do so with Pay Pal or the Amazon Honor system. If you want to use an image in a publication that will be sold or be used in an advertisement or used on a commerical website, then things are a little more complicated. If you want to use a portrait or painting image, then the issue mentioned up in the copyright section comes in to play. The owners of the originals should not be able to claim copyright on the image, but they frequently will anyway. The safest way to use one of those images is to license it from the owner. Most of the galleries have websites, and most include reproduction information. Besides avoiding any potential legal issues (even though you would almost certainly be in the right), you will be able to obtain a much higher-resolution and better print quality image if it is supplied by the gallery. I have a directory of contacts for most of the galleries and owners of portraits and paintings on this site. If you would like to use one of my photographs in this manner, then please contact me. I do usually charge a reproduction fee for commercial use of my photographs. I'd like to be independently wealthy enough not to have to, but I'm not and every little bit helps pay the bills (including the webhosting and the cost of research books and trips)! Linking Information Please feel free to link to this site. You don't need to mail me and ask my permission, but if you have a site that you want me to return the link for (and I haven't already), please send me an email. Also note that at this time I am not interested in joining any other web rings or affiliate programs. I will link to businesses, as long as they are related to the topic. You may link to any page you like, but please note that I sometimes move pages around and a link to a particular file might change. If you would like a short description to add for the site, here's the one I wrote (feel free to write your own!): "This site contains biographical information on people during the Tudor period (1485-1603) of English history, as well as calendars, glossaries, maps, genealogical trees, information on life during the period, Tudor architecture and more. There are also pages on Tudor history in today's world, such as recent discoveries in the news, new books and movies. Connect to others with similar interests through the mailing lists and pen pal pages."