Your Certificate of Authenticity

Your certificate is a guarantee, keep it in a safe place!

This certificate is an important document related to each of your lithographs.
Each plate released from our press is given a unique number*. The certificate bears the numbers of the plates you have acquired. This unique number allows you to know the subject, size, paper and finish of your board.
In case of hesitation we have the opportunity to give you back the information you may have forgotten. Also this number is essential for a later exchange if your board was to suffer from intensive use. These lithographs are made to work and we offer you the possibility of an exchange with a fresh one with exceptional conditions.

* The location of the number of each print may vary. It will always be visible but sometimes it will be placed on the back of the plate or on the finishing medium and not on its face. This in order not to degrade the original work.

Here is your guarantee

All plates from our workshop are unique pieces. Lithography is not offset or digital printing that can produce hundreds of thousands of completely identical documents.
The bplates we create are crafted pieces. Indeed everything is done by hand. The placement of the sheets on the press is done one by one, the inking is dosed delicately, the humidity of the rollers needs to be monitored, the pressure, the speed, everything is regulated during the process under the scrutineer’s eye of the lithographer. The principle and the age of the machine make that there may be slight differences from one plate to another, or even tiny imperceptible defects. Each plate is scrupulously compared to the reference model but if one of them does not meet a standard that you approve, we would be happy to replace it because we want your full satisfaction.

Usage rights related to each plate

To put it simply, you can copy the plates manually. You cannot copy them by a process other than a 100% manual copy. To be considered as yours, the copy must under no circumstances be done via a mechanical, optical, or chemical process. Only by your hand !

If you are not sure, contact us using the Contact tab of the top menu.

More about copies :
Copies made with fine arts tools like pencils, brushes, charcoals, are typical of an authorized copy. A digital copy, a scan, a photocopy are not allowed copies, even in an academic workshop environment.
A digital work may be accepted if the basis of the work is neither a scan, nor a photograph nor any other process different from the visual side to side copy.

If, a copy seems dubious to us (when the human intervention which must remain dominant is not obvious), we are entitled to ask justifications on the technique used.

Here is an example of what is possible: Below, on the right the original or Master, on the left the copy made from the model (you have all the rights on your copy) you have not exceeded your rights by copying in pencil the original plate even if it is on the same scale and the difference between the two is hardly noticeable.

You may also show a picture of your copy, next to the model as long as the model on your picture cannot be used to produce another model* again by saving and downloading the picture. We request a link to fineartlithography.com as the publisher of the model.

Note that our affiliate program gives you the opportunity to monetize the display of your work when linking to us.

Rights of use and reproduction rights © (copyright)

In preamble…

There is a need to differentiate between the two categories of rights. To help you see clearly remember this:
The rights of reproduction or copyright are in a way the property rights, physical or intellectual attached to the plates that we produced. To put it simply, you can not reproduce our plates. It is however possible to copy them in the way which is detailed in the next section.

Usage rights is the description of what you can do with your lithograph.

1 You hold a written contract, in original, issued and signed by us, which authorizes you to a specific type of reproduction. If you hold it, we know it. Nobody will have a problem with that.

2 You do not have a written contract, then you cannot reproduce our plates. We never accept oral or digital contracts. No original signed document, no rights!

There may be some exceptions:
You can get a digital permission to take one of our images and publish it on the web, if you are an affiliate of our program.
However each image is provided in an predifined format and the scope of rights is exposed by us as part of this affiliate program. You can not make the picture and publish it yourself from the original even after the purchase. Only the affiliates can obtain a right of “quotation” that is to say the right to show on their sites some plates that we only accept accompanied by the mandatory links to be attached to them.

The plates of each collection are subject to clearly stated usage rights *. The copyright applicable to each plate may vary and sometimes very complex rules govern these rights. Do not assume, do not believe certain statements, contact us and you will know exactly what your rights are.

* The French and English versions of the user agreement and the copyright are the only ones official. For ease of understanding we sometimes add translations in different languages. These additional translations are not opposable to us and contact is always desirable if you have doubts about the extent of your rights.

Note that our affiliate program gives you the opportunity to monetize the display of your work when linking to us.

* your picture must be 72 dpi max. and 600px max. on the greater side.