Yes I know the “Sharing Economy” is upon us with a vengeance and upcoming generations might not quite grasp the financial significance of protecting copyright…but…I have a small tale to tell about it’s significance in, shall we say, the wholeness of one’s individual honour amongst society.

Once upon a time…I was exiting my fave local bookshop only to spy a small handbill with an image of mine from Red is Best (Annick:1982) promoting a summer creativity camp for children. Huh. I thought…I don’t recall being asked for that use. Ironically is sounded like something I would have been glad to lend my work to and so help promote it. Big Sigh. So I took the contact info and once home, phoned to inquire about the camp. Who was running it? Who was sponsoring it? Who was responsible for publicity? Etc.

It turned out that a collection of well meaning university students had organised the project in order to promote creativity in young children because “they’re really getting short-changed in the public school system these days,” quoth the youthful spokeswoman I called. Oh I know all about that, I thought. Then I dropped the bomb.

“Well that all sounds very commendable, but do you realise I could sue you for misappropriation of my copyrighted image?” I inquired. Silence. Probably a lot of “WHAAA?????” going on in that head of hers.

I explained my connection. I explained my ownership. I explained their crime. And I waited for realisation. Thankfully it erupted with genuine horror. Lots of “Oh my Gods” entered into the reaction. It clearly was an honest if naively ignorant mistake. So I relented.

“Look,” I said, “I’m literally less than 1km away from the downtown area in which you were posting your hand bills, I am on several websites these days and I’m even still in ye olde fashioned phone book for Pete’s sake. Why in this day of internet connections you couldn’t have checked on the origin of the artist is beyond me. You obviously have been totally blinded by clip-art mentality. You CAN’T do this ever again!!”

Much grovelling ensued.

Asked how they could repair the damage, I demanded: all old handbills had to be taken down, new handbills in a different colour were to be posted with a clear attribution under my illustration which I was giving them permission to use free and gratis. That was all.

More grateful spluttering followed.

Millennial irony seems to be the flavour of the half decade these days…so I felt I needed to underline it by concluding the phone conversation with “Ya know…without realising it, your recent but now to be corrected act, strongly implied: ‘Yes we want you all to be creative, but [while patting little heads] don’t expect to be actually paid for it, ha ha!’ Did you really mean that?”

Glum silence and rueful agreement. They got the message. The signs changed. The camp did well.

A teachable moment indeed.