In article <lkf0f0d2h0sogn3fj3b1q8at38k9cj96ft@4ax.com>,
Eddie <eddiemaintenance@hotmail.com> wrote:
Would anybody be able to help me clarify the copyright issue(s)
involved in using images (eg photos) from magazines etc. to draw for
particular topics (eg entertainment, environment, sex, law, family,
etc) in a book and then have the book published?
Would this be allowed since the drawings are your own even though
you've used images to base such drawings on?
"Maybe."
Or must one obtain
permission from the copyright holders?
"Probably."
Any help would be appreciated.
See a _professional_ in the intellectual property rights field.
The area of 'derivative works', which is what your question impinges on,
is one of the deeper swamps in IP law. Probably the only murkier area
is that of 'fair use'.
*EVERYTHING* is in the 'details' of each individual/unique situation.
It is practically impossible to provide _any_ sort of meaningful response
to a _generalized_ "what if" type question.
Just for example:
The photographs _might_ (unlikely, but *possible*) be in the public
domain, even though they appeared in a publication and/or article
that is protected by copyright.
Copyright protects the 'unique' creative effort in a work. If your
drawing doesn't involve any of the 'unique' effort in the 'original'
from which it is "derived", then it *may*not* run afoul of the
'derivative works' restrictions.
OTOH, if it is 'recognizably' and/or 'identifiably' derived from that
other 'unique creative effort', there is a very high probability that
permission of the copyright holder would be necessary.
