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Honest question: If you take a copyrighted photograph and convert it to geometric shapes, how “blocky” does the picture have to be before it’s no longer a copyr

by hnarn 6y ago

Honest question: If you take a copyrighted photograph and convert it to geometric shapes, how “blocky” does the picture have to be before it’s no longer a copyrighted work of the original artist? I mean, if it’s almost identical with a huge amount of shapes, I can understand that it’s reasonable to look at it as the same piece of work, but on the other hand if you make it blocky enough that it looks like an interpretation of the original image as a new work in its own right, what ownership does the original author have? None, some, complete?

grawprog 6y ago
I would imagine there's probably some precedent for this. You've been able to totally distort pictures beyond recognition with Photoshop filters for a long time. It seems like something that's probably come up before.
robgough 6y ago
Your question reminded me of this[1] horrifying story, which deals with that exact issue [1]: https://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/ https://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/
- hug 6y ago
  And, on the other hand, is Richard Prince. https://petapixel.com/2013/04/26/appeals-court-overturns-previous-ruling-rules-fair-use-in-richard-prince-case/ https://petapixel.com/2013/04/26/appeals-court-overturns-pre...
pdkl95 6y ago
While copyright law's interaction with new technologies can be hard to predict, I strongly suspect that the level of "blocky-ness" doesn't matter. If an image was created from another image created by a different artist, the new image is as derivative work[1]. In general[2], as long as the new work is a transformative[3] difference from the original, a new copyright is created, although royalties might need to be paid to the author of the original work. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work [2] see a real lawyer for actual legal advice [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_%28law%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_%28law%29
ta1234567890 6y ago
Unfortunately, in practice, because of the way the legal system works, your question doesn't have a straight answer. Even if you follow the law and get proper legal advice, you can still be sued, and what happens afterwards will depend on the specific situation, how much money you have, how competent your attorneys are and whether you decide to settle or go all the way to trial. Hence, for it to be worth doing, you probably need to make a lot of money with your derivative work, and have very good counsel.

by hnarn 6y ago

grawprog 6y ago

I would imagine there's probably some precedent for this. You've been able to totally distort pictures beyond recognition with Photoshop filters for a long time. It seems like something that's probably come up before.

robgough 6y ago

Your question reminded me of this[1] horrifying story, which deals with that exact issue [1]: https://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/ https://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/

hug 6y ago
And, on the other hand, is Richard Prince. https://petapixel.com/2013/04/26/appeals-court-overturns-previous-ruling-rules-fair-use-in-richard-prince-case/ https://petapixel.com/2013/04/26/appeals-court-overturns-pre...

pdkl95 6y ago

While copyright law's interaction with new technologies can be hard to predict, I strongly suspect that the level of "blocky-ness" doesn't matter. If an image was created from another image created by a different artist, the new image is as derivative work[1]. In general[2], as long as the new work is a transformative[3] difference from the original, a new copyright is created, although royalties might need to be paid to the author of the original work. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work [2] see a real lawyer for actual legal advice [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_%28law%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_%28law%29

ta1234567890 6y ago

Unfortunately, in practice, because of the way the legal system works, your question doesn't have a straight answer. Even if you follow the law and get proper legal advice, you can still be sued, and what happens afterwards will depend on the specific situation, how much money you have, how competent your attorneys are and whether you decide to settle or go all the way to trial. Hence, for it to be worth doing, you probably need to make a lot of money with your derivative work, and have very good counsel.