This “close to exact” thing is actually the Achilles heel of this argument. The example images in this article are so close to exact that they are quite clearly

This “close to exact” thing is actually the Achilles heel of this argument. The example images in this article are so close to exact that they are quite clearly infringement, trademark or copyright. We aren’t talking about Ratatouille mouse versus Mickey Mouse, we are talking about the source picture of Mario versus a slightly altered picture of Mario that every layperson would immediately recognize as Mario composed in the exact same manner as the source image. Courts have already defined this line over decades of copyright and trademark cases, and the examples in this article definitely cross that line. > which again would be the fault of the person inducing the creation and not the tool that allowed it to happen. This is not really true in practice, we can see that in various legal cases against Napster or The Pirate Bay.