All Entries Tagged With: "stealing ideas"

Assessing the scope of a copyright

Copyright: How much is too much – in terms of avoiding liability.

by Matthew B. Harrison, Esq.
PhotosAndTheLaw.com

In my legal practice, I focus on the unique legal issues facing photographers and artists. Lesley Arak of FNS Studios in Springfield asked me recently an interesting copyright related question that I felt would provide interesting fodder for an article. The question was “If I wanted to recreate a famous photograph, and I hired a model, a stylist, acquired the right outfit, and created an image that looked a lot like the original – would I be in violation of the original photographer’s copyright?”

In thinking about the answer, even more questions arose in my mind. Would it make any difference if the original image were not a photograph at all – but perhaps a drawing or painting? What if the original photograph was not of a person – but rather was of a location or an object – would it matter if a photographer took a similar picture of the same subject matter?