which of these works have copyright infringement?

[isiiscmu]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[isiiscmu]

sorry, new to the forum.
here's the actual message:
I sell art on Redbubble. My account has been temporarily restricted until I delete everything that infringes copyright because I got a couple of takedown notices last week.
I want to know which of these I should delete:
a) art containing song lyrics like "welcome to new york", "you can want who you want", "we are the foxes" and "sometimes quiet is violent" (I'm guessing I should delete all of them?).
b) drawings of famous singers (you can barely tell it's them though) and drawings of their tattoos.
c) pictures of famous singers that are not copyrighted (publicity rights?).
d) a watercolor design containing the name of an album.
e) a copy of a singer's autograph in their handwriting.
Should I delete all of those?
Once I've reviewed my work and deleted everything that infringes copyright, I can email Redbubble so they'll activate my account again.
Thank you and I'm sorry if my English isn't the best.

 

[FlyingRon]

1. Song lyrics are protected by copyright. Using them even in a derivative fashion will likely get you in trouble with the rights owner (typically a publishing company associated with the record company).

2. Famous people have rights to their likeness. You may not capitalize on their fame without their permission. Further, the photo or original artwork you are copying, if you didn't create it, has someone's copyright who might have issues as well (such as the Obama HOPE poster fiasco).

3. See #2. Note that you pretty much must assume all photographs are copyrighted. There's not been any requirement to register or mark works since the US finally signed on to the Berne convention back in the 80's. Unless you took the picture or drew it from your own imagination, it's likely someone else's property.

4. Titles are not protected by copyright, but some titles may be trademarks. You'd need to examine if the latter has indeed occurred.

5. I'll defer to Quincy on this one, but I don't think a signature is protected and wouldn't be a trademark except in very narrow circumstances.

Of course, REDBUBBLE may have more restrictive rules than what the law provides for. It's their sandbox.

 

[quincy]

sorry, new to the forum.
here's the actual message:
I sell art on Redbubble. My account has been temporarily restricted until I delete everything that infringes copyright because I got a couple of takedown notices last week.
I want to know which of these I should delete:
a) art containing song lyrics like "welcome to new york", "you can want who you want", "we are the foxes" and "sometimes quiet is violent" (I'm guessing I should delete all of them?).
b) drawings of famous singers (you can barely tell it's them though) and drawings of their tattoos.
c) pictures of famous singers that are not copyrighted (publicity rights?).
d) a watercolor design containing the name of an album.
e) a copy of a singer's autograph in their handwriting.
Should I delete all of those?
Once I've reviewed my work and deleted everything that infringes copyright, I can email Redbubble so they'll activate my account again.
Thank you and I'm sorry if my English isn't the best.

Where are you from, isiiscmu (what US state or what country)?

If you received notice that specific works displayed were infringing, all works so noticed should be removed. Whether what you published infringed on anyone's rights would take a personal review of the materials.

Obviously if you were provided notice of infringement, the copyright holders in each case believe you infringed.


(FlyingRon, I reported the duplicate thread)

 

[isiiscmu]

Thank you. I'm from Chile but I'm pretty sure Redbubble is based in Australia.
And they didn't report any work in particular, just my account in general, so I assumed they meant everything artist-related, but I still wanted to make sure.

 

[FlyingRon]

Aussie legal forum is here: http://www.aussielegal.com.au/forum/

We can't really help.

 

[quincy]

sorry, new to the forum.
here's the actual message:
I sell art on Redbubble. My account has been temporarily restricted until I delete everything that infringes copyright because I got a couple of takedown notices last week.
I want to know which of these I should delete:
a) art containing song lyrics like "welcome to new york", "you can want who you want", "we are the foxes" and "sometimes quiet is violent" (I'm guessing I should delete all of them?).
b) drawings of famous singers (you can barely tell it's them though) and drawings of their tattoos.
c) pictures of famous singers that are not copyrighted (publicity rights?).
d) a watercolor design containing the name of an album.
e) a copy of a singer's autograph in their handwriting.
Should I delete all of those?
Once I've reviewed my work and deleted everything that infringes copyright, I can email Redbubble so they'll activate my account again.
Thank you and I'm sorry if my English isn't the best.

Thank you for providing your country name. The laws of Chile and of Australia vary in significant ways from those of the US. You will need to explore those laws with an attorney in Chile.

That said, I will go through your "a through e" like FlyingRon has based on what the answers are under US law, only because my answers differ in just a few ways from those provided by FR.

a. The specific lyrics used in art work, as well as how many lines are taken from the lyrics, can make a difference in whether a use can be seen as infringing on any rights. Using one or two lines from a song may be allowed as a fair use under US law, this especially if the lyrics appear in another work of art - transforming the original song lyrics and creating a work with a new meaning, a new expression or a new message. Short phrases, as a note, are generally not offered copyright protection (although some phrases may be offered trademark protection for, say, a slogan).

b. Original and creative tattoo designs are copyright-protected and cannot be reproduced without permission from the artist (sometimes the tattoo artist will sell the copyrights in the tattoo design to the one wearing the design). Images of real people are protected under privacy/publicity rights laws which, in the US, would be state-specific. The way these images are used would be important in determining if they infringe on rights.

c. Pictures of famous people would generally have a copyright holder somewhere and the copyright holder's permission would be needed for most uses. If works are created from scratch by an artist, however, without copying anyone else's protected material to create these works (e.g., taking someone's photograph and translating the photograph into oil), the copyright in the completed work belongs to the creator. Publicity rights then can come into play. Although the author of the new work is the copyright holder of the artwork created, the famous person has rights in their persona and can potentially control the use of their image in any art pieces displayed publicly or marketed for sale. The famous person's permission is needed to use any image of them in a commercial manner.

d. An original and creative watercolor design that is created and that includes as part of the work a title (the title of a book, a movie, a musical work) should not infringe on anyone's copyrights (again, this would be in the US) because titles, although can be trademark-protected, are not protected under copyright laws.

e. Copying the signature of a singer (or anyone) would not be copyright infringement but other laws might come into play, depending on how the signature is used.

I suggest you have all particulars personally reviewed by an attorney in your area to determine if your works infringe (not that Redbubble will have to restore any deleted items or restore your account if they choose not to).