Photo Copyright Infringement?

What is the name of your state? IL

If someone were to be taking a public sporting event photo that I took in and reproducing it in multiples (with some cropping), then getting them signed by the athlete(s) and reselling the (now) autographed photos, are they infringing on my copyright of the original photo, or have they 'altered' the photo enough (by way of some cropping and getting it autographed) so as to not be bound by copyright laws?

My second question is essentially the same, but applies to a 'collage' of photos (with some cropping) put together into one picture, then getting it signed and reselling it.

I don't know if this makes sense, or if it 'applies', but I have been having a 'debate' with colleagues as to whether the person is selling a photo with an autograph, or if they are selling an autograph on a photo -- I don't know if it really matters in the whole copyright scheme of things...

Any help you can give to potentially clarify this matter is greatly appreciated.
Thank You!
DP

"If someone were to be taking a public sporting event photo that I took in and reproducing it in multiples (with some cropping), then getting them signed by the athlete(s) and reselling the (now) autographed photos, are they infringing on my copyright of the original photo, or have they 'altered' the photo enough (by way of some cropping and getting it autographed) so as to not be bound by copyright laws? "

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That would be a derivative work if anything, not a transformative work. That would not be covered by fair use. It would be copyright infringement plain and simple. But I suspect you didn't register the original photos, so the most you could recover is actual damages.

There might be other issues too. Players' publicity rights might have been violated in some states. The sporting venue might not allow photos. (look on the back of your tickets for example.) Even so, that doesn't mean someone can use your photos without permission.

Photo Copyright Infringment? (follow up)

Okay, thank you, that's what I thought. Since you mentioned transformative work, could you give me an example of a transformative work? Thank You!

"could you give me an example of a transformative work?"

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It wouldn't apply to a situation like you describe, but...

background:
http://www.publaw.com/work.html
http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/ency/article.cfm/objectID/C3E49F67-1AA3-4293-9312FE5C119B5806
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-a.html

examples:
http://www.fact-index.com/c/ca/campbell_v__acuff_rose_music.html
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hilden/20010430.html