Legal to copy and sell collages made by me?

[amosmoses2]

So I made a few magazine collages by taking faces and other pictures from magazines and phone books and putting them all in one picture to make some funny pictures. I plan on putting a color filter over them and placing them in the background of images I take with a camera (for example, a completely blue picture of the sky and some trees, and in the sky has a completely brown threshold-filter of the collages). I also plan on putting black bars over everyone's eyes so their identity is hidden.

What I plan to do with these images? I want to make a CD booklet for a music album I want to release. I would have them copied to the point where I have maybe fifty CDs containing the booklet with the collages.

Is all this legal and considered "fair use"? I don't want to get in trouble later. It's hard to know what's right and wrong in such a grey area of copyright.

Thank you in advance.

 

[adjusterjack]

Is all this legal and considered "fair use"?

No, it's not fair use, it's infringement if you use the work of others to make money.

It's hard to know what's right and wrong in such a grey area of copyright.

Nothing grey about it.

 

[quincy]

So I made a few magazine collages by taking faces and other pictures from magazines and phone books and putting them all in one picture to make some funny pictures. I plan on putting a color filter over them and placing them in the background of images I take with a camera (for example, a completely blue picture of the sky and some trees, and in the sky has a completely brown threshold-filter of the collages). I also plan on putting black bars over everyone's eyes so their identity is hidden.

What I plan to do with these images? I want to make a CD booklet for a music album I want to release. I would have them copied to the point where I have maybe fifty CDs containing the booklet with the collages.

Is all this legal and considered "fair use"? I don't want to get in trouble later. It's hard to know what's right and wrong in such a grey area of copyright.

Thank you in advance.

What is the name of your state?

I disagree with the previous response.

It depends on how much of a copyright-protected image you use for your collages, and how you assemble your collages, whether your resulting collages can be considered derivatives of the original works (and therefore infringing on the copyright holders rights) or whether your resulting collages can be considered transformative works (and therefore a fair use of the copyright-protected works).

You can search online for the lawsuits involving Jeffrey Koons, an appropriation artist. He takes the works created by others to create new works - and he has been sued several times. Sometimes he loses the lawsuits (his works were found infringing) and sometimes he wins the lawsuits (his works were found transformative).

Your question has been the subject of several threads posted to this site. I can return later with some links for you to access both Koons cases and the threads that discuss collages.

 

[amosmoses2]

What is the name of your state?

I disagree with the previous response.

It depends on how much of a copyright-protected image you use for your collages, and how you assemble your collages, whether your resulting collages can be considered derivatives of the original works (and therefore infringing on the copyright holders rights) or whether your resulting collages can be considered transformative works (and therefore a fair use of the copyright-protected works).

You can search online for the lawsuits involving Jeffrey Koons, an appropriation artist. He takes the works created by others to create new works - and he has been sued several times. Sometimes he loses the lawsuits (his works were found infringing) and sometimes he wins the lawsuits (his works were found transformative).

Your question has been the subject of several threads posted to this site. I can return later with some links for you to access both Koons cases and the threads that discuss collages.

Thank you very much, this is helpful. Should I upload an image of the art, completely transformed, and see what you think about it? whether or not I'd be sued in the future?

The name of my state is Washington.

Again, thank you lots!

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to a related thread from this forum:
https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/my-wife-wants-to-make-a-collage-out-of-magazine-pics-and-sell-it-is-this-illegal.538460/

Here is a link to a thread that has links to two of the Jeffrey Koons cases:
https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/at-what-point-it-is-breaching-the-copyright.653749/

 

[quincy]

Thank you very much, this is helpful. Should I upload an image of the art, completely transformed, and see what you think about it? whether or not I'd be sued in the future?

Again, thank you lots!

Please do not upload any pictures. You will want the collages personally reviewed by an IP attorney in your area.

Even if the collages appear to be a fair use of the magazine images, this will not prevent a lawsuit. A copyright holder can take exception to any unauthorized uses of his works and decide to take legal action. That is what happened with Jeffrey Koons.

“Fair use” is an affirmative defense to a claim of copyright infringement but it is not permission to use another’s copyrighted work.

It will always be legally safest to get permission from the holder of the copyright before using copyright-protected material.

 

[amosmoses2]

Please do not upload any pictures. You will want the collages personally reviewed by an IP attorney in your area.

Even if the collages appear to be a fair use of the magazine images, this will not prevent a lawsuit. A copyright holder can take exception to any unauthorized uses of his works and decide to take legal action. That is what happened with Jeffrey Koons.

“Fair use” is an affirmative defense to a claim of copyright infringement but it is not permission to use another’s copyrighted work.

It will always be legally safest to get permission from the holder of the copyright before using copyright-protected material.

Okay, good to know. Thanks for your help.

 

[quincy]

Okay, good to know. Thanks for your help.

You’re welcome, amosmoses2. Thanks for the thanks.

Good luck with your artwork.