Music Album Art uses in-game videogame screen shot

[DJArendee]

Hi, my name is Jay and I'm in Boulder Colorado.

I'm trying to publish an electronic music album on Amazon.com.

I question whether or not the album art violates copyright law.

The album picture is an in-game screenshot from a video game (half life 2, by valve software). I used the half life 2 map creation and development tools to produce a 3d image, in other words I used it as a cheap 3d art program. The content and subject of the art is all my own design, the only thing in question are the textures used within the image. The image uses half life 2 authored textures. I have no idea if these textures are owned by valve software and half life 2, or if they are creative commons. I don't want to get sued because I used valve's potentially "copyrighted" textures.

Any ideas?

Here is the picture in question:
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/22140_279867292459_1545463_n.jpg

I did not create the purple shiny metal material, or the grey concrete on the base structure. These are the two textures that I question.

note: for those who don't understand how 3d art works, first you create a 3d sculpture, then you take a picture and wrap the picture around the sculpture. This is known as a texture. So first I have a blank cube, then I take a picture of a brick house, and take that picture of the bricks, and wrap it around the cube. Now I have what appears to be a cube made of brick.

 

[quincy]

I question whether or not the album art violates copyright law.

The album picture is an in-game screenshot from a video game (half life 2, by valve software). I used the half life 2 map creation and development tools to produce a 3d image, in other words I used it as a cheap 3d art program. The content and subject of the art is all my own design, the only thing in question are the textures used within the image. The image uses half life 2 authored textures. I have no idea if these textures are owned by valve software and half life 2, or if they are creative commons. I don't want to get sued because I used valve's potentially "copyrighted" textures.

I did not create the purple shiny metal material, or the grey concrete on the base structure. These are the two textures that I question.

It is possible that the textures you are using in your album art are copyrighted. It is possible that the use of these textures without permission could violate a copyright holder's rights.

Rights are often claimed for digital content, the content of which would include avatars, object designs and clothing designs, scripts, shapes, skins and textures. And there have been lawsuits filed over the infringement of these rights (one of which recently settled out of court).

Valve Corporation uses some third party material and these materials often require licensing. There is also an "all rights reserved" notice on Half-Life 2 materials.

Whether what you have used on your album cover is copyrighted and whether your use of the textures could result in an infringement action is something I cannot tell you. I suggest that you contact Valve to inquire about any rights in, or licensing requirements for, the textures you have used in the creation of your art.

Your cover art is really nice, by the way.