Using copyright material in artwork
We all know about copyright. As artists, we hate it when someone uses our materials without asking first. Its even worse if they get paid for something that we have created.
But as soon as you put something on the internet, you are basically opening yourself up to be used. So we have to do something about it.
But what about when we come to use copyright material in our own artwork? I’m thinking here of when you use a page from a book
drawing over text copyright material
https://flic.kr/p/fruM7J Jo in NZ
Right, so this is what I mean. Its really nice, but by doing so you are using a previously used piece of work and then adapting it. Adapting is a surefire way of breeching copyright.
But it seems the law is a bit fuzzy.
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What is copyright?
Its a way of protecting the author of a piece of work. If you use something from them without their permission, then you break copyright. However, when I write an essay, I will quote a person and so long as I put in an accurate reference as to where I got the information, then I am in the clear. if I don’t, then I plagerise.
But does the same apply to art?
Rules for books and copyright
Look in the copyright page of the book you are going to use.
“No part of the publication may be reproduced” means that if you create an original, then you can’t copy it/limited edition print it. The type layout itself is copyright. So far though it looks like you can use the material…
“store it…or transmit it…in any form or means without permission” – so you can make the picture, but you can’t then put it on the web.
“You can’t circulate it in any form or binding or cover in which it was published” – does making it a piece of art constitute as this?
Adapting other copyright works
I think the problem comes into two areas of copyright. One is what the text says (the author who came up with the words and the ideas) and the publishing company who actually type set it. Type setting is copyright.
Yes, I know its mad. Its like if you are a stock photographer you have to be careful not to use pictures of copyright buildings! The London eye, for example, is copyright to BAE and you can’t legally put up images of the London eye!
If you think its unfair, go back to the original thought: if you had a piece of work you created adapted and used in someone elses work, but then didn’t get the credit or the money, if it raised some, then how would you feel?
The following is from J.Lawton
If you use the copyrighted work of others in your own work you may be guilty of infringement. Copyright prevents others from making a ‘substantial copy’ of the work. This is assessed on a qualitative and not quantitative basis. Even by using the smallest detail of another’s work, if that detail can be said to go the heart of that work, you will have infringed copyright.
If your use of an image is only incidental then you may legitimately use the work. eg if you photograph a child’s room with a Pokemon poster on the wall. As long as your intention is to show the room not Pokemon specifically, then you can continue to use the image.
It gets trickier if you manipulate an existing work. Depending on your treatment and use of it, it could constitute an infringement of copyright and of the creator’s moral rights – every artist/creator of works has the right to prevent derogatory treatment of their work
Adaptation is infringment
In another article, the problem is highlighted further. If you change someone elses work beyond recognition you might, emphasis on MIGHT, be ok. So you could paint the whole page with gesso and it would be no more than creating a new ground to paint on. But if you leave any words on there, the could be a risk.
The alternative way of looking at it is the same as the attributions that are used in journals, papers and so on. So you might use a text page from a book, but as well as signing it yourself, put the full attribution of the page. That means a proper reference:
author, (date) Title of book, editors of the book (if there are any). Publishing house: where it was published, page number.
Is there anyway around using copyright material in artwork?
1) Write and publish your own book
2) Since copyright law lasts about 70 years (100 to be on the safe side) you could go to old second hand book shops and purchase a book out of copyright. The only thing you have to be aware of is that it hasn’t been republished in another form elsewhere.
Summary
Copyright is for your protection, shouldn’t you honour that applied to others too?
Copyright law is fuzzy at best in this area. You might risk getting into hot water.
If you are going to use pages from a book as a medium, find a book that is
1) over 100 years old
2) hasn’t been republished
3) put full attribution text on the artwork in full view along with your own signature
4) don’t copy it/photograph it.
That said, if it is that old then it may not have the binder agreement on the flyleaf in the first place!
