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There is an important distinction between an artist's work and the ideas behind that work. Copyright law protects only the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. Therefore, while artist B may not copy a work by artist A, artist B certainly can be inspired by artist A's work. Artist B is also allowed to incorporate those concepts in his or her own fashion into new works. Therefore under copyright law, artist A has no complaint if artist B steals not only the idea, but the expression of the idea. The ( taking ) doesn't have to be literal meaning, the work doesn't have to be a perfect match. However it has to be close enough that if the two images were held up in court, the judge looking at them could believe that one was copied from the other, not merely inspired by the other. About Fair Use: Developed by judges in the 19th century, the notion of fair use was incorporated into the 1976 copyright law. Specifically it provides for the fair use of copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. However a common mistake among many artist is thinking that they are safe if they include an attribution. An attribution itself does not prevent a work from being a copyright infringement. All artwork on this site By Mark Peterson is copyright protected, for any and all inquiries regarding my artwork and other sites where I may display my work, and for more imformation on copyright laws please contact me at the email address below.
