Happy to oblige. I can't remember if attachments are allowed on this listserv, so I've posted it to the following link:
It's a simple illustration of the Hepatitis B virus. The image on the left is the original, which is posted to my website with my copyright notice. On the right is the infringing image with my copyright notice removed. It is rotated about 30 degrees counterclockwise and has a color filter or hue/saturation adjustment applied. Otherwise, it's clearly the identical image. It even has the exact same labels, verbatim (although they repositioned the labels and leader lines). The infringing "artist" even had the audacity to post it to a stock art website and license it as his own creation. The image you see is a screen shot from the stock website.
By the way, this is a good example of the dangers of orphan works legislation. If someone got hold of the infringing image (with my copyright notice removed) they would never be able to trace it back to me, the rightful owner. Orphan works legislation would allow anyone to use my image, even for profit, assuming they conducted a "good faith" search to locate the rightful owner. They could even create derivatives of my work and I'd be powerless to stop them.
Jim
On 10/2/15 10:40 PM, "barrett klein" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear James,
I am intrigued by your extreme, personal tale of infringement. Is there any way I could see your original and the product that stole it?
cheers,
barrett
barrett klein
Department of Biology
University of Wisconsin - La Crosse
On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 9:26 PM, James A. Perkins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
For decades, many art schools taught their students that there was a magic formula, some percentage by which you could modify an existing piece of artwork to make it your own and avoid copyright infringement.
Unfortunately there is no such formula or percentage. If you think about it, there's no way that such a formula could exist. What does it even mean to say that an image has been changed by X percent? If I redraw half of someone else's image, but leave the other half exactly the same, is that a 50% change? If I take a digital image into Photoshop and change the colors using Hue/Saturation, I can change the color of every pixel in the image, even though the image looks basically the same. Is this a 100% change since the value of every pixel has changed? (Side note - an infringer did exactly that to one of my illustrations and claimed it as his own). There simply is no way to define what is meant by changing an existing image by a certain percentage.
So how do you know if a new image infringes an existing image? There is one fairly simple criterion you can use. If you can tell that the new image was derived/redrawn from an existing image, it's infringement. In order to avoid infringement, the new image must be created entirely from scratch and there should be a paper trail (background research, other references, sketches) to prove it. You can never simply redraw an existing image and claim the new image as your own. You must create something original. You may use the existing image as a reference, but it should never be the ONLY reference.
Jim
James A. Perkins, MFA, CMI, FAMIProfessor and Graduate DirectorMedical IlllustrationRochester Institute of Technology
Sent from my iPadDear Entomo-Listers
When authors send me papers for publication, I try to remember to remind them to ask permission to reproduce images from the owner of the copyright. Whether non-human or human entities, an email is generally all it takes to say "yes". Yet, sometimes money needs to be transacted or the reply is "no" or no reply at all is available.
My question is, if one cannot get permission, how different does the new image have to be to be considered as "different" from the previously published one and be free from the concerns of copyright violations.
Your anecdotes (whether personal or from someone else) as well as constructive suggestions,will be welcomed. Please send them directly to me at:
Apologies for potential duplicate emails.
Sincerely,
Jorge
Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD
1. Positive experiences for authors of papers published in LEB http://blaypublishers.com/testimonials/
2. Free examples of papers published in LEB: http://blaypublishers.com/category/previous-issues/.
3. Guidelines for Authors and page charges of LEB: http://blaypublishers.com/archives/ .
4. Want to subscribe to LEB? http://blaypublishers.com/subscriptions/
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