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art work questions

6 replies [Last post]
dete
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Joined: 12/31/1969

Hi,
I'm workin on a game I'd like to self publish soon.
I can draw but nothing like a pro.
I noticed how the boxes look so much
nicer when it has solid art work on them.

Is it legal for me to use paintings and such from
historical or master pieces of art?
Like the famous paintings of Napoleon, Marie Antoinette,
a photo of Julius Caesar's statue.... etc.

Also is it legal for me to mention Darth Vader, or
Wolverine in the rules portion of my game?

thanx in advance!

hpox
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
art work questions

If the paintings are in the Public Domain you can. Make sure the picture of that painting is also in the Public Domain.

As for the registered trademark characters, no.

dete
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
art work questions

thanx for the reply Hpox.

I guess I have to go search online
like public domain paintings and such.

seo
seo's picture
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Joined: 07/21/2008
art work questions

hpox wrote:
If the paintings are in the Public Domain you can. Make sure the picture of that painting is also in the Public Domain.
This has been quite an issue. Corel was involved in a very important case in 1999 regarding the use of pictures of images in the public domain. You can read a more detailed article about it here, but the main part is this:
Quote:
The Court ruled that reproductions of images in the public domain are not protected by copyright if the reproductions are slavish or lacking in originality.

In their opinion, the Court noted: ''There is little doubt that many photographs, probably the overwhelming majority, reflect at least the modest amount of originality required for copyright protection.... But 'slavish copying', although doubtless requiring technical skill and effort, does not qualify.''

In other words, an exact reproduction of an image in the public domain does not possess creativity itself. Therefore, the reproduction is not protected under copyright law.

Seo

TargetBoy
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Joined: 08/13/2008
How?

hpox wrote:
If the paintings are in the Public Domain you can. Make sure the picture of that painting is also in the Public Domain.
quote]

Exactly how do you do that? Where do I go to check the copyright status of a painting or drawing?

hpox
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
art work questions

I don't know but wikipedia could be a good starting point :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources

Archive.org is also an amazing site for copyright-free images, texts and audio: http://www.archive.org/details/movies

FastLearner
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Joined: 12/31/1969
art work questions

If you're an American, most of the stuff the Library of Congress -- http://www.loc.gov -- puts on display is free of use restrictions. Note that this is true of most things owned or created by the US government, since as an American, you're one of the owners.

The LOC site indicates ownership pretty well.

(Mind you, this doesn't mean that the things in the Library of Congress are all free for use -- most of it has copyrights -- just the stuff owned by the public tha they often put up on their site. And all of you "feriners" don't have the same right, legally, but there may be stuff that your country owns that you can freely use.)

-- Matthew

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