Humphreys, Steve. japanartist.jpg. August 1982. Pics4Learning. 30 Jul 2004 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>
You have
just finished your first big show in a New York gallery and your
paintings are selling like hotcakes. Nobody gave you a free ride;
you put yourself through art school working nights and then nearly
starved in a tiny apartment while you painted every free moment for the
last ten years. Now you can relax a little bit, maybe take a
vacation, get a studio apartment with some decent lighting, and get
back to work.
There is something bothering you, though. While surfing the Web you came across a site where photographs of your paintings were displayed, and nobody even asked for your permission. YOUR PAINTINGS! You want to get a lawyer, but you aren't sure if you have any rights. Now you have an email from some kids in Maine who are making a multimedia presentation for their art class. They want to use pictures of your paintings in their presentation. It is great that they bothered to ask, but you aren't sure what to say. Is it different from what you saw in the website? Some of your buddies down at the Artists Protecting Art group are just as confused. You need some answers!
Use these sites below to find the answers to your questions. Take your answers to the upcoming meeting at Artists Protecting Art.
Great General Information, Vocabulary, and a Quiz - Find Out What You Know (http://www.copyrightkids.org/)
Basic Answers to Simple Questions (http://www.cyberbee.com/cb_copyright.swf)
Copyright and Fair Use (http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter7/7-c.html)
Examples of Copyright Cases (http://www.benedict.com/)
Myths of Copyright and Fair Use (http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html)
Multi Media and Copyright (http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter7/7-c.html )
An Artist Talks about Using His Images (http://www.daviddelamare.com/law.html)
A Group Protects Artists (http://users3.ev1.net/~aazari/protection/infringers.htm)
There is something bothering you, though. While surfing the Web you came across a site where photographs of your paintings were displayed, and nobody even asked for your permission. YOUR PAINTINGS! You want to get a lawyer, but you aren't sure if you have any rights. Now you have an email from some kids in Maine who are making a multimedia presentation for their art class. They want to use pictures of your paintings in their presentation. It is great that they bothered to ask, but you aren't sure what to say. Is it different from what you saw in the website? Some of your buddies down at the Artists Protecting Art group are just as confused. You need some answers!
1. Can you say "No!" to these kids, or do they have some sort of
rights to use pictures of your paintings without your permission?
2. How many of your paintings can they use? One? Five? All the work you've done to date?
3. What are they allowed to do with this multimedia presentation once they've made it? Can they burn lots of disks and sell them? Give them away? Post them on the web?
4. Can they take your paintings and import them into a paint or draw program, or worse into a digital photo program and distort or change them? Could they send them to have posters made?
5. Do they have to put your name with the photos or can they just use them and never mention you at all?
6. Can they photocopy your pictures and pass them around the class? Can they make a website and put them there for decoration like clip art?
7. If the kids in school can do stuff with photographs of your paintings, can everybody else do the same thing? Are there different laws for different uses? If the kids go home, can they just start sending their presentation all over the country as attachments?
2. How many of your paintings can they use? One? Five? All the work you've done to date?
3. What are they allowed to do with this multimedia presentation once they've made it? Can they burn lots of disks and sell them? Give them away? Post them on the web?
4. Can they take your paintings and import them into a paint or draw program, or worse into a digital photo program and distort or change them? Could they send them to have posters made?
5. Do they have to put your name with the photos or can they just use them and never mention you at all?
6. Can they photocopy your pictures and pass them around the class? Can they make a website and put them there for decoration like clip art?
7. If the kids in school can do stuff with photographs of your paintings, can everybody else do the same thing? Are there different laws for different uses? If the kids go home, can they just start sending their presentation all over the country as attachments?
Use these sites below to find the answers to your questions. Take your answers to the upcoming meeting at Artists Protecting Art.
Great General Information, Vocabulary, and a Quiz - Find Out What You Know (http://www.copyrightkids.org/)
Basic Answers to Simple Questions (http://www.cyberbee.com/cb_copyright.swf)
Copyright and Fair Use (http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter7/7-c.html)
Examples of Copyright Cases (http://www.benedict.com/)
Myths of Copyright and Fair Use (http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html)
Multi Media and Copyright (http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter7/7-c.html )
An Artist Talks about Using His Images (http://www.daviddelamare.com/law.html)
A Group Protects Artists (http://users3.ev1.net/~aazari/protection/infringers.htm)