As of May 31, 2023, we have updated our Code of Conduct.

Questions tagged [copyright]

For questions about the property right statutorily granted to creative works. Please see the tag wiki and FAQ before asking the question.

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Copyright on 19th century art printed in a book

I have a book printed in 1969 from Hamburg,Germany with art from the 1800s. I am considering photographing the art to sell. Is this an infringement of copyright?
1 vote
0 answers
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Liabilities with restoring a stuck-down video from archive?

In this [movies.meta.se] question: What if a question's embedded video clip is struck down for copyright violation?, I discuss a potential policy issue for that exchange. In the case I list, there is ...
2 votes
2 answers
118 views

Who owns a copyright of a work that is found to be infringing? For example Warhol case that SCOTUS heard

Warhol made screen prints from Lynn Goldsmith's photograph. Those prints have earned millions of dollars. If SCOTUS finds that Warhol infringed, who owns copyright to the Warhol prints? If they are ...
-1 votes
0 answers
12 views

Question regarding creative commons copyrighting of only original content from my blog. Is this sufficient [closed]

I know that if I need legal advice I should go seek a lawyer, but as the blog that this creative commons copyright notice will be utilized for is for my own personal career-related blog and not ...
0 votes
1 answer
81 views

Is it common for software licenses to, as written, technically prohibit normal and expected use of the software?

In Is distributing software that makes modifications to video games legal? an example snippet of a video game license is given, which reads: You may not copy the Software (except as specifically ...
2 votes
1 answer
78 views

If I create a fictional brand name in a movie script and then copyright the script can the fictional brand name be considered my trademark?

Let's say I write a movie script. The movie gets made and it does well. In the script a fictional brand exists with a specific, un-trademarked name. Now let's say someone created a real brand that had ...
2 votes
4 answers
2k views

Use an image under GNU/GPL in a commercial application

We are currently developing a commercial application. We found some images(icons) which are under GNU/GPL license. I'm not an expert in this kind of things, but I was wondering if it is legal to use ...
4 votes
2 answers
206 views

Copyright for Speeding Photo

If I get a ticket for speeding in Germany with a photo taken by an automatic camera, is there any copyright attached to that photo, or can I use it without asking the state for permission?
2 votes
0 answers
44 views

The Nice Classification, what exactly does it refer to?

I need to know if the Nice Classification (for trademark registration) determines the activities carried out by the brand itself, or if it refers to the areas in which the brand cannot be used by ...
0 votes
1 answer
374 views

Is Google legal?

Google is indexing other people's websites across the planet. To some extents, the images on Google images search are also taken from websites contents. And all of that happens without owner's consent ...
-2 votes
3 answers
122 views

Copyrighted Music, Personal Use, and not-for-profit Video Games?

I am creating a video game that is open-source and will be distributed for free (i.e. not-for-profit) on itch.io. I would like to use a copyrighted song as part of the background music. My question is,...
3 votes
1 answer
121 views

Who owns the copyright in this case?

As a layman interested in the law, I'm facing a bit of a conundrum posed by my cousin. Here are the facts: A records company, M Ltd, has created (e.g. written code for, trained etc.) an AI that can ...
7 votes
1 answer
108 views

Digidyne v. Data General: how does this not legally protect Apple macOS running on non-Apple branded hardware?

I was just reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_General_RDOS#Antitrust_lawsuit which discusses Digidyne v. Data General: When Data General introduced the Data General Nova, a company called ...
-7 votes
1 answer
107 views

Is it legal to create a website that freely provides the contents of books which are another company's IP? [closed]

This question is rather specific. I am a fan of the tabletop roleplaying game 'Call of Cthulhu' by Chaosium Inc., but find since it isn't hugely popular that there aren't enough easily accessible ...
4 votes
2 answers
139 views

Is distributing software that makes modifications to video games legal?

Unlike most game mods (which are, to my knowledge, a distribution of a copy of modified game software), I'm writing a small desktop application which allows users to make their own custom changes (...
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Can artists file for plagiarism if their art is used in AI models to make AI art, given that there is proof they're the authors of their work?

(I am an IT student writing a report proposing using blockchain technology to attribute "art" files, used in AI models, to their authors. I know next to nothing about copyright laws for ...
10 votes
3 answers
5k views

How can Crabs Adjust Humidity be legal?

Crabs Adjust Humidity is, as its makers describe it, "a crappy little third-party, unofficial, unauthorized expansion card set" for the wildly-popular game known as Cards Against Humanity. Personally,...
3 votes
1 answer
75 views

Use of copyrighted material for creating a commercial product

In a hypothetical scenario, Mr. Peter writes a book about tree types in a certain geographical area. He creates a commercial products. Can he use another commercial product that is copyrighted, e.g. a ...
0 votes
1 answer
89 views

Are old school logos under copyright?

I wanted to use a school logo on my website. This is an example of one (which is a private school) and here is another (a public school). Wikipedia says that they are both no longer in copyright. But ...
-5 votes
1 answer
125 views

Is it legal to read or distribute the DeCSS Haiku?

TL;DR: Is it legal to download and read the DeCSS Haiku in the US? Is it legal to share it? I now ask about The DeCSS haiku A poem written As an exercise Of the First Amendment right To speak of one's ...
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

How does copyrights work for mobile/web applications?

If a mobile/web developer creates an application like Uber, then sells it to a company, and the company also wants the copyrights for the application, what happens if after few months another company ...
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can a song be used in a presentation for work?

Does it fall under that Fair Use Act of 1976 to include a song as the intro to a presentation for work if the presentation is being given for educational/teaching purposes?
0 votes
1 answer
70 views

NBA data for commercial purposes

I'm planning to create a paid subscription service with some data gathered from nba.com. There are public APIs from nba.com where I'm gathering the data but there is one specific from https://www.nba....
4 votes
1 answer
70 views

Is an image published in a book in Australia in 1925 public domain in the US?

I want to use an art image that was published in Australia in 1925 and publish it in the US. Australian copyright law states that the image is protected for 70 years after the artist's death, who died ...
1 vote
1 answer
29 views

copyrighted material used by a commercial entity [closed]

Can a copyrighted material be used by a company employees if it is not a part of a commercial product?
-1 votes
0 answers
45 views

photographers taking pictures where backgroud has other company logo? can it be fair use?

For example, take a picture of event, where background has some computers/laptops, then Dell and Apple logo can see from the photos. Can we claim that the logos of Dell and Apple are being fair use in ...
3 votes
3 answers
161 views

What are the laws regarding reprinting of really old documents found behind paywalls?

I love reading old newspapers, so I have a subscription to a Newspapers.com and British Newspaper Archive, while I also get free access to NewspaperArchive.com through my local library (I just enter ...
0 votes
0 answers
53 views

What does "derived from" mean in copyright? [duplicate]

In copyright law the right to create a derivative work is restricted to the copyright holder. The definition of derivative work from the US Copyright office seems a little circular: A derivative ...
0 votes
0 answers
28 views

Replicating Font Awesome duotone icons

Font Awesome Pro has a lot of icons that are just the same as the free versions but with two colors instead of one. My question is if I manually change the free versions to look like the pro versions, ...
0 votes
1 answer
191 views

Are there any AGPL-style licences that require source code modifications to be public?

So my understanding of the AGPL, is that it requires modifications to be distributed to the users of the network service, but I'm looking for a licence that would require any modifications (non-...
5 votes
1 answer
69 views

Copyright implications of dismissing Individual and Representative Plaintiffs v. Github Inc, Microsoft Inc, OpenAI (et al.) on derived LLMs

"Individual and Representative Plaintiffs v. GITHUB, INC., a Delaware corporation; MICROSOFT CORPORATION, a Washington corporation; OPENAI, INC., a Delaware nonprofit corporation; [...]" is ...
2 votes
0 answers
30 views

Can I republish my derivative work using a new license?

Some background: the System Reference Document 5.1 ("SRD5") is an original work owned by Wizards of the Coast ("WotC"). WotC currently authorizes derivative works of SRD5 using two ...
-2 votes
1 answer
62 views

Is drug information copyright protected. Example: drug brand name, side effects etc. Is licensing actually required for commercial use? [closed]

Follow up from: Can information about a drug - trade name, interactions, etc. - be copyright protected? Numerous drug databases indicate that the information they provide about drugs is free for ...
0 votes
1 answer
60 views

Ownership/reuse of custom content purchased from online performers [closed]

I'm thinking of doing a project where I pay onlyfans creators/cam performers for custom voice/video recordings. In this case I don't actually want the content to be sexual in nature - not that it ...
22 votes
4 answers
8k views

Why is Star Wars a copyright issue but a MLB team is not? [duplicate]

Over the weekend, I was asked to be part of a photo shoot for a political candidate. I was wearing a t-shirt that featured a Star Wars character and the photographer stated that he wanted to position ...
7 votes
1 answer
376 views

Chat AI is reproducing unlicensed code from a website verbatim: what can the original author do about it?

Let's presume that a chat-based AI, for certain queries/prompts involving specific phrases, is reproducing, verbatim, code that was placed on a publicly accessible website. The code on the website had ...
3 votes
3 answers
516 views

What does it mean that, for commercial use of this font, "a license is highly recommended"?

I intend to be running a web application in the browser for commercial use. The font I am considering at the moment is: Akzidenz Grotesk which can be downloaded for free provided it is for personal ...
1 vote
0 answers
27 views

Registering for copyright under a pen name

I am working on registering my book for copyright but am trying to keep my legal name out of it. How does one file a copyright for a book and only register it under said pen name?
0 votes
1 answer
77 views

Taking pictures of book

In my textbooks there is computer code. I want to take pictures of the pages where the code is contained and and convert those images to text in order to run the code. Is it legal to run the code in ...
24 votes
2 answers
3k views

Does volunteer photographer own copyright?

An amateur photographer at a scenic rest stop sees a couple trying to compose a decent photo of themselves with the beautiful river in the background. This happens so often that as he approaches ...
1 vote
0 answers
35 views

Where is the line between patentable algorithms and copyrightable creative expression in software?

My understanding is that algorithms are protected by patents, and creative expression is protected by copyright. This could be illustrated by the following hypothetical: Suppose a company releases a ...
3 votes
1 answer
35 views

Copyright and the consitution regarding promotion

The US constitution provides copyright protection for the works of authors. Specifically, "To promote the progress of science and useful arts". If I were to create a work, and after a few ...
2 votes
2 answers
64 views

Musical video production [closed]

I paid a video man to film a lady dancer and myself in a hotel dancing to my new music to be released. I wrote the lyrics, composed, recorded and sang it myself. He signed a contract with the hotel ...
13 votes
8 answers
5k views

Why do blatant copyright infringements not get prosecuted?

I feel like everywhere you go you'll see copyright infringement. When I open social media, people post copyrighted videos and photos all the time. I suppose I'm assuming they've not got permission - ...
2 votes
1 answer
25 views

Can you charge for the ability to annotate texts which you are using it under a non-commercial license, where you still show the text for free?

Say a bible text is released with a creative commons non-commercial license (can't use for commercial purposes). Say I then publish that text and make it freely available under the same license, so ...
1 vote
1 answer
64 views

How can you make a fresh new translation of the bible without running into copyright problems?

I have been looking for open source versions of the bible written in Hebrew, with annotations, such as the literal english meaning of each Hebrew term, the definition of each Hebrew term, the part of ...
1 vote
0 answers
46 views

Using images and text from 19th century magazines [duplicate]

I'd like to use images and text from 19th century periodicals, magazinesand books on youtube and social media etc. They are sourced from Internet archive and smithsonian archive. I'm wondering are ...
0 votes
1 answer
73 views

Is it legal to sell photographs of a publicly displayed artwork without the creator's permission? (UK) [duplicate]

A person A creates 3D dioramas, which they display publicly outside their shop. These are displayed on a temporary basis, replaced by new dioramas every few months. Is it legal for a second person B ...
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Copyright on commercial image from the 1930s (UK)

I want to use a railway poster from the 1930s in publicity for a play, but the Science Museum wants a fee for it, claiming copyright (https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co231218/...
20 votes
4 answers
5k views

Is a copyright claim diminished by an owner's refusal to publish?

Alan is aware of an obscure old book that is out of print, and republishes it. Brenda Books, Inc. objects and sues Alan since they own the copyright. This is not disputed. Brenda Books' claim is a ...

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