Wednesday, 7 November 2007, Andre Engels wrote:
However, I think that we should cut ourselves *some*
slack in the
depiction of copyrighted works. Very little can be photographed
otherwise - a car or a piece of technical apparatus is designed, and
thus copyrighted,
No; the design of a utilitarian object is subject to a higher threshold
of originality and is therefore usually not copyrightable. The design
of cars are instead protected by design patents. Things like closeups
of hood ornaments or badges, however, are problematic.
and even photographing a person would be
problematic, as you'll have to reckon with their clothing designer.
Again, most aspects of clothing design will be dictated by its
utilitarian properties. Of course, the print on a t-shirt may be
copyrightable, but if the objective is to depict the person, such
inclusions are usually secondary and acceptable under the de minimis
rule.
--
Alex Nordstrom
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:LX
Please do not CC me in followups; I am subscribed to commons-l.