Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Louisiana

I am an artist and I'm thinking about doing a serious on past musicians. Is it legal to take a photograph that some else has taken and manipulate it in photoshop into a piece of my own work? Example: taking a photograph from one of Madonna's album covers and manipulating it in the style similar to Shepard Fairey's iconic "Obama" poster. I've tried reading up of fair use copyright but it is not very clear. These pieces would be printed and framed for sell, if that makes a difference in the case.


Asked on 1/30/11, 10:22 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Martha Amanda Mandi Lucas Mandie Seale Lucas

Fair use is using something for yourself and not for sale. If the work incorporates someone else's work, it must be changed in such a way as to make something new-it cannot be a minor manipulation but one which changes the work substantially.

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Answered on 2/03/11, 6:34 pm


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