Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Pennsylvania
portrait drawings from published pictures of celebrities
Is it legal to draw and sell for profit portraits of contemporary celebrities, like movie stars, sportsmen/women based on their images in newspapers, TV shows, internet, etc.? The drawings are not direct copies-- not reprints, not downloads, nor Xerox copies. They are hand-drawn by artists, but can be identified, to some extent, as following certain pictures already published.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: portrait drawings from published pictures of celebrities
NO. That will get you in trouble. You need the celebrity's permission and/or the artist's permission and/or the publisher's approval to be safe, depending on who owns the publicity rights and who owns the copyright on the picture you admittedly propose to derive your pictures from.
On the other hand, if you have an expert copyright lawyer advising you, you can probably develop a substantially risk-free procedure for doing the pictures you propose with minimal royalties. This is a situation where legal help will SAVE you money.
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