texture copyrights

[Sawyer]

I have a question cencerning image use. I am doing an image of a mosque. Can I take a scan of a photograph from a book of a mural in that mosque and use that as a texture? Is that legal?

 

Thanks

[edub]

if it's for personal use, I can't imagine it being illegal...

 

that said, I know nothing about copyright laws.

 

what are you using the rendering for? is it going to be published?

[edub]

copy/paste from wikipedia:

Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. It provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test. It is based on free speech rights provided by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The term "fair use" is unique to the United States; a similar principle, fair dealing, exists in some other common law jurisdictions.

...

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

the nature of the copyrighted work;

the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

[Brian Smith]

Actually I don't believe it's legal if you are to gain any compensation for the rendering. I went through a copyright nightmare long ago where I inadvertantly and unintentionally infringed on someone's copyright, or so they claimed. Paid a lawyer $250 for 1 hour of legal advice and decided it wasn't worth the time or trouble to stand up for myself, even though the lawyer and I both believed the case had no merit. Anyway, I learned a lot and one thing I learned is that very few cases are ever won by the plaintiff even when they are flat out undeniable infringements. It's either not worth the cost of going to court for the plaintiff or it's to hard to meet all the conditions. Still, the best thing to do is ask the publisher.

[Sawyer]

Actually I don't believe it's legal if you are to gain any compensation for the rendering.

 

 

That was my assumption and the way I was working.

 

Thanks