[thelist] Ethical issues concerning re-use (and heavy modification) of images

[Galen]

I am quite sure that it is legal and the question is (from my perspective)
really, does it make you feel bad? I see nothing wrong with it, if you would
like you can include a bibliography in the about part of your site and that
would make you feel better, or you could write to the site owner requesting
permission for it as well.  Most, I am rather certain, will allow you this
though some may want a link back to their site in exhange. You can put the
links in the bibliography section or credits page if you feel obligated.

As far as legalicy, it would seem to me to be quite legal in the United
States and probably in the rest of the world as well. People take something,
change/modify it, call it their own and sell it all the time here, I do not
see why the internet laws would be any different but I am not a lawyer. I'd
also consider it ethical as well though as you are putting your work into it
as well as changing it from the origional. Again, the above choices are
yours to make, to write and ask, link back, and give credit to orgional work
in a bibliography should more then likely keep the complaints away though I
am sure that there is little chance of lawsuits with it either.

Galen

(I have gotten a little more comfy here and will use my real name instead of
KGIII I guess.)
> I recently discovered a fantastic tool for creating images for web sites -
> the "Trace Bitmap..." option in Flash. For those who haven't experienced
> this superb tool it can take a bitmap image (be it a gif, jpeg or
whatever)
> and convert it into a flash vector, with astonishingly high quality
results.
>
> Here's my dilemma. If I take a copyrighted image and apply this process to
> it, then modify the image to a large extent, is it ethical (or legal) for
> me to use the new image in my own work without express permission of the
> copyright owner? Case in point - I recently found the following image of a
> rose on the web (via google image search):
>
> http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/enchantment.htm
>
> With the aid of "Trace Bitmap" I created the following - something I would
> not have been able to do without the original image:
>
> http://www.bath.ac.uk/~cs1spw/nemesis/side-rose.gif
>
> It is virtually impossible to tell that the one was derived from the
other,
> and although I am not at all worried about the legal implications of using
> such an image I am held back by my ethical concerns (especially as I would
> love to use this technique more in the future). A what point (if ever)
does
> a derivative work free itself from copyright restrictions of the original?
>
> Regards,
>
> Simon W.
>
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