A: In the past if I used another artist work, such as, music I would credit the original creator at the end of the work. When it has come to come to my drawings I would use others art as a reference and do not copy someone else’s original work. When looking at a reference it is meant to give inspiration for your own work. I used Google Images, Flickr, and Bing Images to look up my references and through the articles on ethics I’ve learned that if I am never positive about the reference I would need to contact the original artist to confirm that it is ok to use there work. I also, understand that some artists have full rights to there artwork and designs. As stated in the Use of Photography article, “Having all rights would mean the client could use the work in any conceivable way. However, on questioning the client, it often develops that the client does not need all rights. Rather, the client wants to prevent competitors from using the photography (and, of course, the design)“.
Link:
AIGA Business_Ethics 47556770-Use-of-photography-1-MB.pdf
B: When it comes to the Fairey Copyright case I believe that Fairey did want to only use Garcia original image as a reference. That is because Fairey states that he looks at about 200 images of Obama in order to create his poster. Even though, he had done that there is a section called “All rights and work-for-hire”. As stated in the Use of Photography article, “Having all rights would mean the client could use the work in any conceivable way. However, on questioning the client, it often develops that the client does not need all rights. Rather, the client wants to prevent competitors from using the photography (and, of course, the design)“. It was stated that the image he chose to work with he took out the American flag and accented the dark and light spots. However, he did not make any significant changes to the image to distinguish it from the original, and there was no credit given to Garicia who the art work originally belonged to. As stated in the Use Of Illustration article, “A troubling ambiguity often exists, however, about whether an image licensed for use in a print medium is then included in the internet version of the print piece. Unless the usage was specified, the rights are not automatically granted“. Therefore, the copyright claim was valid, even though Fairey changed many parts of the image the core piece which is Obama was not altered in any way to say that it was different from Garcia’s original photograph. As stated in the Guide to Copyright article, “The designer, as the copyright owner, has the exclusive rights to reproduce work; license work; prepare derivative works, such as a poster copied from a design; perform work; and display work. However, the owner of a copy of the work can also display it. Any- one who violates these rights is an infringer whom the designer can sue for damages and prevent from continuing the infringement“.
Links:
AIGA Busines_Ethics 47556733-Use-of-illustrations-1-MB.pdf
