Re: Tracing origin of a graphic?

by "Paul Wilson" <webgooru(at)gte.net>

 Date:  Tue, 5 Dec 2000 09:58:44 -0500
 To:  "Villano,
Paul" <VillanoP(at)usachcs-emh1.army.mil>,
"HWG GRAPHICS" <hwg-graphics(at)hwg.org>
 References:  army
  todo: View Thread, Original
> How do you find the origin of a graphic?  There are so many graphics out
> there, that if you run across one, how do you know it's not copyrighted
(in
> the sense that someone is collecting royalties off of it, I know once
> something is created it is covered by US copyright at least in the US,
> automatically).  I've received great background images I'd like to use,
but
> one is never really sure where they came from and whether they're safe to
> use.  Is there some sort of public repository of known
> copyrighted/chargeable graphics out there we could check against?

There are places on the Internet where you buy the photograph or license to
use it.  I suspect these types of places are OK.  I myself use Corel's
library of CD's which is huge.  Most of the folks that sell images like this
make you place a small copyright statement on the webpage or home page.

I know from my BBS days in the late 80's and early 90's that a lot of images
were "borrowed" and redistributed in BBS files and CD collections.  If you
pay $5.00 for 1000 photo's of whales and you never heard of the company,
they are probably borrowed.

Another theory I have heard is that if you sufficiently modify an image, it
can become yours.  Lets say you cut out part of an image,  swap the left and
right sides, and use a filter to change it sufficiently that you can hardly
tell it's origin, something like this is supposedly allowed.  Experts (and
jurors) may disagree on what classifies as enough of a change though.

Most of the time I shoot my own images using a digital or 35mm camera.
Sometimes I use my tablet to trace an image outline and use PSP or Corel
Draw to complete the image.  Sometimes I draw with pencil, outline in pen
and scan it.  It depends on the amount of detail I am trying to get.

Paul WIlson
webgooru(at)gte.net

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