Copyright laws anyone?

[kentsboots]

So i have always kinda wondered if anyone had experience or run into problems with reproducing copyrighted work? I know the best way to avoid the issue is to do an artists interpretation and make it more original. BUt I was wondering if anyone actually knew the laws in the US on how that actually works.

I frequent an airbrush forum and one of our members a well known artist in Australia was asked that and he said...

"In Australia, the copyright law conveys that a reproduction of a licensed character can be reproduced up to but not including 10 times (so 9 times) and still be considered artists interpretations or samples. Once this number is exceeded, it is considered 'production', even if still done by hand. Here, we are also referring to the reproduction of characters where the intellectual property of the characters is owned by a third party. Let me say that again, the reproduction....... I take these characters from isolated sources and compose them into as original a layout as I can and then reproduce them as a hand done interpretation or sample."

ITs a little confusing to me , but I think hes saying as long as its redone to be an original layout of that character then its not reproduction... so he can do it all he wants. And if he wanted to then he could reproduce an image up to 9 times and make money off it without permission...

The only time i have ever heard of it being a legal matter was here in portland where an artist did some original work on one of the portland trail blazers, and then he did an ad for Nike , which showed him standing there and his tattoo, so the artist sued them for using his intellectual property. That was a few years ago and i never heard what the outcome was tho.