Re: derivative work

On 30 January 2000, John Noble <jnoble[_at_]dgsys.com> wrote:
>
> On 1/27/00, Calle Ostergaard <info[_at_]troll-company.dk> wrote:
> >
> > Can anyone explain to me the difference between a "copy" of an original
> > work and a derivative work -- in case of for instance a sculpture?
> >
> > Will it be sufficient to change minor details in the original work
> > or does the derivative work have to appear clearly different from
> > the original? -- e.g. if I paint new eyebrow and/or moustache on
> > Donald Duck eventually give him a new shirt -- have I then created
> > a derivative work?
> >
> > What is case law on this?
>
> When you ask "will it be sufficient to change minor details..." I wonder
> if you are laboring under the misapprehension that you cannot reproduce
> copies of an original work, but that you can make derivatives. However
> the Copyright Act reserves to the author of the original the exclusive
> right to make derivatives as well as to reproduce the work. If you put
> a mustache on Donald Duck you may have created a derivative, but you
> have still infringed the copyright. In the case of a sculpture, you
> can put arms on Aphrodite -- but only because its in the public domain.
>
> So the question only makes sense if you have been authorized to make a
> derivative, but not a copy, in which case the terms of the license from
> the author will establish whether it is "sufficient to change minor
> details", and ordinarily the license will authorize the derivative in
> terms that avoid a misunderstanding. E.g., you might be authorized by
> Disney to create a sculpture of Donald Duck, which would be a derivative
> of the cartoon graphic with or without the mustache.

Thank you for the comments -- however there seems to be yet a situation where it matters whether it is a copy or a derivative work. Many foreign works that has been in public domain and now restored as a result of URAA -- has been exploited while in public domain -- and the situation for "Relaince parties" might be depending upon whether it is a copy or a derivative work -- so I stil am interested in the the definations of respectively "a copy" and a "derivative work"?  

Calle Ostergaard
info[_at_]troll-company.dk Received on Mon Jan 31 2000 - 17:04:34 GMT