Copyright free images-clipart

I hope someone here can answer my questions regarding copyright free images and clipart.

If someone digitizes an embroidery design from copyright free clipart, can they claim to own the copyright to the design ?

>From what I've read, my conclusion was once something was copyright
free, in the public domain, it couldn't be copyrighted. Am I wrong ?

Example, I created hundreds of digitized red work embroidery designs from copyright free clipart over the past 7 years, only to have a company claim to Ebay I was infringing on their intellectual property rights. Since the clipart used was copyright free, I thought the designs couldn't be copyrighted, so how can I be infringing on their intellectual property rights,
when I have the right to sell what I created from copyright free clipart/ images ?

1. Can something be copyrighted if created from copyright free clipart ?

If it can, then how can anything really be copyright free and in the public domain ?

For small businesses or individuals copyrighting their work doesn't do much good, unless they have the financial and legal resources to protect their copyright, which most don't. So in essence, a copyright is only good if you can financially afford to protect it, which leaves out the majority of individuals and small businesses.

Thank you in advance for any help regarding my questions. Received on Tue May 16 2006 - 20:10:30 GMT