Is Photoshopping your face on another photographer's photo legal?

Nature Nut wrote in post #14862655
As far as I understand the concept, the image that is copyright protected must identically match the image in question. Imagine two photographers standing side by side shooting near identical pics. The slight differences should allow each image to be considered unique, so face changing I would venture to say falls within that. Not to say theres not some leagaize or other stuff like the E.T. issue that can come about.

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Precious Lens by Nature Nut 84, on Flickr

It seems to me that in cases like the ET image and the one you posted, it is not necessarily the image per se that is copyrighted, but rather the "character" that is trademarked. For example, you need the permission of Disney to put Mickey Mouse on anything you sell, your web site, etc., etc., regardless whether you got the image of MM by direct copy of a Disney picture or if you got your artist friend to create it for you.

RTPVid wrote in post #14862876
It seems to me that in cases like the ET image and the one you posted, it is not necessarily the image per se that is copyrighted, but rather the "character" that is trademarked. For example, you need the permission of Disney to put Mickey Mouse on anything you sell, your web site, etc., etc., regardless whether you got the image of MM by direct copy of a Disney picture or if you got your artist friend to create it for you.

Ah, yes.. that was the other "legalize" I couldn't put my finger on, Trademark. I know there's other jargon about likeness and defamation too. And with the DCMA stuff all you have to do is blink wrong these days. its just such a flurry. I've always been lost on how I might be sued when I buy a coffee mug with a famous character on it and then post a pic of the mug to bookface.

Wait. A couple of you stated that Weird Al needs to get permission to remake the song, but that actually isn't true.

This is from Weird Al's website in the FAQ section:

Does Al get permission to do his parodies?

Al does get permission from the original writers of the songs that he parodies. While the law supports his ability to parody without permission, he feels it's important to maintain the relationships that he's built with artists and writers over the years. Plus, Al wants to make sure that he gets his songwriter credit (as writer of new lyrics) as well as his rightful share of the royalties.


http://www.weirdal.com​/home.htm

Here's an example of one I did (hopefully I won't get sued).

My father has, for years, been battling gophers. He's retired and spends a lot of time each afternoon gardening. He's really into it.

Well, he's always telling me in our weekly phone chats how much the gophers drive him nuts, and how he loves (and hates) to kill them. He doesn't like to kill them but is furious at what they do to his gardens.

So I made him a Bill Murray photo (from Caddyshack). I happened to take a picture one day as my father was fooling around and making faces (I think we were at a bar).

It seemed to fit and he thought it was funny. I didn't take much time on this photo because my dad actually looks too much like Bill Murray, so I wanted it to look cut and pasted (or he would have actually thought it was a photo from the film).

KirkS518 wrote in post #14862595
Side note question - Do photography copyrights expire? I believe they do for songs after 20 years or so. If a copyright runs out, then any older image would be fair game.

Copyright (be it music or photos) currently lasts for the lifetime of the author/creator plus 70 years. However copyright law has changed over the years so the term may/will be different on older works - depending on when they were created.

Go for it.

They can't be mistaken as the real deal. If your not making $$$ on them there is no reason for them to bother with you. Now if you make money on them the game changes.

I have gone to friends and families houses taken there photos off the walls, scanned them and Photoshopped them and put them back and waited to see how long it takes for them to notice.

Can't resist and post one from internet:
.

Or, this one...