If i copy a picture off the internet, and then edit it, who does the copyright belong to.?

Question

A while ago, i took a picture of lord voldemort from the internet, (images.yahoo.com) and edited it and make him look like a woman. now i want to put it on myspace, but i'm not really sure if it is my copyright. i really dont want to get in some kind of trouble.

Answer 1

If you want to get that technical, YOU have already broken the copyright laws!

Answer 2

Any time you use a picture like that, or anything that isn't originally yours, you have to give props to where ever you got it from. In that case, you would have to check yahoo and see where they got it from. Then you can put modified by yourself.

Answer 3

You would've already broken the copyright.

You took a copyrighted picture and changed it, and then you were going to post it on a public site which technically means that you are taken credit for a picture thats not yours.

But, in everyday world, you should be fine! No sweat! ...

Answer 4

The legal issue here is whether or not you are exercising "fair use" rights of copyrighted material.  Although the creator has the copyright, anyone with legal access to the material has what are called "fair use" rights.

In this case, you are probably OK, because you have taken a copyrighted image that you have "fair use" rights of, and made "transformative" changes, not a "derivative work."

You'd need to study copyright law extensively to understand the nuances as to why you haven't done anything wrong, but in short, as long as the original picture you started with was not stolen, you're o.k.  (By stolen, I mean that it didn't come from from someone in a movie theater with a camera, or something like that - as long as you have legal access to the image, you are OK.)

Answer 5

The copyright doesn't change just because you manipulated the photo.

Answer 6

dude, dont worry you won't get in trouble just cite it!(just in case)

Answer 7

Copyright belongs to where the picture originated from.

However pictures of lord voldemort are very common you can get pictures of him anywhere.  You can claim that lord voldemort is a pop culture icon, and that you are spoofing it.  If anyone where to say anything claim fair-use, you wouldn't be correct but it would get you out of trouble.

You won't get in trouble most they can do is make you take it down.

He hasn't broken copy-right law yet.  If he uses the picture in any public form, or sells it then he has broken copy right law.