"Although the originals may have been "public domain," the altered versions constitute derivative works which are entitled to copyright protection. Yes, it's true!"
This is from the LunaGirl, aka Summertown Sun, website. The problem with this statement is that it is clear that they think they now have rights over the original image because they made altered versions of it. This is evident because they say, "although the originals may have been in public domain" which is written in the past tense, meaning that they believe their work, in effect, removes the image from the public domain. Really they are bullies, and their lawyer is daring you step over the line. Yes, they have rights to their alterations but it can't be one or two pixels, or otherwise all the designers would start a free-for-all of collecting and laying claim to public domain images. The problem there is that we all know that most of these images were printed in the hundreds, if not the thousands. In truth, Summertown Sun has a very tenuous case, but it would cost a bundle in lawyers fees to make them stop what basically amounts to laying claim to anything they touch.
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Re: Copyrighting the Sun
I completely agree with this and think a class action lawsuit would be a good idea.
copyright
"Although the originals may have been "public domain," the altered versions constitute derivative works which are entitled to copyright protection. Yes, it's true!"
This is from the LunaGirl, aka Summertown Sun, website. The problem with this statement is that it is clear that they think they now have rights over the original image because they made altered versions of it. This is evident because they say, "although the originals may have been in public domain" which is written in the past tense, meaning that they believe their work, in effect, removes the image from the public domain. Really they are bullies, and their lawyer is daring you step over the line. Yes, they have rights to their alterations but it can't be one or two pixels, or otherwise all the designers would start a free-for-all of collecting and laying claim to public domain images. The problem there is that we all know that most of these images were printed in the hundreds, if not the thousands. In truth, Summertown Sun has a very tenuous case, but it would cost a bundle in lawyers fees to make them stop what basically amounts to laying claim to anything they touch.