copyright question, can I use a character likeness in my illustration...

[eeek]

Hi, I am working on an illustration, which I am hoping to get published. Can I legally use a parody likeness of a character, i.e. Adams family character... I drew the characters myself. But if someone were to look at my illustration they may recognize that the scary looking people in my picture resemble scary characters in popular movies. Is this a bad idea?

Thanks!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Hi, I am working on an illustration, which I am hoping to get published. Can I legally use a parody likeness of a character, i.e. Adams family character... I drew the characters myself. But if someone were to look at my illustration they may recognize that the scary looking people in my picture resemble scary characters in popular movies. Is this a bad idea?

Frankenstein can look like Lurch who can look like Herman Munster and can look like numerous other similar characters. Is your "parody" instantly recognizable as a copy?

The Wall Street Journal hedcuts (the hand drawn dithered images of people's faces) produce an interesting legal question as to usage. Technically if they were drawn from a photo there are issues of derivative works (creating a copy from a copyrighted source material.)

Still, there are other questions - are you parodying the image, e.g. showing how absurd the character is? Frequently you'll find parodies in newspapers, e.g. comic rendition of a current newsworthy people/items. As much as I don't like using it as a source, you can read up on the Fair Use exception to copyright at Wikipedia with regard to US law. Here is an excerpt:

Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. It provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test. It is based on free speech rights provided by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.