MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - HC breaks copyright on coverart after being denied original

abookreader · 08-18-2011, 04:58 PM

Well looking at it I have no doubt that the creator of the Harper Collins cover was re-creating the first artwork.

I'm not a legal expert so I have no idea if they crossed legal boundaries. I know that in High School my English Teacher used to pound home that if we used more than so many exact words ... we had to give credit. I think it was around 10 words. In music, you hear of lawsuits all the time where one song has an identical number of chords to a previous song and somebody sues. ... I'm sure there is an equivalent for artwork such as this.

We have the

woman in the exact same pose in the exact same place
same colors
bird
buildings (yes they're different but the exact same architectural style)
all those clouds

and nearly every element is positioned in the exact same place in the picture.

I feel for the original artist. Unfortunately, it isn't all that easy for David to take on Goliath. More times than not, he gets smooshed.

08-18-2011, 04:58 PM	#14
abookreader Wizard Posts: 1,516 Karma: 2567610 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindles - Keyboard, Fire, 2-US, iPhone, iPAD	Well looking at it I have no doubt that the creator of the Harper Collins cover was re-creating the first artwork. I'm not a legal expert so I have no idea if they crossed legal boundaries. I know that in High School my English Teacher used to pound home that if we used more than so many exact words ... we had to give credit. I think it was around 10 words. In music, you hear of lawsuits all the time where one song has an identical number of chords to a previous song and somebody sues. ... I'm sure there is an equivalent for artwork such as this. We have the woman in the exact same pose in the exact same place same colors bird buildings (yes they're different but the exact same architectural style) all those clouds and nearly every element is positioned in the exact same place in the picture. I feel for the original artist. Unfortunately, it isn't all that easy for David to take on Goliath. More times than not, he gets smooshed.