How much do you have to change artwork to avoid copyright? There is actually no percentage by which you must change an image to avoid copyright infringement. While some say that you have to change 10-30% of a copyrighted work to avoid infringement, that has been proven to be a myth.
The “Copyright Change 10 Percent Rule” is one such enduring myth. Despite its widespread mention and belief, it finds no footing in actual trademark statutes. The very essence of trademark law revolves around the copyright protection of originality and creativity, not arbitrary percentages.
Can a certain number of words be used as a copyright?
There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work.
Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances.
See, Fair Use Index, and Circular 21, Reproductions of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians.
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Can I claim copyright if I change my work?
Only the owner of copyright in a work has the right to prepare, or to authorize someone else to create, a new version of that work.
Accordingly, you cannot claim copyright to another's work, no matter how much you change it, unless you have the owner's consent.
See Circular 14, Copyright Registration for Derivative Works and Compilations.
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Even A Small Taking Can Be An Infringement
One final example exposes why the “Ten Percent Rule” is so urgently in need of a swift debunking.
In a 1985 case, the Supreme Court ruled that a magazine’s reproduction of a brief but newsworthy excerpt of a forthcoming book was an infringement.
In that case, Harper & Row, the publisher of President Gerald Ford’s autobiography, granted Time magazin.
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How Is Copyright Infringement determined?
In the United States, copyright infringement occurs when the owner of a valid copyright can prove unauthorized copying by establishing that an alleged infringer had access to the prior work and incorporated so much of its characteristics as to render the new work “substantially similar” to the original.
The question of whether two works are “substa.
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Practical Considerations
There are also practical impediments to the application of a so-called “Ten Percent Rule.” For example, no court is able to determine what constitutes ten percentof a design.
The more one considers the “Ten Percent Rule,” the more the rule begins to collapse under the weight of its inadequacy.
Unfortunately, since the fable of a “Ten Percent Rule” .
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Quantity Does Not Count
In one recent case, James Tufenkian, a carpet designer, created a pattern by digitally scanning two public domain carpet designs.
Tufenkian removed some of the elements from the first image, reconfigured remaining elements and cropped and elongated the design; the result was asymmetrical, departing from the balance of the first motif.
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What happens if you change 30% of a copyright?
According to internet lore, if you change 30% of a copyrighted work, it is no longer infringement and you can use it however you want.
This, as a rule, is false.
The truth of the matter is much more complicated.
