That gets into some strange territory. Copyright in most countries protects your image (the photo) from commercial use by others. The painting is clearly a derivative work. In some countries derivative works are not allow without permission, in others they are. Even the courts do not seem to understand the copyright laws. It is clear that copyright (USA) does not protect ideas, only the results of the ideas, but in some cases the courts have ruled as if the idea is protected. I have no idea what the specific laws say in your country.
If they are your kids, you might add into your side of the issue that he does not have a model release for them either. -- graywolf http://www.graywolfphoto.com http://webpages.charter.net/graywolf "Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof" ----------------------------------- DagT wrote: > Just to keep your minds off politics .-) > > During my holiday I was reading and listening to music but had the TV > on (and sound off), just in case there was a weather forecast. > Suddenly something known caught my attention on the TV. In a program > about some opera seminar in western Norway a singer was standing in > front of a painting, and the painting was identical to one of my > photographs. > > After some detective work, and help from the Norwegian community at > www.foto.no, I found the painter, and he admitted that he had > downloaded my picture and used it, but he refused to take the picture > down and claimed that he was a not a very good painter and therefore > his painting was not a copy of my picture. He said that he would > sell it if someone wanted it and that I could by it if I wanted to. > > Now the story has been twice in the local radio station and will be > in the local newspaper tomorrow. But since I live in a different part > of the country I have only seen the references on Internet. One of > the leading professors in Copyright issues in Norway has stated that > the painting is illegal, and things seem to be going my way, but it > has been a busy week... > > here´s a link with where you can see the pictures: > http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nrk_sogn_og_fjordane/1.708983 > > DagT -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
