COPYRIGHT: All art is subject to copyright. This means your artwork is automatically protected as soon as you create it. This also means that artwork displayed online, photos, digital art, paintings etc. are also protected under copyright. You must get permission and possibly pay to use someone else's artwork unless it is under public domain.
Copyright lasts for the entire life of the artist plus 70 years past the death of the artist.
PROTECT YOUR ARTWORK:
To protect your art from copyright infringement, make sure that there is a record of your work so that you can prove it was created by you. You should sign your artwork, so there can be no dispute around authorship. Put watermarks on your posted work.
US artists should consider registering their works of art with the US Copyright. It is extra paperwork but makes resolving a legal dispute a little easier as there are documents on file with the government
Artist Shepard Fairey designed a 2008 poster in support of Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.
The poster "Hope" became a widely recognized iconic graphic image. Unfortunately, the AP (Associated Press) claimed that Fairey's artwork was directly taken from one of their copyrighted photos taken in 2006. Shepard Fairey disagreed and claimed "Fair Use" saying he only used part of a photo of Obama and George Clooney. Later Fairey admitted he used the cropped image (attached) The case went to court and they later settled in 2011.
FAIR USE:
The United States Copyright Office defines “fair use” as a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news