Re: Copy[RIGHT] and ethics: redrawing

["Stephen V. Cole" <adbinc@arn.net>]

Knowing more about copyrights than I want to (I own hundreds of them, 
as I run a non-dino publishing company) there is one technical point 
about redrawing (that might apply to dinosaurs only rarely, but just 
in case somebody applies this conversation elsewhere). If the item 
you are drawing is somebody's Intellectual Property, redrawing 
doesn't help. Redrawing a T-rex is one thing, re-draw the starship 
enterprise and Paramount comes knocking on your door (and you won't 
like what they say). They invented the enterprise (God invented Trex 
and doesn't seem bothered by us mortals using his copyrights). It 
might (theoretically) be dangerous to copy a dinosaur drawing if you 
included specific external details that originated with the artist. 
If the original artist fancifully painted his dino with a full set of 
tiger stripes, doing so on your dino (instead of using your own color 
scheme) might get you in trouble. I would think that ethics should 
trump the law. Ask nicely if you can possibly find a way to do that. 
Better, do your own drawing.