Slashdot Mirror
Non-Copied Photo Is Ruled Copyright Infringement
An anonymous reader writes "A UK judge ruled that a photograph inspired by another photograph, but clearly different from it, infringes the original photo's copyright. The two photographs were shot in the same location, have the same subject, and use the same distinctive post-processing treatment. However, the angle and composition are different. From the article: '[The judge] said a difficult decision hinged on a "qualitative assessment of the reproduced elements." He defined Fielder's image a "photographic work," as distinct from a simply a photograph, in that "its appearance is the product of deliberate choices and also deliberate manipulations by the author," and concluded that those aspects had been copied.'"
Apples and oranges. As pointed out below by someone else, photos are barely copyright-able at all, because they're simply a recording of something. Your example of Snoopy is something entirely different. Furthermore, even in derivative works fair use generally applies, meaning it's still OK.. The main reason you can't reproduce things like Snoopy is because they're trademarked.
A derivative work is taking something and changing it, like translating it into a different lanugage or creating an abridged version. Taking ideas, and creating something that is stylisticlly similar is called art. All of the impressionists saw what monet could do with a few tubes of paint and what looked like sloppy brush strokes and created similar work. The heavy metal bands listed to steppenwolf singing about "heavy metal thunder" with loud and distorted guitars, and thought they could make something even louder. Such is art.
Besides making a photograph mostly black and white except for a single object isn't exactly creative. The idea goes back to the days of the daguerreotype when peoples faces where hand tinted.