Artist > Copyrights/Trade Marks info/questions

Copywrite, Faor Use & political figures

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mikee440:
Hello Members
Recently I have come up with a design that has a political candidate as the central image...lets say President Trump for example
My belief is that political figures / public servants are fair game.  The problem I am encountering is that most pictures of the prez are essentially taken by news agencies.  So if the AP or Reuters is credited with the image - does this make the pic copywrite protected & available for public (Fair)use (provided that the tee provides a commentary or is used for ummm educational purposes)?  Can a shirt that is paid for fall into this category?
Another curious thing I ran into when printing an American flag was that there not appear to be any "free" hi resolution images around, which stuck me as a little un- American.  I worked round this issue by creating my own art, but political figures are not that easy.
Thanks for any input

StinkyDaddy:
Shepard Fairy got hammered for his Obama print based on a news photo.
https://www.wired.com/2011/01/hope-image-flap/

mikee440:
Thanks for that.  My image is less modified that Shepards. In this situation though, if the image was not successfu,l I would guess that the AP would not pursue the matter further, which would seem like a case of selective enforcement.  If I could generate $400,000 in sales, it might be worth getting caught and working out a deal

Sbrem:
You might want to consider that stealing is stealing, no matter what you call it. Even public figures own their image, so selling said image for profit without permission is?

Steve

When I started way back, working for 2 partners, they formed the Fonz t-shirt company. They took the image right off the TV magazine that came with the Boston Globe. They got a cease and desist from Paramount Studios, and stopped. They made a little cash, and that was it.

mikee440:
You are correct about the stealing, but how else would I get a free image of said political / public figure.  I suppose I could use the original picture and modify or redraw it.
It would give me a good reason to get better with Corel

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