I think the final product and the ideas and concepts that it holds are the important aspect for copyright.
If I cut up a Star Wars poster into 1,000,000 tiny pieces, and then reassemble them into a self portrait with no reference whatsoever to Star Wars and sell it, would I have committed copyright infringement?
If I did the same thing but made a stormtrooper out of the pieces, is the copyright issue with the source material, or the final product?
Both in that case are a copyright violation, depending on which images your source. Collages are a frequent example of this, it’s already an answered problem.
Collages when used in a transformative way are not a copyright violation. It’s mostly a case by case thing because people will make a “collage” that is just an image with some sparkles around it.
The example you’re responding to where you make a picture of your face would almost certainly not be considered a copyright violation.
I think the final product and the ideas and concepts that it holds are the important aspect for copyright.
If I cut up a Star Wars poster into 1,000,000 tiny pieces, and then reassemble them into a self portrait with no reference whatsoever to Star Wars and sell it, would I have committed copyright infringement?
If I did the same thing but made a stormtrooper out of the pieces, is the copyright issue with the source material, or the final product?
Both in that case are a copyright violation, depending on which images your source. Collages are a frequent example of this, it’s already an answered problem.
Collages when used in a transformative way are not a copyright violation. It’s mostly a case by case thing because people will make a “collage” that is just an image with some sparkles around it.
The example you’re responding to where you make a picture of your face would almost certainly not be considered a copyright violation.