On 9/29/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Monahon, Peter B. wrote:
Copyright infringement case law allow damages for publishing look-alike pictures, even if only in design, layout, or theme - not just outright "copies".
What's the context for that? Surely there must be an intent to make it look like something that already exists. Two independently produced photographs that happen to look alike are not infringements.
Indeed. Copyright law is not like patent law, in which infringement does not require intent or access. You have to show that actual copying occurred, or at least that the probability of it was good. Furthermore, it would have to be of something unique to the supposedly copied work, rather than a common theme or indeed the appearance of the subject itself.
-Matt