So, there’s an exemption for ‘Transformative’ art, and while this is obviously pretty shady, it feels like there’s a good chance this would qualify as transformative. Basically, you can’t copy an existing photograph you don’t own, but you can take an existing person and paint a new original picture of them.
We had a big lawsuit just last year where the Supreme Court clarified the line a bit. In that case, the art was found to be not Transformative, but they did a lot to explain why, and based on that, this would be super likely to fall on the side of ‘Legally Allowed’.
This is actually super super tricky.
So, there’s an exemption for ‘Transformative’ art, and while this is obviously pretty shady, it feels like there’s a good chance this would qualify as transformative. Basically, you can’t copy an existing photograph you don’t own, but you can take an existing person and paint a new original picture of them.
We had a big lawsuit just last year where the Supreme Court clarified the line a bit. In that case, the art was found to be not Transformative, but they did a lot to explain why, and based on that, this would be super likely to fall on the side of ‘Legally Allowed’.