Fwd: characters and copyright?

[Kate Todd <katetodd@VZAVENUE.NET>]

If an artist copies illustrations from a book, that would be
a violation of the copyright.  If an artist creates his own
vision of what the characters looked like based on the text,
that would not be a violation of copyright.

Copyright generally lasts the life of the author plus 50
years so some older works could be in the "public domain."
However, if a publisher reissues the work, then the
copyright may be renewed.

A good site for a basic understanding of copyright is Brad
Templeton's "A Brief Intro to Copyright" at
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copyright.html

The right thing to do is to write to each publisher and
request permission to use the illustration in your
classroom.  This is time-consuming and some publishers will
say Yes, some will say No, some will ask for payment.

A student who is planning to become a professional artist
should have some concept of these copyright issues and may
even know how to "clear copyright."
Kate Todd
Student, NYU Educational Communication and Technology
katetodd@vzavenue.net

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