Dear Klaus,
This is tricky. I suspect that if you have this redrawn, it becomes a
new illustration of a known fact. Copyright would probably
apply to the illustration but not the fact. You should be OK if
you illustrate the fact with a new illustration to which you will be
copyright holder.
Those who think they are free of copyright obligations because
they are not selling the image are mistaken.
Copyright ownership of the image -- if any exists -- would
govern this case and not the fact of non-profit status. But only
certain things can be copyright, and I doubt that the ideas
represented in the illustration are copyright. If anything, copyright
would cover the specific form. That means the image itself.
To be safe, you can also attribute the FACT to the web sites you
give, using standard references to web sources to acknowledge the
idea while using your own redrawn illustration for the specific
form it takes.
If, however, the FACT or the information in the image has been
copyrighted in some special way, that fact could cover even a
redrawn image.
This area of copyright law is a bit murky. I'd suggest that you ask
the legal department of your university press. Someone there will
know if I am right on this or they may know of specific issues or
mitigating factors that you must account for.
The fact that you have tried to locate copyright and the fact that
you have sought advice -- along with seeking legal counsel -- will
establish your good faith in the matter should a currently unknown
copyright holder emerge after no results in what appears to be a careful
and diligent search.
This is an interesting and unusual case. The safest way forward is
to check with a lawyer.
Best regards,
Ken
>you probably have seen the demonstration of the context dependency of
>meaning in the form of an arrangement of literal/numerical characters:
>http://www.opticalillusions.ws/ABCOr....html
>http://www.coolopticalillusions.com/abc_123.htm
>
>does anyone of you know the reference to the original source?
>who owns its copyright?
>does anyone have a clue to where i could ask permission to include it in a
>publication?
>has anyone experiences with copying from the internet?
>
>i emailed several owners of web sites that reproduce it, nobody has been
>able to give me a lead. those who responded had either not thought about
>copyright issues or said that they made no money from posting and feel
>immune against copyright infringement complaints.
>
>thanks
>
>klaus krippendorff
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