QUESTION
Is it legal to sell paintings of copyrighted items?
Asked on May 19th, 2016 on Intellectual Property - New York
More details to this question:
I painted a watercolor illustration of a champagne button saying "press for champagne" and am selling prints on etsy. A fellow shop owner on etsy contact me with a cease and desist letter demanding I remove my painting from Etsy as it violates her copyright on the item. I don't agree that my painting violates her copyright because my item is a painting that is a loose interpretation of the actual product - not an actual button that you push and hangs on your wall.
1 ANSWER
If the sole issue is over the phrase "press for champagne", then you have nothing to worry about because since short phrases are not protectable by copyright as a matter of law as they are not considered to have sufficient originality to be protectable.
Answered on May 20th, 2016 at 6:02 AM