Forum

I was recently notified that I couldn't paint Einstein, or use his name, or any celebrity, living or dead, without permission. Politicians are exempted for some reason. Apparently Corbis, a company owned by Bill Gates, owns the rights to Einstein's face and name, and to photos in the Smithsonian, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The 1900 Edward Curtis photos of Indians, and millions more. I checked their site and it is $600 on up for permission to use one of these photos as a source. You can be sued for $30000 for using an image of a celeb. I know Warhol, and many other artists have used famous people in artwork for ages. And cartoonists use faces all the time. And people used to go into galleries and museums and copy a work as a method of study. So my question is, what does anyone know about this, especially you photographers. I wouldn't think of copying an original photo, but to draw Einstein in my own way? Comments, please.

I posted this on blog first, then realized it needed to be here, hope it doesn't show up twice.