License and Copyright?

Question

How much must a item be altered from its original work to not fall under License and Copyright Laws.

Answer 1

Two things need to be present for you not to be violating a Tradmark or Copyright:

1) That the copyrighted work has been altered so significantly that it is clearly a different work. For instance, if I wanted to rewrite the DaVinci Code and claim it is mine, change the names of the characters and call it "The Dark Con of Man", if the basic language characters and situations are similar so a reasonable man would infer that my novel was inspired or based on the DaVinci Code, I would be in violation. Even if I wrote an "After the DaVinci Code" about what happens to the characters afterwards, I'm using the story inspired by someone else, so I am violating the copyright.

However if I took the idea, made the premise one of a struggle of philosophies of a futuristic human society on a massive colony ship traveling to the Alpha System, in which the founders where hiding from the people the truth that they came from Earth, and there were enough changes in the dialogue and characters to make it a different story, than I would be safe.

2) I must not base any sales or distribution off the name or work of another party. For instance, if I made a "wand" having nothing to do with the Harry Potter stories, but my marketing was for "A magical wand for all Harry Potter Aficionados" then I am profiting on another's ideas or efforts.

But if my marketing was "A Wand for those who believe in Magic" I'm fine.

Answer 2

The term "altered" is a big red flag. From a legal point, your work is either original with you or was derived from another source. If derived, that is an infringement unless the source was in the public domain. If original, then it is yours to own without respect to others. Anything "altered" would most assuredly be considered a derivative product. The fact that it is altered is defacto evidence that you knew it was taken from elsewhere and tried to hide the fact.