I need some tattoos to fit my girl and after googeling I found some nicely fitting tatt's.

The pictures I found are some real Japanese paintings.
I understand that there might be some copy rights on pictures from the net, even if they are free to download, however the artist who made these paintings lived around 1800 and I have strongly the feeling that they are not around anymore.
From some of them there is not even known who made them.

So my question is, can I just use those paintings to transform them to tattoo's?

I dont expect that my end result will be used for comercial use, but you never know how a cow catches a hare ;-)

Thanks in advance.

Attached Link: http://www.cric.or.jp/cric_e/

Third: according to the attached web site, Japanese copyright law protects everything up to 50 Years after the creators death. So, if the pictures were done around 1800, even a very longlived artist probably has died before 1950.

So, I would think you can use them - if noone has altered them since.

you'll have to ask in the copyright forum, but i think you may be ok if you are certain that it dates back to the 1800s, i have been noticing recently a lot of famous paintings appearing in some big name made games, so if you can have a Degas in animal crossing, i reakon you are good to go, better check first though.

like your cow phrase too, must write that one in my cow related phrases book.

Thanks for the reply's,

Ok, I just slaped myself over the head for posting in the wrong forum.

I will post there to to be on the shure side, but it seems you two already answered the question, thanks heaps.

And Vince3, the cow phrase is actualy a Dutch saying =)

Well after the pointers you gave, I did a bit more research and found that the prints are copy right free.

After googling the print names I found the artist names.
With those I googled again and found them on wikipedia.

There they state that the prints have expired copy rights.

Problem solved and thanks for putting me in the right direction =)

not an odd question at all. if ya went to the gallery where the painting was held and made a sketch with yer pad (they don't allow photographs in general, for obvious reasons), then it's cool. but if ya got a download from the internet, it's almost certainly illegal for several reasons: 1. we don't have the right to redistribute or sell photos or drawings posted on the internet 2. the person who made the copy of the painting did so from a photo, which is an illegal use of said photo 3. the internet is based on theft. by my estimate, more than 90% of all internet traffic is illegal file transfer 4. tattoos have a peculiar kind of copyright protection that is very difficult to describe or understand (I ain't a lawyer)

Thanks Miss Nancy,

Well I did google the names of the two painters and found them on wiki.
Underneath the pictures I found this "statement"

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.

Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Côte d'Ivoire has 99 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Honduras also has a general copyright term of 75 years, but does implement that rule of the shorter term.

One artist passed away in 1861 and the other in 1849.
So I asume that I can use these pictures to convert to tattoo's.

Corect me if I'm wrong.

P.S.
With "my girl" I mean the poser model I work on.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Single people tend to say strange things in that area ;-)

But what you found is a photo of a painting ( not the painting in itself of course ! ) .Somebody took a shot of the painting then put it on the net . He is the owner of the copyright . So you must find who took the photo ! In other words , you have the right to use the photo only if you took it yourself  - you went into the museum where the paintings are exposed and took the photo .
I assume you found it as a jpg format - which didn't exist 70 years ago !- how can it be expired?
It's the same problem with music : a song may be in the public domain like Vivaldi , but the interpretation - the orchestra that played it IS NOT !
I guess that if there is a doubt - there's no doubt ! Use it for yourself - not sure that a freebie would be better .

Oi, oi, oi, this is complicated stuff =S

Thanks for the heads up Alizea, thats a very good point.
And didnt cross my mind...this is sooo out of my area.

Well I think I found the source of the picture, and they state on there page that its free to use private or comercial.
As long as they and the artist are named.
To be on the shure side of things, I will drop them a mail later on this week.

I keep it posted here.

To be continued.

Actually to confuse things further....

You can't copyright a photo of a 2d painting that is in the public domain.

***Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. *** was the lawsuit that said you can't claim copyright of a photographic image of a 2d painting that copyright has expired on due to the fact that there hasn't been enough original content added.

This mainly pertains to the US copyright law, you may find other countries do not allow such.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_Art_Library_Ltd._v._Corel_Corporation )

So more than likely you would be absolutely fine using the images for your tattoos.

 - Noel

It's complicating and confusing indeed, but interesting to dive into.
Like I say'd before, this is all new to me.

I try to contact the source of the picture and see what they say.
Acording to there web page, the pictures are copy right free as long as you give them credits.

I think the outcome of this might be interesting for others also, in case people want to use paintings in there renders.

I did read the wiki article, and although Corel got off the hook in the US, its likely that in a UK court they would be conficted.

To be honest, this whole copy right isseu looks as a big grey area to me.
But I am not a lawyer and this is not my area of knowledge.

Final update,

I had a answer from the picture/site owner and he told me that I am free to use the pictures :-)

So the full body tattoo for my character wil be a fact..pfeew.

The site where the pictures are on is Visipix.