[Clipart] copyright question

[Nathan Eady]

Open Clip Art Library Feedback Form wrote:
>

> I created by myself a vector drawing of some pokemon pictures...
> I would like to share this drawings but I don't know if they are my
> property because they are my creation or if they are copyrighted
> because I used copyrighted figures.

Generally speaking, the act of redrawing is not enough to free
a copyright-protected work from copyright protection.  An
original drawing may incorporate an *idea* from another drawing,
without being a derivative work, but if it is substantially a
copy of the other drawing, it is a derivative work, not an
original work.

For instance, if you created an original drawing that depicted
an original monster that just happened to live in a pocket, you
would probably be okay (and would presumably own the copyright
yourself, so that you could do what you like), but if you merely
redraw a specific Pokemon character, it is probably still protected
by copyright (and possibly also by trademark).

I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.