Hi, I wanted to design towels using images of famous musicians. My question is, if I use for instance an image of a famous musician that is no longer alive and I modify this image by creating my own artwork with it, would I still run the risk of being sued just because of the fact of using a celebrity image? Does it matter how much I change this image or if I draw it myself? I heard from other designers that if you change a certain percentage (let's say 20% of it) of an image, such as colors, shape or even adding other elements to it, you should be fine, is that true? As an example, I see pictures and paintings of Bob Marley all over the place... are these people getting permission to use that?
I guess it depends on rather their image is now in the public domain or not. With Bob Marley and Elvis, for instance, I think are public domain as they've become part of the American zeitgeist. Likewise with many celebrities, I would imagine. Then again, I'm no lawyer, so, perhaps you should consult a lawyer?
And the mighty gnomes of Graceland will hunt you down! And no, you may not use my image at all, for any price.
To be honest, nanousa, you are asking the wrong people. We are webmasters, not lawyers. Here, I just thought up a great way to save you money hiring a lawyer to ask this question: Run down to the local college, go to the law buildings, and just randomly grab some senior students and ask them if there's a friendly law professor in the building who can/will answer your question. Then go ask him. I'm not being facetious here, this works. I've asked a number of highly educated professors a number of things out of the blue, and they were always more than happy to spend a minute or two (sometimes more!) to answer because they have all this knowledge stored in their heads and education is their job. Try it!
Painting your own unique image is completely different than using an image made by someone else. There is no percentage rule of change - it is copyright infringement if you use a photograph taken by someone else without permission. The rights to the photograph generally belong to the photographer - although they must have a signed release if the person isn't famous. You can't use the image of famous person for commercial use - i.e. endorse a product you have without their permission - or if the are dead, their estate.
If you created the work, you have the copyright, unless/until either the copyright expires or you transfer your copyright to another party.