Q: Can I animated/cartoonify a piece of art and trademark it as a logo?
I have found a piece of art that sparked a logo and brand idea. My thought was to replicate a couple aspects of the artwork and animate them to create my logo. I would then trademark the logo and brand name associated with it. The artist has a few pieces of art that I was also thinking to add to the branding of the company, so it would be a few pieces of art. This artwork is an oil painting and is not over 100 years old. Can I do this? I have attempted to reach out to the artist directly multiple times, but have not gotten any response.
A:
Animating or cartoonifying the artwork may not be sufficient to avoid copyright infringement. If you cannot reach the artist for permission, consider seeking legal advice on alternative ways to create a unique logo that does not infringe upon someone else's intellectual property.
James L. Arrasmith
Founder and Chief Legal Counsel of The Law Offices of James L. Arrasmith
A: What you are looking at doing is creating what's called a "derivative work". It is possible you could change it so much that it would no longer be covered by the original copyright, but that is unlikely. The Supreme Court decided recently that Andy Warhol's work violated copyright on a photo of Prince when he made the photo into iconographic art.
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