I found a random picture on the internet that had no copyright marks on the page and brought it into Adobe Photoshop, added a background, adjusted the levels, added text, a few other adjustments and made a photo flier for a purse party I'm having. I had one copy uploaded to Walmart.com and picked it up with no problems. The text was too small, so I changed that and sent another copy to a different Walmart which wouldn't let me pick up the picture because the picture may be copyrighted and they said it looked 'too professional'. I have heard if you find a picture and change a certain number of things on the photo, it is free for use. Is this true? What are the copyright laws and do I have the right to pick up my picture and make more copies?
Answer:
No, no matter how you change a photo, the copyright is still in effect so long as the original photo is recognizable.
But that's not the real problem here. I don't think anyone would careif you used their photo for a few purse parties. If you were making money with it, they might want a piece of the action.
But Wal-mart is being careful because they are a big wealthy company and companies like that often get sued over nothing, just because they have a lot of money. And it costs them a lot to defend themselves even if the case gets thrown out of court. So their rule is going to be that you can't use a photo unless you can PROVE that either it is public domain or else you have the copyright to it yourself.
It seems starange that anyone that would be working at a photo proscessing place for Wal Mart would have enough knowledge or athority to judge weather or not any picture (photoshoped or not) is "to professional" If they do not return your pictures threaten to sue.
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