Originally Posted by dunster
I have to disagree. You will be violating the copyright by creating your own image of someone else's print. You are copying his work! If you were just painting the paint-by-the-numbers, which was presumably authorized by the copyright holder, you would not be violating copyright.
Now, will you be "caught"? Made to compensate? Probably not. But it is still copying, and that is what copyright protects against. The issue of whether it's for personal use or for profit does not change the fact that you are making an unauthorized copy of someone else's original work.
I'm glad you made this point, Dunster.
I occasionally get questions from customers asking what they may or may not do with the fabric they purchased... and, being just a retailer, obviously I don't hold any copyrights.
One question I will share here because it illustrates the point you're making. The person wanted to know if they could use fabric to make greeting cards which they would then sell. And the answer is that yes, you can cut up a piece of fabric and use those pieces to create greeting cards. But you cannot photocopy the designs on the fabric to make the cards.
Cutting up the fabric to incorporate in the cards is akin to painting the paint-by-numbers. Photocopying the fabric would be in violation of the copyright.
I hope I was able to explain it in a way that can be easily understood!