Originally Posted by
PatriceJ
changing the design a little bit makes the new design a derivative.
you cannot claim copyrights to derivatives because they are not original. not in fact, and not in the eyes of the law.
i believe - but am not positive - the copyrights become the property of whoever owns the copyrights to the design from which they were derived.
This is where Intellectual Property comes into the fray! An artist designed postage stamps and offered them to Australia Post which they declined but then craftily produced the stamps, I believe slightly altered at a later date. The artist won that case. The original idea belongs to the person who first thought of it.
Ugg Boots have been made in Australia for over 100 years and are an Aussie icon; A few years ago a US company decided to market their Ugg Boots and told Australia to stop using "their trade name". Naturally Australia won that case. There have been similar cases of course where the giants have lost.