Thursday, April 22, 2010

Using Poe, Shakespeare, Shaw and Mona Lisa in Video

Dear Rich: I am creating two to five minute video sequences of my art montages for iPod and iPhones and would like to use quotations at the beginning and end by Poe and Shakespeare and Shaw. (1) If all quotations come from some published source do I need to get permission from someone? (2) If I have used an image in my montage sequence that shows for say 10 seconds a painting in a museum, say the Mona Lisa from the Louvre and I altered a picture that I took of that image to look like a pop art Warhol do I need to get a license from the Louvre for the usage? The Dear Rich Staff will save you the trouble of reading a long answer: (1) No, you don't need permission for the quotes*; and (2) No, you don't need a license for your Warholization of the Mona Lisa (unless of course, you're copying Warhol's version.
* You would need permission from Shaw's estate for substantial quotes from works (more than two or three lines) if the work was published after 1922.