Alec Monopoly has been using copyrighted characters for years, How is this possible he hasn’t been sued?
I come across a lot of artist that have been around for awhile and they will use another company’s copyrighted material in their paintings.
Do paintings hold different copyright laws than a digital image?
Is this similar to the music industry where “Sampling” has different laws than “a cover”?
For a starter… What is Derivative Work?
If you’re really into Art, best thing is to get enlightened - educated, because reality of true Artist is walking on the edge & the only constant is fight.
Fair use thingy? Parody of a popular character is allowed I assume.
https://copyright.gov – the official US web-site – contains a lot of material about “fair use” doctrines in American law, although they are very careful to point out, “we’re not a lawyer.”
And, incidentally, I saw a very tiny inscription on a piece of artwork that more-or-less parodied Mickey Mouse: “Fair Use of ‘Mickey Mouse’ character ® © Disney.” Call it “covering your butt.” I don’t think the artist had to do it, but he did.
How can you be crtical of a social icon without including the icon in your work in some ways?
Put it this way, lets say you are an artist taking on Disney, your point is to make people aware of the destruction done by Disney, so you need to somehow creatively include the original work then put your creative addition/manipulation on top of it.
That is different than making another mickey mouse movie claiming that you are the creator of it which is covered by their copyright.
The quintessential example of course being Andy Warhol’s depiction of Campbell’s Soup cans – which was entirely legal, and which for a while did very nice things to boost sales of the product!
If you depicted “Mickey Mouse raping and pillaging and doing nasty things to young girls in a theme park,” Disney’s lawyers could – and, probably would – immediately “estop” you, rightly claiming that you are doing harm to their property. Or, that you were simply being an insufferable jerk. 
Satire done… 
