Copyright Aid

Hi, I have a few questions and wondered if anyone could please advise me?

I make frames using papercraft by punching and cutting shapes from paper. I was wondered about using pages from books as an alternative to craft paper. The intention would be to then sell the finished artwork.

My questions are:
- would I be allowed to cut up pages from books I own to make into art or would this infringe copyright?
- would using older, classic novels (e.g. Bronte/Dickens) be better to use, due to the age of the books?

Many thanks in advance.
Jen

Hi Jen,

There's no problem with what you want to do. Once you have bought or otherwise legitimately acquired a book or magazine etc you are free to use the physical item in any way you wish without infringing any of the rights of the copyright owner. So long as you won't be reproducing the actual text which is the part that is protected by copyright, for instance by photocopying it, there is no infringement. This is due to something known as the doctrine of exhaustion of rights. This doctrine applies to virtually every physical object which you can own and which is subject to copyright, but it doesn't apply to intangible items such as computer programs or ebooks (although quite how you would cut up an ebook is perhaps a question for another day).

So on that basis, it doesn't matter about the age of the work in question: it applies equally to the latest Booker prize winning novel* as it does to A Christmas Carol.



*The Promise by Damon Galgut (2021) - no, me neither.

That’s brilliant. Thank you very much for your reply.
Jen