Re: Copyright Issue/Exercise

[Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM]

      I, on the other hand, argue that because I copied what I believe is a
      "substantial portion" of the graphic/image (that is, of the single
      file that entails several images), that I may be in the copyright gray
      area.

Copyright doesn't cover "how;" it covers "what." It's possible you infringed
because of what your graphic looks like. I don't know; I haven't seen it.
But the simple fact that it is organized in a similar manner I don't think
is enough to make it infringement.

Think about it: if your approach were infringement, wouldn't it then also be
infringement for a book to copy the organization of another book? ("Hey! You
can't lead off with a table of contents consisting of topic headers followed
by subtopics indented one tab stop! That's the way *I* organized *my* table
of contents!")

Now, if your graphics have a substantial similarity to MS's graphics you
might have a point.

<insert standard not-a-lawyer disclaimer here>


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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