confusion on copyright laws

[highdarkness]

ive been looking alot into copyright laws since i just got into scrolling recently and alot of it seems kind of confusing. I keep hearing about public domain but im not really sure what that actually entails. does that mean since for example donald duck or the nike symbol are trademarks i cant make them into a scroll or that i just cant sell them? would i be aloud to give them away? because i see like pictures of marylyn monroe or or elvis and i kno that whoever made them didnt just imagine there faces and cut it and i figured they would be copyrighted
any info would be greatly appreciated

[tony coleman]

not too up on it myself.if you look further down the board ,on the pattern request section,jediscroller explains it better.public domain pictures are exactly that.for the public.you can do what you wish with them....i think?
copyright pictures,you can make a piece for yourself,i have,but you cant realy go and sell the image.........or somthing like that.
check out the piece further down.

[Jediscroller]

To say copyright law is confusing would be an understatement. If you're doing it just for yourself and not commercially, I wouldn't worry too much about it. As far as the celebrity stuff, how folks have gotten away with it is beyond me. I think that scrolling is just not big enough to go after or they're not all that worried about it. Public domain are those items for which there is no copyright protection so they can be used as you see fit.
Here's a few threads that deal with it more thoroughly:
Copyright
Copyrights
Pattern Requesting Guidelines

and here's one that gives some public domain resources:
Public Domain Resources for Designers (Free Patterns Part deux)

[Big_red_S]

As Kevin said, it depends how much money you're making.

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/b...te%20Order.pdf