Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Does Slight Retouching of a Photo Create a Derivative Work?

Yes but there are several factors to consider. This isn't usually black and white.

Re: Does Slight Retouching of a Photo Create a Derivative Work?

I think it IS a derivative work, but may be a 'fair use'. Also, if the changes are "de minimus", (very minor), the 'new' work probably won't be copyrightable as a separate work.

From WIKIPEDIA:

In the United States, "derivative work" is defined in 17 U.S.C. � 101:

A �derivative work� is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a �derivative work�.

US Copyright Office Circular 14: Derivative Works notes that:

A typical example of a derivative work received for registration in the Copyright Office is one that is primarily a new work but incorporates some previously published material. This previously published material makes the work a derivative work under the copyright law. To be copyrightable, a derivative work must be different enough from the original to be regarded as a "new work" or must contain a substantial amount of new material. Making minor changes or additions of little substance to a preexisting work will not qualify the work as a new version for copyright purposes. The new material must be original and copyrightable in itself. Titles, short phrases, and format, for example, are not copyrightable.