What is the test for copyright infringement?
“It is whether an ordinary observer, looking at the original work and the work allegedly copied from it, recognizes that a copying has taken place.” Even if the copy is larger than the original, rendered in a different medium, or altered in some way (such as Photoshop filters and collages), the copying is still an infringement, “if the ordinary observer test leads to the conclusion that more than a trivial amount of the original work has been copied.” “Some art school instructors tell their students that if more than a certain percentage of the original work is changed, perhaps 25% or 33%, the new work will not be an infringement.
