You make some interesting comments Denise, although my real point in posting the article link was to bring to light various ways that corporate America is beginning to use copyright laws to restrict consumers' rights and abilities to repair products they already own, as well as to restrict competition in the repair industry space. I suppose I should have been more specific in my set-up, but again, your points are well taken.
As for the legal elements cited, they're generally sound, but the concept of "additional contribution" where non-attributed, copyrighted material is utilized in the creative process is somewhat broad and murky, and case law offers a wide range of precedent at both the state and federal level. My guidance and personal practice is to always cite source material, even if it only comprises a fraction of my subject work. Personally, after overseeing the management of an intellectual property portfolio for our fund of funds over the past 5 years, I've found that the potential ramifications of copyright infringement just isn't worth the financial risk. Being on the other side of the aisle, we've been awarded some surprisingly significant damage awards in the handful of infringement suits we've been involved in, but as stated earlier, it's a rather broad and gray area to be sure.
