question: the cut-throat field of calligraphy law

[devi]

Say I designed a poster with a piece of text on it (for example, a poem by Leonard Cohen or a paragraph from 'On the Road'), printed a small number of copies and sold them on places like ebay or to friends. What would the legal issues be there? Could I only use text that was in the public domain? If I did use text from a book or poem, would I be covered by just adding in a copyright symbol, or would I be expected to pay royalties and end up getting sued by men in suits? If so, is there a time limit (100 years after the author's death or something like that) after which it's OK to reproduce their text?

Any ideas?

Comments

Re: Fair use

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Oops - I've been trying to arrange the use of a camera to take pictures of the damn things, but haven't managed it yet. Didn't realise you were actually interested, though, so I'll redouble my efforts to get something sorted out!

Legibility? When it's appropriate, but letters can make wonderful abstract patterns too.

Re: Fair use

[anam-uk.livejournal.com]

hurrah

Abstract is where its at :>