How much do I have to change someone else's work to make it my own?

When creating a work from someone else’s original material, it is important to determine how much of the work must be changed to make it your own. In Delaware, the law requires that a work must be considered “transformative” in order for it to be considered your own. This means that the new work must be substantially different from the original in terms of form, purpose, or character. For example, if you create a painting that transforms a photograph by changing the colors, adding filters, or creating a different composition, it is likely to be considered your own work. However, simply changing the color of a photograph to make it your own will not be enough. When determining how much a work must be changed to make it your own, the key factor is the level of creativity used in the transformation. Taking small pieces of a work and combining them in a new way may not meet the threshold of a transformative work. Therefore, it is important to consider the degree of originality of the new work, and how much of the original work has been changed in order to create something that is substantially different from the original.

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How much do I have to change someone else's work to make it my own?

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