New ruling would make parody and recreation photos and album covers illegal
The copyright battle continues on another front as a UK Patents County Court judge found that copyright infringement could occur even if the photo has been recreated from scratch. According to the ruling, "copying a photograph does not require a facsimile reproduction, it is enough to recreate the scene or a substantial part of it."
This could make famous photographic recreations like the ubiquitous Abbey Road parodies and even covers like Rancid's
... And Out Come The Wolves tribute to Minor Threat copyright infringement.
Find more details via Amateur Photographer.