... ohh boy.....

Gotta admit I like the winning design....... it looks just like a school crest.... heh heh!

...... mine still doesn't have any good feet........

You should not be supplying fonts to the contest holders, they should be set to paths. It is true that many fonts have licensing fees but a font doesn't have a copyright.

..... strange how many designers auto-trace fonts and still consider their work as 100% original and worthy but when it comes to an otter I can't sketch what I see in a photo or I might go to jail? Funny rules if that's really what they really are......

Otte, you may do as you wish, I am just trying to protect you, and the CH from liabilities. If you choose to use elements of an image that you do not own, then go ahead, it is a risk. I am telling you that is it against the rules. If you have no other way of drawing these images than having to replicate from a picture, then perhaps you should not be in this field. It is very easy for a designer to study many images of otters and to come up with their own version which looks like a real otter but it not traced or replicated. You can look at pictures to see how an otter's feet look, their physiology, colour, texture etc, but when you draw them, do it from your own perspective. These comments are not meant to cause arguments, just to inform everyone of the rules and make sure you are protecting yourselves from a lawsuit down the road. I wish everyone good luck in this contest! And I am more than happy to answer any other questions on the subject!

.... if there's no simple answer this is probably not the place to discuss it I agree, but imposing a restraint that may not even exist on someone else's efforts I can't see helping the contest neither.

The problem as I see it is that the photographer didn't design the otter or the tiger or the mountain scene so I still question if it is really a crime or even in bad taste to 'design' something using such things as elements. I wouldn't take a photograph of a park layout or bridge and copy it and claim the design for my own, but that's not my question.

I wanted to get something submitted before the contest closes but I'm having trouble finding a picture of feet for my otter....... apparently they're webbed or something and big and stick out of the water.....

If the picture is given to you including all the rights to use it, then you can use that picture. You cannot replicate an image you don't own (which would be the same as tracing) but you can make an interpretation of that image. The point is that you need to create something that is 100% authentic, so anything that looks like something else to a point that they can be held side by side and identified as the same image, cannot be used UNLESS it is a picture that you own the full rights too (that does not mean an extended license for stock imagery which is not the same as owning the full rights and does not allow for trademarking). Sorry that my replies may seem very wordy, but it is a complicated issue, so I am trying to cover all the bases with my answers.

... well, my question was more along the lines of should I hand sketch something I've seen in somebody else's photograph (and I can draw well enough it might be considered by some to have been traced, or at least the origin of the image apparent), do I not have the rights to that hand drawn sketch?

No, it really is against the rules, illegal and not allowed. This is not just my opinion, it is stated in the licensing agreement of stock image providers and in the rules and regulations here on 99 designs. Please feel free to email istock or shutterstock, or any provider of stock photography and they will all tell you the same thing. Any image that is available for more than one person to use, cannot be claimed under copyrights and trademarks and therefor cannot be used in logos. You may not use (in whole or in any part) images that are from commercial or stock photography, clip art or images that are not owned outright by you. You may, however, study images to get an idea of how to draw ie, you may look at images of a sea otter to draw one, but you cannot trace it or replicate it outright. You may also trace and use photographs that you have taken yourself and you can trace them (though my personal opinion is that you might as well just draw your own interpretation - they usually turn out more interesting anyway). Hope that is helpful, but feel free to message me if you have any questions on the subject.

.... since when is tracing photos against the rules.... I take pictures of my dog and trace them all the time.... heh heh!

Seriously though, that's a question I've been wondering about for a long time and have asked it repeatedly with no results, so I'll try again here as there seems to be some authority present on the subject. Can a person take and make a hand traced likeness of a portion of a photo or combination of stock photos (like a hind leg from one and a face from another mixed up with backgrounds or supporting objects from elsewhere ect.), and then consider it an original design with no copyright issues? Do I have to own the rights to a photo to render on paper a close approximation to some real natural object (or landmark) I may see contained in a publically displayed photograph?

I understand it would be in poor taste (or even illegal) if the end result was a replica of an iconic or popular image already in wide spread use as a logo somewhere, but I study proportion and perspective of animals and nature using other people's photographs all the time, and represent portions or sections of what I see in my illustrations quite often from the details or pencil 'tracings' of things I see in the physical world and objects present in other people's photographs and I even use the ideas or inspirations I may get from them..... (I like to believe I do this with a certain amount of style and taste however). Now I feel just terrible if it's actually against the rules and it's a criminal act or something should someone inadvertantly purchase my work.......

Is it actually against 'real' copyright rules? .... or just one person's critisism of another person's method?

To all designers, please remember that using clip art or photographs and even tracing photographs is not permitted in logo design and can subject you and the contest holder to liabilities towards those who own the rights of those images. Stock art is also subject to the same limitations as you cannot copyright those images, and therefore, cannot sell the copyrights to the contest holder.

#7 also, from this --- http://www.wildlife-artworks.com/dr…_otter.jpg
Contest holder, beware.

#6, please fair play buddy, i think your design is similar with http://www.pinktentacle.com/tag/food/

Wait. Can you give us the name of the school? Does it need to be incorporated with the sea otter?

Thank you for updating the information. Very helpful! ;)