Copyright on people's faces - anyone know?

[madamez]

I make and sell button badges, which are usually just slogans though feature the occasiaonal pic or logo. I have been wondering about adding a few badges with pics of famous or infamous people and assorted catchphrases or insults but I was wondering about the copyright law aspect.
For example, if I want to make a badge with a picture of George Bush and the caption 'Derbrain of Texas' (BTW my actual work is a little more subtle and credible than that) and I cut and scan a picture of his face from the first place I find it, am I breaching copyright and if so how would whoever owned the copyright on the original pic prove that it was their picture I had pinched?

Yes -- but I think that Wikipedia only use rights-free images so if you nick it from there you don't need to worry about copyright.

Insults could come under libel laws but I suspect you don't really need to worry about that -- after all if George Dubya sued you for libel you'd be set up for life from the publicity. And you could call all manner of interesting witnesses in your quest to prove that he was, in fact, a derbrain.

I cut and scan a picture of his face from the first place I find it

Yes you probably would be breaching copyright if you did that, as copyright would most probably belong to the photographer or a larger body who bought the C from the original owner (C lasts the owner's lifetime + 70 years after death).

C infringement is usually a civil offence (not criminal), so the standard of proof is lower - ie they will need to prove "on the balance of probability" that you took the photos. So for example if you have internet access and the photos were on the internet, they may argue convincingly that it is very likely that you took their photo off the internet.

It's a risk but the size of the risk depends on who the C owner is and how big your market is.