Could an advertising campaing be legally imitated if it is based on public domain images?
<p>The case I am thinking about is absolutely hypothetical. The company XYZ asks an agency to create an advertising campaign. Outsourcing after outsourcing the work ends up on a gig site and it is done by a remote worker who uses images taken from Wikipedia or any other site with Creative Commons licence without telling it to the client.</p>
<p>What happens if a competitor or imitation brand XYz find out? Could XYz run a campaign using the same pictures? Could the competitor use those images to create an ironic version of the campaign?</p>

<h2>The campaign is a copyrighted work distinct from any work it contains</h2>
<p>Consider this answer - even though it’s made up of uncopyrightable words, the particular arrangement of those words is a copyrighted work. The same is true of an arrangement of pictures.</p>
<p>While the competitor is free to use the pictures, they can’t use the campaign.</p>
<p>The ironic version is fine providing it is a true parody. Parody is an fair use under copyright law.</p>

copyright creative-commons