Etiquette/Legalities of Distributing Graphics?

[FerdFerd]

I've been working to please myself with a modified status bar, and I think I have finished with it. Most of its graphical elements began their lives as parts of other DIA or launcher skins, but all have been modified in one way or another by me. Some would still be recognizable by their original creators; some probably wouldn't be. All come from freeware skuns, and so far as I can tell, without any notice one way or another about doing what I have done and then sharing it with others.

Should I be worried about this? Or would it be OK to post it in the freeware section without worrying about stepping on toes or running into troubles of some kind? Do the mods have any guidance for me?

I posted an image of an early version of my efforts earlier in this part of the forum, here (http://www.1src.com/forums/showpost.php?p=995154&postcount=1).

[BuRnN]

upload it and thanks the people for the original graphics you used that what i done in the past

[FerdFerd]

I'll do that then. I have one graphic I used that I found on the web that has a copyright notice saying it's for personal, noncommercial use only. I've asked permission from its designer to release my status bar as freeware.

I'm not sure what to do if I don't get the permission. I'm not certain the icon is really recognizable after my modifications and dramatic resizing to be small enough to use. I suppose if I don't get permission, I'll find something generic to substitute.

[Church Punk]

if its modifyed in a way that one can say that its different enough cuz of what you added to the thing (image), then it becomes your own. Accession, i believe is called, or improvement of any object is a way of aquiring property... that ive been thought. But in ur case, since the licence of the image should NOT be for profits then you shoulndt worty since u r following the rules ;)

Always give credits to the respective ppl and say what you did and what you did not.

[_Em]

Accession is trumped by copyright law in most countries, unfortunately. That's why Disney still sues for Mickey Mouse derivatives, even if it isn't obvious at first glance that it is a derivative.

However, you're using this image the way the license intends for you to use it, so you're 100% OK.

[FerdFerd]

I received permission from the creator to use it, so long as what I distribute is free. So I'm now covered, and I released my effort this morning here in the Freeware section.