Based on her personal collection of scans from the Picture Collection of the New York Public Library, Tamara Janes deals with copyright issues and seeks the copyright "tipping point" by manipulating the original images. The legal assessment of the alteration process is realised in cooperation with a lawyer and is documented by applying a traffic light system.

The large scope for interpretation under copyright law in photography and art is relevant and omnipresent for Tamara Janes. The project "Copyright Swap" is based on the idea of digitally modifying other people's images with Photoshop to such an extent that they become her own images. The source material is scans from the Picture Collection of the New York Public Library".

The copyright specialist wrote a note with her evaluation for each step of the alteration. In the end, it became clear that the photographs had to be changed a significant amount in each case in order to reach the green zone of the traffic light system. The process was concluded with a final note in each case.