Copyrights

If you change the spelling of some words then I have been told its ok. Like>>
Come on babie, lite my fire. The Doors first release the song in 1967. The copyright on the song if one was ever filed should be over by now. Many other groups have also recorded this song as well.
Here is an article on Light My Fire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_My_Fire

THANK YOU! The artwork on the clothing that I am designing is my own. I have painted large canvases of musicians such as Bob Marley, Janis Joplin and the famous Jim Morrison American Poet pic... can I put those images on my clothing line since it is my own original artwork?

The US Copyright Office says, "As a general matter, copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner."

You might want to visit http://www.copyright.gov/ for some copyright basics - since most works have a life plus 70 expiration (copyrights last for the person's who created them + 70 years after their death), to include likeness rights.

If someone has made money on it, then likely its copyrighted. There is such a thing as 'fair use' for one or two copies, but if you're making and marketing thousands of these products, then you can believe that someone wants a piece of that pie. I would probably say its safest to ask before you produce something that could be consider copyright infringement; it may save you thousands of dollars later on.