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Copyrighted doesn’t always mean “cannot be used”

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Lane Hartwell is a photographer who has tons of photos on Flickr. Her photos was featured in the latest video Here Comes Another Bubble without her permission. She says “Please don’t steal my work” and “I am frustrated” in her blog.

She was surprised when the band that used her photo in the video, told her that it was “Fair Use” and that they didn’t need her permission. They claimed that the video was for entertainment purposes only, and this constituted to Fair Use doctrine.

What is Fair Use?

Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. Wikipedia

The right set forth in Section 107 of the United States Copyright Act, to use copyrighted materials for certain purposes, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Yale Library

So according to US Copyright Act, sometimes copyrighted material can still be used depending on the four factors that is mentioned above (i.e purpose of usage, nature of work, portion used, effect of the usage on the value of the copyrighted work).

Here is a table that makes it easy for you to know when you can use the material as a fair use.

Conclusion

If you are using any copyrighted material on your blogs, make sure that you are not violating the “Fair Use” laws. In other words, make sure that you can use the copyrighted material in a way that you are using on your blog.

If you are a photographer, don’t be surprised if your photos have been published on the blogosphere eventhough you have labeled them as “copyrighted”. Because fair use is not based on hard rules, and it can often be debatable. Most of the time, it’s the judge who makes a decision whether the usage was fair or not.

Rule of thumb is, you should always credit the source, be it a copyrighted material or not.

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