A question about fair use when posting pictures

[Master Toon]

I hope my title wasn't confusing. On Wikipedia's site you can't upload a pic unless it meets some fair use requirements or something of that nature. Let's say I had a site about anime and wanted to upload some Naruto and Bleach pics, what would I have to do to use them and not get in trouble?

[EarlOtis]

I am assuming you'd need the artist's permission to use the pictures because they are copyrighted and their property.

[Kury Wagner]

Copyrighted pictures legally require getting permission from the owner of the photographs.

However, since you can't exactly e-mail Kishimoto or Kubo and be like, 'hai guyz, I'mma borrow your picz, kthx!' The best thing for you to do is put disclaimers and notes on your pages. A simple thing like, 'All Naruto characters, character names, and pictures contained on this web page are copyrighted by and belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This website is in no way affiliated with Masashi Kishimoto, Viz Media, Shonen Jump, or Turner Broadcasting,' and linking to their websites, would work very nicely.

Basically, you just want to make sure that you never claim it as your own, and you never make profit on it. You can't just think that because you just have a dinky little Naruto fansite, you won't be sued- think of all the fansubbing sites and such. Be cautious and think before you publish your pages.

[murmur]

Kury Wagner's advice is fairly sound. And don't worry about sounding confusing when discussing the fair use doctrine in copyright law. I'm still confused by it even though I took a Copyright Law course at my law school last year. The thing is, fair use is a creation of common law, which means it comes from the court system, even though copyright law itself derives from Federal statute (and Congress is empowered to make Copyright laws from the Constitution itself). Since courts aren't really supposed to make laws, but rather interpret them as necessary, they typically don't just give clearly defined rules unless the law is already clear. And though fair use is now codified, it's still talked about in "factors," or rough guidelines that must be balanced. There's no real way to meet certain requirements and know for sure whether what you are doing is fair or not. I took a look at the Wikipedia article on fair use, since you mentioned it, and it looks like it does a great job summarizing the meaning and origin of the four major factors to analyze. But if you don't want a headache (or a law degree), just remember that free speech (the main Constitutional justification for fair use doctrine) gives you fairly wide lattitude to contribute to the national dialogue, even on cartoons. If you dissociate yourself from the original creators, are taking away no commercial benefit, and need the pics to make your own original statements, you should be fine.

[Master Toon]

Thank you guys so much for clearing that up. When or if I do put any pics on my site, I'll make sure to be clear and precise on who owns the pics and how I'm only using them for viewing and not for profit. :)

[EarlOtis]

Did you practice that Kury? Sounds like you've written that I few times. xD

[Brandon Pierce]

I hate it when people mention the "fair use" rule, because it has its own loopholes. And besides, most companies don't even care about the "fair use rule" anyway. YouTube, anyone? If you tried to explain what fair use is to a YouTube executive, they'd be like, "Huh? What? Can you speak English? I don't follow."

[J'onn J'onzz]

I hate it when people mention the "fair use" rule, because it has its own loopholes. And besides, most companies don't even care about the "fair use rule" anyway. YouTube, anyone? If you tried to explain what fair use is to a YouTube executive, they'd be like, "Huh? What? Can you speak English? I don't follow."
Yeah, YouTube deletes anything copyrighted, regardless of whether or not Fair Use protects it.

[The Wolverine]

Yeah, YouTube deletes anything copyrighted, regardless of whether or not Fair Use protects it.

Only if the companies file a complaint.

[Kury Wagner]

Did you practice that Kury? Sounds like you've written that I few times. xDHeh, yeah, actually, I've had to use things like that in the past. Plus, you know, crazy father of mine always teaching me business crap. D=

[murmur]

Yeah, YouTube deletes anything copyrighted, regardless of whether or not Fair Use protects it.Mediums like YouTube that have to monitor their content to be commercially competitive do that because they are subject to Copyright Law (they might aid copyright infringers) but not the First Amendment (they're not the government) so they play it safe. They don't want to spend money on a lawyer to pour over every copyrighted video and try to predict what is or isn't fair use. Most websites can validly disclaim that kind of control (and therefore have no copyright obligation) and the actual copyright holder would have to come sue you. They wouldn't do that if they couldn't make money off of it. Or unless they're being a giant bully trying to affect the market in unethical ways, in which case I say fight them tooth and nail, but that's just me.

Speaking of disclaimers, I have not graduated yet, or taken the bar, so don't construe this as the advice of a lawyer.

[Brandon Pierce]

Only if the companies file a complaint.
Because the companies ignore, or are unaware, or don't bloody care about "fair use".

I'll admit, uploading an entire copyrighted film or cartoon is wrong. But uploading public domain, or just random clips for a tribute, or review, is another matter.

[murmur]

Because the companies ignore, or are unaware, or don't bloody care about "fair use".I'd say "ignore" is the closest to the truth. Big enough companies surely know about it, but also know the legal fees are more expensive to deal with it than to not rely on it at all. Still, there's some case law that draws a few guidelines that can apply to a large number of clips. They could do more and they're missing out.

I'll admit, uploading an entire copyrighted film or cartoon is wrong. But uploading public domain, or just random clips for a tribute, or review, is another matter.Pretty sure the law agrees with you there. I'm honestly not sure copyright law is a good idea in the first place, and that different laws are necessary to protect the integrity of an artist, but that's a whole other topic...