Craft Gossip

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Fair Use: An Oft-Misunderstood Copyright Rule

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Copyright Umbrella

Editors Note: We would like to again welcome Matt Lowe who has kindly written this guest post about the Fair Use of text and pictures for bloggers writing about other artists creations (very relevant to CraftGossip!). A few weeks ago, he wrote about differences between trademark and copyright.

Matt is an in house counsel in Colorado and is the author of the An Etsy Seller’s Guide to Copyright Protection (for sale). Matt is a Graduate of Pepperdine University School of Law and lives in Salt Lake City, UT,  with his wife and 2 toddler boys (and a baby girl on the way).

If you have any questions for Matt, please leave them in the comments.

Let’s say that you operate a successful blog where you highlight the work of artists, craftspeople, and Etsy sellers.  One day, you stumble across an Etsy shop named Parisian Streets that sells astoundingly artsy photos of the Parisian cityscape at dusk.  You are captivated by these photos.  You carefully study each one.  And then you decide, “I’ve got to write about Parisian Streets on my blog!”

But then, in the footer of the Etsy shop, you see the following:

“© Parisian Streets 2011. Please do not copy, reproduce, or use any content without our written permission. Thank you.”

So, can you write about Parisian Streets on your blog?  Can you show the photos on your blog? Where does this leave you?

Technically speaking, the owner of a copyright (Parisian Streets, in this case) is the only person with the right to show, reproduce, copy, sell or use its work.

However, there is an oft-misunderstood copyright rule known as the “Fair Use Doctrine.”  This doctrine allows you (the blog writer) to write about Parisian Streets so long as you do so only in the capacity of comment, criticism, reporting, information, research, or teaching.

In other words, you are not allowed to (i) confuse consumers as to who owns the photos, (ii) copy or display the photos for your own commercial gain, or (iii) create any adverse effect on Parisian Streets.

The distinction between “Fair Use” and infringement is often cloudy.  There is rarely a bright-line test to ensure that you are within the realm of safety.  So, it’s always best to get permission from Parisian Streets before mentioning or posting any copyrighted material.

In my experience, if Parisian Streets is well aware that you intend to highlight their photos in an informational manner, you will get the consent.  If you don’t get permission, then be very sure that your post falls squarely within the “Fair Use” exception, or don’t publish the post at all.

 It’s a very tenuous dance.  Enjoy it.

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Comments

  1. I received a reply from a company regarding a complaint I made to them. Can I post their reply – in quotation – to help others who have the same problem?

  4. I’m still a bit confused…
    A lot of crafters do round-up lists of posts and projects, like “Top 10 Christmas Crafts.” Is it okay to use an image?

    What about CraftGossip- do editors here get permission from every crafter they highlight?

    Or if I do a blog post that is “teaching” (in that it educates my readers) how to do something, can I use someone else’s images if I give credit?

    I’ll check out the Design Sponge post mentioned above, too. Thanks!

Have you read?

Get Graphic with the Snug Wrap Knitting Pattern

I don’t know if it’s possible to look at the Snug Wrap from Sylvia Watts-Cherry and not smile. There’s so much fun stuff going on in it that if I had a bunch of sport weight yarn in my house I definitely would have cast this one on immediately after seeing it.

There’s stripes and circles of different sizes and colors, worked with intarsia. The wrap is worked sideways in both garter stitch and stockinette, so different sections also have different textures. Color blocking means you’ll use a lot of two main colors, and there are two more colors used for contrast throughout the piece.

As I mentioned, the project calls for sport weight yarn, and it’s already pretty big — 23.25 by 82 inches or 59 by 208 cm — so you probably wouldn’t want to use heavier yarn unless you just want to make it a super scarf. You could use even lighter yarn to make it more of a scarf than a shawl if you wanted.

The yarn used is a combination of Merino wool and recycled threads from La Bien Aimée’s yarn making process, so it’s a fun way to reduce waste while making something awesome.

The color motifs are depicted in charts in the pattern, but none of these are difficult so even if you’re new to chart reading you should be able to handle this pattern. The colors in the sample are so pretty but you can of course change it up with your favorites that will make you smile as you knit and wear this super fun pattern.

As usual, checking out the projects tab on Ravelry will show you some more fun color options. I love the idea of using jewel tones to give it a more wintry look, but the sky is the limit when it comes to color options.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Sylvia Watts-Cherry]