[Foundation-l] Fair Use (again)

Mon Jan 29 01:42:57 UTC 2007

Jeffrey V. Merkey wrote:

>All it takes is one lawsuit from someone who is upset at the images 
>being used, and the money from
>the last fund drive could get used up in legal fees pretty durn fast. If 
>someone object to images
>being used, then TAKE THEM OFF THE SITE, Fair use argments are not. I 
>recall my interactions
>on en.wikipedia with people using copyrighted materials and some of the 
>debates I had there.
>
>Bottom line, these anonymus editors are not the people who will get 
>nailed. The foundation will
>be the ones who get served and Brad will have to hire a law firm to 
>defend the Foundation. It's
>pretty simple -- if someone who owns th images does not want them used, 
>then do not use them.
>
>There are a lot more torts than just copyright infringement they could 
>pull out of the bag and use. They could claim
>unfari competition, tortious interference, and a whole host of other 
>torts they may win with. It's cheaper, easier,
>and honorable to simply take down the images and tell the offended party 
>it is being done as a courtesty. This makes
>it appear the foundation is acting in good faith.
>
When the actual owner of the photograph complains that certasinly boost 
the issue up a notch, and we should definitely be ready to pay attention 
to his requests.  I did not see that as a factor in Robert's comments.  
If the person objecting has no connection to the pictures, there is no 
reason for us to give too much weight to that opinion.

Ec