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I would like to start a website where people can discuss whatever they please. They will be allowed to upload images of the topic they're talking about. For example, a user writes a review on the movie Transformers and places an image of the movie poster next to her review. Heck, I'll giving you a live example right now. I don't own the Transformers franchise, yet I'm posting an image of it right here:

enter image description here

The main point of my website does not revolve stolen images. It is totally not like Imgur, for example, which is basically a large image hosting site of stolen images. The images on my site would be accessories to the textual content. My site would actually help give the copyright owner exposure. In the example above, I'm giving exposure to the Transformers franchise.

So, is it sustainable to create such a website? Even though it's illegal to use stolen images, do copyright lawyers generally don't care because it's actually helping their business?

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I propose you take a look at Dana Shultz's blog, f.x. danashultz.com/blog/2009/10/13/… – Jesper Mortensen♦ Jun 20 '11 at 13:43
"The fair use defense to copyright infringement, set forth in 17 U.S.C. Section 107, is designed to protect such activities as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." My website would fall under commenting. – JoJo Jun 24 '11 at 5:51

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

So, is it sustainable to create such a website?

Yes it is. The best proof is this website, allowing you to upload pictures including the copyrighted material you just added in your question.

Even though it's illegal to use stolen images, do copyright lawyers generally don't care because it's actually helping their business?

In copyright, it is called fair use. Fair use is a right that allow anyone to use copyrighted material in specific contexts. Your question is one. You are not doing business using Transformers 3 artworks. You are using it to ask a question about it.

Here are the exact conditions by the U.S. Copyright Office:

One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. This right is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the copyright law (title 17, U. S. Code). One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of “fair use.” The doctrine of fair use has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years and has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

  • The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
  • The nature of the copyrighted work
  • The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
  • The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
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up vote 1 down vote

So, is it sustainable to create such a website?

it is not.

Even though it's illegal to use stolen images, do copyright lawyers generally don't care because it's actually helping their business?

Yes, the do care. Accepting copyright violations weakens your rights (creates precedence) so they have to prosecute.

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up vote 1 down vote

Even though it's illegal to use stolen images, do copyright lawyers generally don't care because it's actually helping their business?

Copyrights lawyers actually do care and will take action. A couple of years ago, friend of mine was working on a courier services price comparison site and used a number of photos downloaded from Google Images while testing the platform (open alpha). Soon after the images appeared on his site, he received a letter notifying him that these were copyright images and before he knew he was being sued for copyright violation.

They managed to agree on an out-of-court settlement, which unfortunately cost him a few thousand ponds and his startup went bust before it had even launched.

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up vote 2 down vote

It seems to me (in Australia, a 'common law' country) that if you clearly distinguish between content provided by yourself and content provided by contributors you should be relatively safe. In this situation you are positioning yourself as a 'common carrier' and you are simply providing a communication mechanism rather than being responsible for the content provided across that mechanism. Can Twitter be sued for every instance of slander posted using the mechanism they provide?

In your specific example (a poster for a movie to clearly indicate the movie you are talking about) should not be an example of appropriating commercial content (the image is used to publicly identify the movie). Perhaps rather than hosting images yourself you should simply allow the display of images from other sites (like Imgur for example).

You really should seek local legal advice (and get that advice in writing) before proceeding though - rather than saying you are going to host illegal images you should probably concentrate on what your liability is if you host images for your users. Unfortunately this will not stop people from filing legal challenges against you (imagine a local company or store upset that their logo is associated with a negative review on your site) so a fund to finance your defense against those would be a good idea.

Regards,

ShaneG

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