Tell me more ×
Answers OnStartups is a question and answer site for entrepreneurs looking to start or run a new business. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

So, I'm considering creating a searchable website/mobile app for cards for a popular card game. The cards have some text on them and an image. In the site/app, I'll display some of the text and an image ( low rez ) of the card. The app will be sold for an arbitrary amount of money.

I'm concerned about copyright law. I've read what the copyright office says about fair use and the wikipedia article about it. The Wikipedia article mentions low rez use of artwork.

Should I be concerned about copyrights, or does this fall under fair use?

share|improve this question

3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Somebody owns the rights to those images and text in combination. If you use them, without permission, and stand to make financial gain, you're almost certainly infringing, low resolution or not.

It's fairly straightforward - get permission, if you can't get permission, you just saved yourself a whole bunch of future headache.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

I'm not an attorney but in general (this applies to any type of content on the web) you always should contact the author and get their written permission beforehand just to be safe.

Just because something is on Wikipedia does not make it fair-use - for all anyone knows I could be pulling pictures from random websites and posting them on the site, without anyone knowing I plagiarized them.

If you're looking for fair-use content I highly suggest searching through CreativeCommons.org because they're the ones who have been pioneering the whole simple fair-use movement.

On the other hand, when it comes to other content anywhere on the web, even if there is not a copyright notice, by law (at least in the US) there still is a copyright unless otherwise noted. So again it always pays to just contact the site owner and get written permission because a copyright lawsuit is never ideal.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

The problem here is that the boundaries of what is fair use and what is not is very poorly defined. What you want to do may be fair use but the only way to find out for sure is to litigate.

In sum, no one.can tell you. Call up your congressman and tell him to fix the mess that is copyright law.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.