46
This is likely not fair use. At first blush it appeared similar to things one might see in The Onion (parody print and online newspaper) or other parody publications or shows (SNL, Key and Peele, etc.). In this case, the context would have likely been deemed transformative. However, since they are selling coffee called "Dumb Starbucks" while using their ...
41
No. The images are copyrighted, and you are using them in a way that would leave you with virtually no argument for fair use. The factors for fair use are set out in 17 USC 107, and they indicate that the courts would reject your use:
The purpose and character of the use, including whether it is of a commercial nature or for nonprofit educational purposes: ...
24
Many D&D monsters and creatures are based on creatures occurring in folklore and myth, such a vampires and trolls. Those are in the public domain, and anyone may use them freely. But images published as part of D&D, or by independent artists, are subject to copyright, and may not be used without permission. As the answer by bdb484 says, there seems ...
18
If the photos are exact or "slavish" reproductions of flat (2D) art, then under Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp., 36 F. Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) the photos are not original, and have no copyrights of their own. If the art was not under copyright (for example published before 1924) then neither are the photos. If the art is still under copyright, the ...
17
As noted in other answers, no, you are not allowed to use these creatures under Fair Use. You could go back to their original mythological underpinnings (for those that have them), but you would have to take great care to make sure everything about them you describe comes from myth and not from D&D.
There is another option, however. Many Dungeons & ...
13
In the UK, it would not be allowed, as the company is selling coffee while making it likely that customers will believe it is Starbucks coffee.
As well as Starbuck being able to take action over the use of their trade mark, trading standards could take action as the company is clearly likely to deceive customers.
7
I presume from the fact that you mention "fair use" that you're interested in United States law. In that case, the answer is a clear-cut "no".
17 USC 107:
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that ...
6
Wikipedia has two kinds of pictures:
Reusable pictures, most of them stored at http://commons.wikimedia.org
Copyrighted pictures under fair-use, stored on the local Wikipedia (in your case, the Russian Wikipedia) but not on Commons.
To know what case it is, just click on the Wikipedia picture, click on the blue "Description" button, and see whether it ...
5
Considering their own FAQ (as shown in the question) specifically states that they're only calling it a parody to try to get away using Starbucks' name and logo for the purpose of selling coffee, they almost certainly would not be able to get away with this in court were they sued by Starbucks. They openly admit that their intention is not parody at all, but ...
5
Unfortunately the answer is a vague "it depends." Commercial versus non-commercial is not clearly defined in actual law, and is usually up to the specific license to define what it considers to be commercial use.
If you were putting them on your business cards, then it's just being used for advertising and whether it's commercial use is a bit controversial. ...
5
You’re confusing satire with parody. Parody is when you use the protected work to comment on that work, while satire is when you use it to comment on something else.
If you take R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” and change the lyrics after the first verse to be about the singer jumping off a roof and having to spend the next three months in the ICU, that’s ...
5
You cannot run MacOS legally on any computer that is not Apple-branded. It is a DMCA violation. There are technical measures in place that check that the OS is running on an Apple branded computer. These measures are easily circumvented, but they need to be circumvented, which makes it a DMCA violation. A company selling computers with MacOS installed (...
5
No. You may not do this. As your post points out this is a blatant copyright violation. It isn't remotely in the realm of fair use.
5
In the United States, making a copy without permission is generally going to be a copyright violation, unless the copying is a fair use. Fair-use defenses look at four questions, and the answers to the questions can tip the scales in favor of or against a finding of fair use:
Does your kind of copying affect the market for the original? To what extent can ...
5
Summary
Downloading from the internet constitutes an act of reproduction according to EU law, however
The EU allows Member States to implement an exception permitting personal-use copies from lawful sources, and
Germany implements such an exception, but
Germany's personal-use exception is narrower than the base EU exception and doesn't generally apply in ...
4
Just assuming for the sake of this particular answer that everything happens in the U.S.:
I'm not sure about the particular example of Open ZFS. The registration in the USPTO Records is in Oracle's name. Using OpenZFS for distributing the same kind of software as the now closed-source ZFS would seem to be infringing to me absent a license. Maybe Oracle just ...
4
Titles can't be copyrighted.
Meta-data like #2 aren't copyrighted.
Not sure if the MPAA could protect its ratings, but I can't find anywhere that it has asserted restrictions on the use of those.
If the list of "Similar works" is not somebody else's intellectual property then there's no problem. (If it is I'm not certain what protection it could be ...
4
If you are utilizing the name of the characters just so users can rate them (by rate - I mean rank, review, critique) you should be fine. Copyrights are subject to "fair use" by the public. For purposes such as review, criticism, and comment - this is generally considered to be fair use.
Is the site commercial or for-profit? That could impact the analysis, ...
4
What is allowed and what happens are different things; this is why we have police, courts and prisons. If everyone followed all of the laws all of the time we would need none of these.
The videos are copyright and without the permission of the copyright holder (the NFL) you cannot reproduce or distribute them. A defense to copyright violation is if the ...
4
Presumably you are referring to works commonly called "fan fiction." Under copyright law these might be considered "derivative works" and therefore subject to the rights of the copyright owner. However, they might also qualify for exemption from copyright enforcement under "fair use."
It appears that the legality of fan fiction is not settled law, and the ...
4
It depends on where you are
For example, in USA copyright exists in a literary or artistic work stored in permanent form like a book, a movie, an audio recording, a building etc.
In contrast, in Australia there is no requirement for the work to be stored - that means copyright can exist in a spoken lecture.
The owner of the copyright (usually, but not ...
4
NOTE: This answer assumes jurisdiction in the US.
No. Length does not determine whether or not something is fair use or not. There was a court case (Harper & Row v Nation Enterprises, 471 U.S. 539 (1985), all credit to Dawn) where it was determined that just a few paragraphs from a 300+ page biography were infringing content, due to them capturing the "...
4
No, you misunderstand Fair use and infringed copyright
Fair use only exists if enough of the four factors are given for it:
The Transformative Factor
The Nature of the Copyrighted Work
The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken
The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market
You fail on all of them:
Cutting the video does not alter the meaning or ...
4
"Public domain" refers to things in principle copyrightable but where protection has lapsed, been repudiated, or is a statutory exception (such as government works). A website is not "in the public domain". The idea that a website is "public property" is (*cough*) mistaken.
There are basically two ways in which a web interaction could be illegal. The first ...
4
According to Wikipedia, the organization that holds Vatican copyrights has the following policy:
[N]ews organizations can quote from the pope's speeches, encyclicals and other writings without charge. They can also publish full texts free provided they cite Vatican copyright ... but if a text is published separately ... payment is due.
You say that no ...
4
This is pretty solid fair use territory.
The court will consider how much you copied and whether you needed to, but I don't think they'd think you crossed the line with these facts. Even if they did, that's just one of four factors, and the others generally work in your favor.
For a similar case in a New Hampshire governor's race, check out Keep Thomson ...
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