RATIONALIZING FREE USES IN THE FOR-PROFIT SECTOR

• Published in: Copyright & New Media Law Newsletter Vol. 12; no. 4; p. 5
• Main Author: Wherry, Timothy
• Format: Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Austin Digital Information Law 01.10.2008
• Subjects: Cartoons; Employees; Fair use; Information industry; Infringement
• ISSN: 1206-8586

Although a copyright violation in a small training meeting may appear to be innocuous, whether the presentation is in-house or at a professional conference, the odds of being caught violating copyright are increasing every day due to the ease of communication that the Internet provides and the commitment of professional organizations to protect intellectual property in the digital age. One case between the newspaper Newsday and a photographer involved "digital plagiarism". The case involved a photomontage, a large photograph made of other smaller photographs. Newsday had copied, without permission, a single copyright-protected photo as part of the computer-generated photomontage. that was used as a cover photo. * Copying a video that has been legally purchased, for distribution and performance at other company locations. Rationale: The company has purchased the video and therefore now owns it and can do whatever they want with it. The concept of "First Sale" states that the owner of a lawfully acquired book, for example, can sell or give that book away, but does not give the purchaser the right to copy the book. First Sale also applies to video. The Training Media Association ("TMA"), a watchdog for training-video vendors, offers a $ 1 0,000 bounty for reporting illegal copying of off-the-shelf training videos. Recently, a company paid a six-figure outof-court fee after one of its employees reported it to the TMA for making illegal copies of four videos and sending the copies out for use in its other offices. Not all instances of for-profit use of copyright-protected material without permission are a violation of copyright. Fair use can apply in for-profit environments. In one case, a company that owned poster images of the Grateful Dead sued a book publisher for using seven thumbnail images of Grateful Dead concert posters in a 480 page book about the history of the Grateful Dead. While the pictures are clearly being used for a commercial work, the court found that it was fair use and noted that the images were used within the context of descriptions about the history of the band. Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley Limited, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. and RR Donnelley & Sons Company, 448 F.3d 605 (2nd Cir. 2006))