F is for Fair Use

I took this picture of my angelic cat, Butterfly, so I can use it without worrying I’ll get in trouble!

So. I wanted to take this F opportunity to talk to you today about Fair Use. That’s the legal term used to squeeze a whole lot of image sharing that we do on social media into a justification of why we’re allowed to use it even though we don’t own those images. Yeah. We all share those memes and pictures and stuff. We know we do.

I wanted to write a blog post about Fair Use, but the more I researched it, the more I realized I was in way, way over my not-so-technically-inclined head. Because using and sharing images is a great, big, giant can of worms.

Here are the facts. Usage of images found online boils down to these four points, as stated in the U.S. Copyright Law of 1976, §107:

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include-

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Confused? Yeah, so am I. Because it seems to me that there’s some weird areas of wiggle-room in here when it comes to justifying using someone else’s image in your own stuff.

I did, however, find this awesome article on Dear Author about the Principle of Fair Use and Image Use for Bloggers. They break it down far better than I could, so I’m going to hand this one off to them and he articles they link to.

But what does this all mean right here and right now?

First, you’re never going to find me using any images that I didn’t buy or take from a source that allows sharing, and I’m going to attribute them. Second, since I get a lot of the images that I post on my Facebook page from Pinterest, I’m going to be checking to make sure they have share links embedded on the Pinterest image page. Why? Because as the argument stands right now, those share links signify intent to have the image shared on Facebook, so if I share it, I’m using the image as intended. And third, I am never, ever, EVER going to use an image for a cover or promotional materials without double and triple checking my ability to use it.

So what do you think of this insanely complicated and slightly scary issue? How do you use images you find online?