Fair Use and Gossip
From Yahoo News:
Popular Internet gossip columnist Perez Hilton had his Web site shut down for several hours after the company hosting it received a flurry of complaints about copyrighted photos being posted on PerezHilton.com.
After being silenced on Tuesday, the site was back online Wednesday but hosted by a different Internet service provider.
The gossip columnist, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, is the target of several lawsuits by paparazzi and others who claim he posts their photos and video content on his site without permission.
Celebrity photographers make hundreds of thousands of dollars selling exclusive images to magazines and Web sites each year. The agencies that have sued Lavandeira say he has refused to pay fees to license the photos, claiming he has a right as a journalist to use the images for free.
The Web site routinely posts tabloid photos of celebrities and adds scribbled commentary and rudimentary doodles.
Lavandeira defends his actions, saying his commentary constitutes "fair use" and is protected by copyright law.
Los Angeles photo agency X17 Inc. sued Lavandeira in federal court last year, asking for $7.6 million in damages. The suit claimed Hilton used 51 photographs without permission, payment or credit, including images of a pregnant Katie Holmes, Kevin Federline pumping gas and Britney Spears.
A federal judge denied the company's motion for an injunction against the site, although the lawsuit continues, as does another filed on behalf of several other photo agencies. A lawsuit filed by Universal Studios claiming the site posted a stolen photo of Jennifer Aniston from the film "The Break-Up" is also pending. ...
Comments
does the see-thru use of "scribbled commentary and rudimentary doodles" actualy fulfill fair use law requirments? If so, then it's the wording of the law that is the issue.
Posted by: bobc![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 22, 2007 06:01 PM