Copyright Aid

I'M A NEW WEB DESIGNER BUILDING A SITE ON WHICH I WISH TO PUT MATERIAL THAT REVIEWS MAGAZINES AND ARTISTS.
I WANT IMAGES TO GO WITH MY REVIEWS AND HAVE OBTAINED THESE BY PRODUCING HIGH QUALITY SCANS FROM MAGAZINES AND BOOKS THEMSELVES.
I INTEND ONLY TO HAVE A FEW IMAGES OF EACH SUBJECT - MAYBE A MAGAZINE COVER, AN INLAY AND A COUPLE OF PRINTS TO SHOW WHO OR WHAT I'M REVIEWING.
I AM THEREFORE STATING BOLDLY WHO THE OWNERS ARE IN THE REVIEW ITSELF AND AS MY SITE IS COMPLETELY UN-PROFITABLE,
UNDER 'FAIR -USE' SURELY THIS WOULD BE OKAY....WOULDN'T IT?

MANY THANX

Hi 'Legend' and welcome to the forum...

Yes.. I think you should be OK. From your description, you are simply reviewing these items and using the images only as required to illustrate the item being reviewed, I therefore believe that your actions would fall under fair dealing.

Section 30 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, which deals with 'Criticism, review and news reporting.' states:
"30.-(1) Fair dealing with a work for the purpose of criticism or review, of that or another work or of a performance of a work, does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgment and provided that the work has been made available to the public. "
(I can't see from your profile if you are from the UK or not, so I'm assuming that you are and that UK law applies. )

One caveat: Fair use can be a very contentious area, so no guarantees, OK....



P.S. Writing in capitals is the equivalent of SHOUTING, and considered bad netiquette, something to bear in mind perhaps...

I understand that showing photographs would be ok for review or criticism. However, section 30(2) reads that in the context of reporting current events photographs will not be covered under fair dealing.

I have a website/blog that reports major news stories relating to a well known person. The news reports are brought to my attention through Google News and I often copy the picture that accompanies then news story along with a short summary of the story with a link to the news site. Would this be classified as reporting current events and therefore I should not copy the photographs without permission?

Thanks.