Why did Google and Amazon win the argument against Perfect 10 regarding copyright of search engine images? I read all the Wikipedia pages related to this, especially Copyright aspects of hyperlinking and framing, where it says the seemingly completely ridiculous statement from the Ninth Circuit court (I am an experienced software developer BTW): Google does not have a copy of the images for purposes of the Copyright Act. In other words, Google does not have any &quot;material objects … in which a work is fixed … and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated&quot; and thus cannot communicate a copy. Instead of communicating a copy of the image, Google provides HTML instructions that direct a user's browser to a Web site publisher's computer that stores the full-size photographic image. Providing these HTML instructions is not equivalent to showing a copy. First, the HTML instructions are lines of text, not a photographic image. Second, HTML instructions do not themselves cause infringing images to appear on the user's computer screen. The HTML merely gives the address of the image to the user's browser. The browser then interacts with the computer that stores the infringing image. It is this interaction that causes an infringing image to appear on the user's computer screen. Are they serious? So I (the search engine) write code which is strings of UTF-8 characters, dynamically generated from my server, sending the user a bunch of text as HTML. There I'm done with my work. I didn't copyright infringe anything. No, the browser then takes the strings of text which I sent, and interprets it on the user's behalf. The graphics engine then takes the series of computer instructions on transistors and converts it into pixels, which the user sees with their eyes. The light coming from the computer screen is the real culprit, so it is the monitor company which should be sued, not the one generating the HTML strings. Then the argument of actually storing the image on Google's computer... Notice this image: It is a base64 encoded string: &lt;img src=&quot;data:image/jpeg;base64,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&quot; data-deferred=&quot;1&quot; class=&quot;rg_i Q4LuWd&quot; jsname=&quot;Q4LuWd&quot; width=&quot;126&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; alt=&quot;Liam Neeson - IMDb&quot; data-iml=&quot;1050.6000000238419&quot; data-atf=&quot;true&quot; &gt; To me this means they have transformed their work (from whatever JPEG native format) into a base64 encoded string, and stored their work on their servers in derived format. There is no way they are dynamically fetching the original images for each of these images from the original site, base64 encoding them, and returning them to the end user that fast. They have to either be storing them locally, or caching them like in Memcached, which is also a form of local storage. Notice, too, the link of the image: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BMjA1MTQ3NzU1MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMDE3Mjg0MzE%40._V1_UY1200_CR286%2C0%2C630%2C1200_AL_.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Fname%2Fnm0000553%2F&amp;tbnid=2-mCvxvX55ikGM&amp;vet=12ahUKEwjvxOPK-rDyAhUQTlMKHRV_AXoQMygBegUIARDMAQ..i&amp;docid=jw8_6rV2DPsIaM&amp;w=630&amp;h=1200&amp;q=liam%20neeson&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjvxOPK-rDyAhUQTlMKHRV_AXoQMygBegUIARDMAQ It is a Google link, not a link to the original site. The court cases say they must link to the original site, but clearly here they are not. What is the deal? Granted, the original URL is in that URL, but it's not the actual URL to the original image. I like the idea of being able to surface images in a search engine, but what they are doing doesn't seem legally sound. Why can't I just create a site and show copyrighted images, and call it a &quot;niche&quot; search site?
You might follow the Wikipedia links to the full holding. They did recognize that Google caches images, particularly thumbnails of images. Do a Find on &quot;cache&quot;. From the 9th Circuit Holding - That local browser caching is fair use is supported by a recent decision holding that Google's own cache constitutes fair use.
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: There's no indication that your use would be for nonprofit or educational purposes. The nature of the copyrighted work: Works of fiction and art are highly creative works at the heart of the policy for copyright protection. The amount of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole: You are apparently copying entire images, though I suppose you could argue that each image is just one small portion of a larger book or website. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work: You are trying to create a board game, putting yourselves basically in direct competition with the makers of D&amp;D. I generally prefer a pretty liberal interpretation of what constitutes fair use, but this just has virtually nothing that would make me comfortable arguing in your favor.
"Doing the same thing" is very common. We even have names for certain categories of websites, such as "web shop" and "blog". Such concepts are not protected in general. Obviously, you can't copy the name of existing webshop, or their logo, but things like a "rectangular layout of products for sale" aren't original. There is of course a grey area here, because there's a continuum of similarity. In general, similarities that follow from technical justifications are acceptable (having an upload button is sort of the point for your website), similarities that are cosmetic only (same color choice) might be interpreted as intentional attempts to cause confusion.
Although the exact answer should depend on the country you are, in general private copies of copyrighted works are allowed. General rules are: You need to have got the work in a legitimate way. That is, that you have purchased a copy of the work with permission from copyright owners or you have got the work from an act of public distribution authorised by copyright owners - if you got it from a website that is not making a copyright infringement itself, you are in the second case. That you don't make a collective or commercial use of the work. (I took these rules from Spanish Intellectual Property law (article 31), but most countries have similar rules, specially in the European Union. Anyway, the exact limits of private copying exception may differ). Since private copying might have an economic effect, some countries collect private copying levies to compensate copyright owners - probably you have already paid for those when purchasing the printer. Therefore, you can print a book downloaded from a website (unless the site is hosting the work without authorization of the copyright owners, as pirate sites do) for your own use. You can't sell the copies or made a collective use of them. Although reach of collective use might be hard to assess, I would suggest that if you want all the people in your class have the book, send them the link so that any one could print their own copy. Update about the USA As the OP has now specified now their country I update the answer with a comment, although an additional answer by anybody more knowledgeable on US law would be great. I'm quite sure that for practical purposes the result is that you can print such a book anywhere in the world. However, I don't know which laws regulates that in the US. Google doesn't return meaningful results for "private copy usa", so I suppose it is know there by another name. Furthermore, statutes in common law countries tend to be less explicit and there might be no case law applicable. For example, I nobody printing a copy of a pdf for himself to read at home has ever been challenged in court in the USA, there might be no explicit rule about the subject.
To examine this further and answer your question, we need to look at Copyright (and fair use) as well as Defamation. Alas, I am unsure as to how taking legitimate headlines from around the world and attributing their source is 'fake news' - but I'll accept that it's 'fake news' for the purposes of exploring this topic. A lot of the potential (or motive) for a person or company to litigate against you will be context specific and detailed to how you have used their work and portray their journalists and characters - misquotes etc. As an exception to British copyright law, fair dealing is governed by Sections 29 and 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which outlines three instance where fair dealing is a legitimate defence: If the use is for the purposes of research or private study; If it is used for the purposes of criticism, review or quotation; Where it is utilised for the purposes of reporting current events (this does not apply to photographs) However, where you may come into problems is: A statutory definition for fair dealing does not exist; it will always be a matter of fact, degree and interpretation in every fair use case. Nor is there a percentage or quantitative measure to determine fair dealing. The Intellectual Property Office lists the key factors used to determine the validity of whether a particular dealing with a work is fair as follows: Has the use of the work impacted negatively on the market for the original work? If the creator or owner has lost potential revenue through the re-use of their work, it is not likely to be fair. Was it reasonable and necessary to use the amount of work that was taken? Also: Fair use for parody, caricature or pastiche The UK copyright law on fair use of works for the purposes of creating a parody or pastiche is also listed in Section 30A, Schedule 2 (2A) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. References to all here. Guidance from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) states that fair use needs to be “fair and proportionate” and does not protect an individual from any other rights an author may have. Those other rights may involve claiming defamation if this material creates fake news and uses the names of real journalists or companies etc - and if they allege that your AI fake news has caused serious harm in any way to their reputation - they could sue you for breach of the Defamation Act 2013. All of this is entirely contextual however as to how your AI might display or make fake news and how Google caches it and displays it - and if it could be portrayed as 'real' or believable for example. You are also doing this at a time where 'anti fake news' law is evolving... and even though you say it's fake news for AI experiment purposes - it's a growing field of concern for many. (see here) Copyright law is a vast and evolving area - and nothing is clear cut. It really depends if a major news company didn't like what you were doing and took exception to it and issued challenges on many areas of law based on that.
I am not a lawyer, and none of the following should be seen as legal advice. While it is always best to assume every image has a copyright.... In your scenario... traditionally if you are selling a product, there's generally no harm in using images of that product to assist in the sale. But even then photographer copyrights should be considered. Images of products may not only contain copyrighted material within the photo, but the photo itself is probably also copyrighted by the photographer. Just blankety taking images from other web sites is a poor practice in general and will customarily just get you into trouble. However, many manufacturers or distributors will actually provide resellers with product images. You can check the product manufacturer's web site for a "press" or "media' section. There are often downloads provided in those areas. I don't know hairdressing.. but as an example, General Motors has a special web site known to GM car dealers where the dealers can download high resolution images of the cars and products for ads, etc. I've done work in the past for a GM dealer who provided me with the web site and log in details so I can get product imagery. In addition, few manufacturers will take umbrage that you are using their images to sell their products. They want their products to look as good as possible wherever they may be displayed. In many cases, they may prefer you use supplied images rather than use your own. Customarily you would include a disclaimer in the footer somewhere: The product names, company names and product images used on this web site are for identification purposes only. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Note, I am referring to images from the manufacturer's web site, not from competing businesses. If you are building a site for "Bob's Hair Styling" it's unethical to take images from "Kate's Hair Dressing" for your use. Stick to the manufacturer... if selling Paul Mitchell products, check the Paul Mitchell web site for available product images.
All your work is yours. They've made it very clear it wasn't a work for hire, so it's yours. They can't copyright any of their ideas. You can't copyright an idea. Only specific creative elements authored by them and present in your work could be covered by copyright. You didn't use their block diagrams. I don't see how references to other sites to look at would constitute a creative element they authored. That said, you probably want to talk to a lawyer and get a written legal opinion that you can rely on.
The web-browser game was copyrighted the moment it was created by the individual. It did not need a copyright notice to be copyrighted, or a TOS to inform you of copyright. The individual was fully within the law to claim infringement and demand you stop disturbing your mod as an unauthorized change to their game. They should have had a TOS up when they started distributing the game, but that's their choice. The developer could - or have their attorney - send their own legal "takedown notice" of infringement directly to you rather than Tweet about it or approach Google. Google's takedown and your "copyright strike" is different than your original copyright violation and involves Google's TOS - Google Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement | Google Chrome - regarding copyright violations of apps and code under distribution. By your use of the store, Google reserves the right to remove your extensions when there are ...violations of intellectual property rights, including patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any party,... And, the original game being free and your mod being free rarely matters in copyright law and in cases of infringement. That's something a court would decide on the case and in looking at precedent(s). ...can I get into legal trouble for this? You could be sued by the maker of the game in civil court; that's up to them. Google's recourse is to simply remove the mod from the store and possibly restrict your use of their service(s), according to their TOS. For more background, see the Law SE Meta post I have a question about copyright. What should I read before I ask it? .