[CALIBK12] Book Cover Pictures - Fair Use?

[Pilling, George]

Remember the 4 factors of fair use:
1. Purpose or character of the use - for educational purposes or
commercial?
2. The nature of the copyrighted work - how creative is it?
3. The amount of the whole work being used.
4. The effect on the potential market for the copyrighted work.
 
This use passes with high marks in 3 of the 4 categories. You can put
them on a scale and average it out - but remember that these are only
guidelines, not law. Scale is 1-10 with 10 favoring fair use:
1. It is for educational purposes - 10
2. Artwork is usually considered the most creative of all media - 1
3. It's only the cover, 1 page - 8
4. If anything the effect on the market value is positive since the book
will be used more if the picture is shown, however this factor is the
trickiest because it is up to the owner of the copyright to determine
whether such use promotes the work, since it is up to the owner to
promote the work. - 7
The average is well over the midpoint, and 3 of the 4 factors argue
strongly for fair use.
 
You should also note that the copy is purchased, not stolen (it's a
legal copy.) Acquiring images from the Internet is a legal way to
acquire images, and if the owner of that image did not add anything to
the picture which would make it a creative work by that person, the
copyright belongs to the original creator (the artist who drew the
cover, or the publisher of it.)
Finally, the extensive use of such images by booksellers argues in favor
of this similar use by libraries.
 
George Pilling
District Library Media Supervisor
Visalia Unified School District
5000 W. Cypress Avenue
Visalia  CA  93277
 
(559) 730-7349
FAX (559) 730-7693
gpilling at visalia.k12.ca.us
http://visalia.k12.ca.us/library
www.tucolib.net <http://www.tucolib.net/>  
 

________________________________

From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
[mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of Marie Slim
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 2:14 PM
To: CALIB
Subject: [CALIBK12] Book Cover Pictures - Fair Use?


Hi all!  

I've been looking around the web for an answer to this question - I'm
thinking that it was addressed prior on CALIB, so if it is a repeat
please forgive me.

My students have been using Google Image Search to find book cover
pictures and add them to our online catalog.  Is this a violation of
copyright?  Or is it fair use?  I thought I'd heard that if I have the
title in my collection that I can use the image, but this may be wrong.
Please let me know and I'll post a HIT.  

THANKS!

 
Marie Slim 
Teacher-Librarian
Troy High School 
2200 Dorothy Lane 
Fullerton, CA 92831 
Library hours: M - Th 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Fridays 6:30am to 3:30
p.m. 
phone: 714-626-4482 
fax: 714-626-4485
http://www.ilovelibraries.com
http://slimlibrary.blogspot.com

 
"This is the age of the open-source encyclopedia.  Words like 'research'
and 'corroborated' now mean whatever the majority says they mean.
Personally, I'm voting for 'research' to mean 'speculation' and
'corroborated' to mean 'a zesty sour cream-based dip.'"  
 
- Steven Colbert, I Am America (And So Can You!)

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