A thread for members' opinions regarding the ComicRack manual and copyright problems with the publisher names & eComic screenshots.

Here is my view in response to fK's query..

forkicks wrote:

You are just getting over-cautious. I don't think there is going to be any problem ever.

Just to give you some perspective, Google is scanning and storing basically every book ever printed. They also make their stuff available to users on the web for free, though they have advertising for revenue. But they do not make the entire book available to read because of copyright issues--instead they will give you just a portion that matches a search result and tell you were it came from so you can obtain the full work if you want it. Publishers are very wary of Google's efforts, and should they make full books available without gaining permission of the copyright holder, Google would no doubt get sued.

Recently Htmlcomics. com was shutdown for copyright infringement. ComicBooksFree.com, HTMLcomics.com, and PlayboyMonthly.com were among the domain names run by Gregory Steven Hart doing business as Database Engineers Inc. located in Tampa, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Tampa federal court.


Here is an interesting discussion from findlawanswers





Now, where do we stand ?

From the disclaimer of the manual:

Practically speaking, I don't think there is going to be any such problem ever. First, we are not giving comics to download/read. Only the preview pages have been used. (look for the "IGN" logo on hulk cover in the comic vine scraper section). Moreover, we have not published the preview pages as such; only used them in a screenshot of ComicRack. Hell, you can not even read the content in those (incomplete) preview pages.

Sites like IGN, newsarama, CBR and many others provide preview pages for new comics every week.

So, what do people do with those pages?

Read them ?.. allowed.

Download them?... allowed.(Yes.. officially allowed)

Post these downloaded pages on a forum? No problem

Read downloaded pages on ComicRack?... Definitely.

So, can I make a screenshot of a page that I legally downloaded and am legally reading on my system? Obviously.

However, if they do wake up on the wrong foot and decide to sue us, let them send us a letter or a warning, I'll change the screenshots.. Till then, its gonna remain the same. Period.

Those are perfectly valid points, and I am in no way an expert to know better.

My reasoning for advising against using it comes from my desire of not wanting "undesirable" attention drawn to CR. Don't forget that, even if its not cYo's doing, you are using certainly copyrighted material to make -ComicRack- manual.

The use you describe of images and pages on books and websites is covered by a "fair usage" policy most labels use - but its not exactly the same as a permit to use for every usage, and making derivative work is such a usage.

But again, im no expert, and i'm more than likely wrong. And as i said before, you did one heck of a job on that manual.

fK

[As a side note, and a personal rant of mine, we have witnessed copyright holders sue the wrong people very often. When they went after piratebay, which had -no- illegal content of their own, and instead are just an indexing service, very much like google (in fact, the WHOLE piratebay is indexed in google and you can get to any of its content by searching in google), just means they can pretty much twist and bend the rule of law as they see fit. I'm just being careful over this, and as I have commented with you before, I don't want to see this AMAZING software get the wrong kind of attention under the spotlight.]

I agree that technically you are correct fK...

That said, "Spider-Man" is Marvels's copyright. So, when I write the words "Spider-Man" here in the forum, am I violating copyright laws ?

As I said earlier, if they have a problem, let them send a warning (let some "undesirable" attention come our way) & we'll remove the manual from the face of earth and make a new one, with entirely non-copyrighted material (if there exists such an entity)..

As almost everything is copyright these days, I'll have to make a manual with an empty ComicRack. I do the manual for fun, and then it'll be one big boring stuff that someone else will have to do..

Its fair enough.

But don't get me wrong on this - I am not trying to put you down. You did an outstanding job on the manual, and precisely because it IS so good i don't want to see it damaged.

fK

Yeah, I think you don't need to worry (I'm not a legal expert, though.)

1) Your "fair use" reasoning seems solid enough that you could argue that you are not intentionally breaking any laws.

2) You don't seem to be making any money by using these images, and you don't seem to be taking any money away from the publishers, and you don't seem to be setting any new precedent that would let someone else do those things, so I can't see why they'd even *want* to sue you.

3) Most important of all, I cannot imagine that any legal action would ever happen without a warning letter being sent first. If a publisher asks you to stop using an image, just stop using it, and you won't need to worry about any further problems, right?

cbanack wrote:

Yes, that's exactly what I am saying...