Copyright Act - Fair Dealing


ortega

Moderator
Nov 2, 2004
23,752
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38
Singapore, Singapore, Singapor
this is in reference to media companies stealing photographs and using them without permission. I gave a feedback to the gov and this is the reply that i got.

Just posting here for everyone to see



Dear Mr Ortega

We refer to your

Thank you for your enquiry on the use of photographs taken from the Internet by the media. We note there is some concern on your part that the media companies are using the law on fair dealing to use photographs taken by others without permission. As IPOS is not in a position to render legal advice, you may wish to consult a legal counsel for more specific advice. I am, however, able to share with you the following general information which I hope will be able to assist you.

General Information on Nature of Copyright

Photographs are artistic works that could be protected under the Copyright Act.

The owner of the copyright in an artistic work is granted specific exclusive rights to do certain acts with that work. This includes:

i. reproducing the work (including in digital forms);
ii. publishing the work, if it is unpublished
iii. communicating the work to the public (including transmission via the internet)

When someone has exercised any of the exclusive rights granted to the copyright owner to a substantial portion of the copyrighted work without permission, infringement may have occurred.

When a media company downloads and prints an artistic work in a newspaper, they may be reproducing the work. Additionally, they may be considered to have published the work, depending on the nature of the photograph and how it was displayed on the Internet.

If the media company has done this without the permission of the copyright owner of the photograph, they may have infringed on the rights of the owner.

Please note that some websites that help to display and store photographs have terms and conditions. These terms and conditions may require that the copyright owner agree to grant certain permissions to other users before uploading their pictures. Any copyright owner who uses these websites should review the terms and conditions of these websites when considering pursuing actions for potential infringement.

Infringement

Whenever anyone does something that only the copyright owner has the exclusive rights to do without the consent of the owner, infringement has occurred.

If infringement has occurred, the owner of a copyright may seek civil remedies including:

i. damages,
ii. account for profits,
iii. injunctions to restrain further infringement; and
iv. delivery or destruction of infringing copies.
Whether or not the media has infringed will depend on the facts of the case as well as whether any limitations and exceptions, such as fair dealing, apply.

Fair Dealing

Fair dealing is part of a balanced system of copyright that takes into account the legitimate expectations of both copyright owners and users. Fair dealing is not automatic – each form of fair dealing has certain requirements before they apply.

The use by media companies of photographs might be considered fair dealing for the purpose of reporting current events. Under section 37 of the Copyright Act, this will not be considered infringing.

When determining if an allegedly infringing act would fall under section 37, the courts may look to whether there is an element of public interest, the purpose of the media company’s use of the photograph, the amount of the photograph taken, and whether the use was reasonably necessary to report current events. Additionally, such use must be accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement.

Alternatively, the media company might claim that its use would be under general fair use, under section 35 of the Copyright Act. Whether such use is fair dealing will be determined by the courts considering all the circumstances. Such circumstances would include:

i. the purpose and character of the dealing, including whether such dealing is of a commercial nature,
ii. the nature of the protected item; and
iii. the effect of the dealing upon the potential market for, or value of, the protected item.

The photographer in question may wish to seek legal counsel to determine whether or not there has been infringement, and if fair dealing applies.

Please note that the above information may not be comprehensive for your purposes and is not intended to be, and cannot substitute for, professional legal advice.

Legal Resources

If you need further information, you may wish to attend an IP Consult session, where information on IP issues is shared by IP professionals. At the end of the session, there may be opportunity to ask more specific questions in individual consults with the IP professionals. For more information please refer to our website at http://www.ipos.gov.sg/topNav/news/cal/IP+Consult+Series+2010.htm.

We hope this has been of use to you. For further information on copyright you may wish to refer to the IPOS website at www.ipos.gov.sg.
 

sticky it? i've a feeling it'll have its use here and there..
 

Thanks for the information.:thumbsup:
 

i still say that stealing other photographer's images is BAD and should not be allowed

Fair Dealing should not cover this
shall we have a petition?

anyone good at writing petitions?
 

i still say that stealing other photographer's images is BAD and should not be allowed

Fair Dealing should not cover this
shall we have a petition?

anyone good at writing petitions?

hmm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC8oEuAW1zQ
sg lawyers petition to law society over human rights issue

were they successful?
 

Last edited:
hmm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC8oEuAW1zQ
sg lawyers petition to law society over human rights issue

were they successful?

it is a start, we may not see success in our lifetime
but at least our voices will be heard

and the media companies will hesitate a little before they think of doing the same thing again, if we just keep quiet then they (the media companies) will continue to do it.
 

firstly, i will go read the T&C of photobucket, that is where most of my images are

then if i don't agree, i will try to get them to change it
if they don't then i will go look for a place that has T&C that i agree to

then if i find such a place, i will highlight my findings to the masses
if there is a sudden exit of members to these hosting sites, the suits wil sit up and take notice
after all they make money by ads
 

btw Photobucket's T&C is bad

6.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Proprietary Rights in Content on Photobucket. [FONT=&quot]o[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT]6.1 Photobucket does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") that you post on or through the Photobucket Services. By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content on or through the Photobucket Services, you hereby grant to Photobucket and other users a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, worldwide, limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and translate such Content, including without limitation distributing part or all of the Site in any media formats through any media channels, except Content marked "private" will not be distributed outside the Photobucket Services. Photobucket and/or other Users may copy, print or display publicly available Content outside of the Photobucket Services, including without limitation, via the Site or third party websites or applications (for example, services allowing Users to order prints of Content or t-shirts and similar items containing Content). After you remove your Content from the Photobucket Website we will cease distribution as soon as practicable, and at such time when distribution ceases, the license to such Content will terminate. If after we have distributed your Content outside the Photobucket Website you change the Content’s privacy setting to "private," we will cease any further distribution of such "private" Content outside the Photobucket Website as soon as practicable. Some of the Photobucket Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions, and you hereby agree that Photobucket may place such advertising and promotions on the Photobucket Services or on, about, or in conjunction with your Content. The manner, mode and extent of such advertising and promotions are subject to change without specific notice to you.
 

time to close my account, but first let me see what happens when i make everything private

update: i have written to photobucket and am now awaiting a reply

i will check flickr next
i suggest this. collect a small fee from those who are interested in hosting photos and diy at cs. could be possible and benificial to all:think: would be a good place to safely showcase works while cs can build up rep also perhaps.:think:
 

i suggest this. collect a small fee from those who are interested in hosting photos and diy at cs. could be possible and benificial to all:think: would be a good place to safely showcase works while cs can build up rep also perhaps.:think:


actually CS does have this service, i will follow up on this

http://gallery.clubsnap.com/
 

actually CS does have this service, i will follow up on this

http://gallery.clubsnap.com/


ah yes. to be honest. being here so long in cs, i never used that gallery:embrass:

would highlight u all could offer a paid service.

current limit is

image 400kb file size limit.
Disk space allowed on your account: 20,000kb (20,480,000 bytes)

perhaps paid service could have

image: 5mb file size limit
disk space allowed 1gb

or something like that. see if admin side wanna invest or not. i wont mind paying for this service if i can use it to store impt photographs safely:bsmilie:
 

btw Photobucket's T&C is bad
So is everything related to Google. When they changed the T&C of Orkut (is it still alive anyway?) a lot of my friends closed the accounts and deleted all content. Google simply declared themselves owner of all published content of all members, quite similar to what you quotes from Photobucket.
 

btw Photobucket's T&C is bad

6.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Proprietary Rights in Content on Photobucket. [FONT=&quot]o[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT]6.1 Photobucket does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") that you post on or through the Photobucket Services. By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content on or through the Photobucket Services, you hereby grant to Photobucket and other users a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, worldwide, limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and translate such Content, including without limitation distributing part or all of the Site in any media formats through any media channels, except Content marked "private" will not be distributed outside the Photobucket Services. Photobucket and/or other Users may copy, print or display publicly available Content outside of the Photobucket Services, including without limitation, via the Site or third party websites or applications (for example, services allowing Users to order prints of Content or t-shirts and similar items containing Content). After you remove your Content from the Photobucket Website we will cease distribution as soon as practicable, and at such time when distribution ceases, the license to such Content will terminate. If after we have distributed your Content outside the Photobucket Website you change the Content’s privacy setting to "private," we will cease any further distribution of such "private" Content outside the Photobucket Website as soon as practicable. Some of the Photobucket Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions, and you hereby agree that Photobucket may place such advertising and promotions on the Photobucket Services or on, about, or in conjunction with your Content. The manner, mode and extent of such advertising and promotions are subject to change without specific notice to you.

Wow! time to download all the images from photobucket. :bsmilie:
 

So is everything related to Google. When they changed the T&C of Orkut (is it still alive anyway?) a lot of my friends closed the accounts and deleted all content. Google simply declared themselves owner of all published content of all members, quite similar to what you quotes from Photobucket.

i guess u mean hosting pic to Google's Picasa... so they will own OUR pics once we upload our pic there?

win liao lor...
 

it is a start, we may not see success in our lifetime
but at least our voices will be heard

and the media companies will hesitate a little before they think of doing the same thing again, if we just keep quiet then they (the media companies) will continue to do it.

:thumbsup:

yes man... never try , never know...

die die must try...

do let us know when the petition is up....

if we cannot find someone who can write, how about using those petition we can find and model after them?
 

i guess u mean hosting pic to Google's Picasa... so they will own OUR pics once we upload our pic there?
No, this refered only to orkut as social networking portal. But it seems that Google has changed their mind (or got pushed.. who knows):
11. Content license from you

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.
From: http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS
 

No, this refered only to orkut as social networking portal. But it seems that Google has changed their mind (or got pushed.. who knows):

From: http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS

tks for your reply...

haiz... now i got no mood to read those TnC...

very stress whenever i come across such things... this reminds me of manhattan credit card... their tc so easy to read haha...