{"id":23504,"date":"2020-10-06T03:00:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T10:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=23504"},"modified":"2020-10-02T11:44:10","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T18:44:10","slug":"fair-use-in-business-can-i-use-copyrighted-materials-in-my-business-by-kelley-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/06\/fair-use-in-business-can-i-use-copyrighted-materials-in-my-business-by-kelley-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Fair Use in Business: Can I Use Copyrighted Materials in My Business? by Kelley Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fair<\/a>Let\u2019s welcome back monthly columnist Kelley Way<\/a> as she shares with us \u201cFair Use in Business: Can I Use Copyrighted Materials in My Business?\u201d Enjoy!<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Finding the right content for your marketing materials or products is tough.<\/strong> Finding content that you can actually afford is even tougher. Add in the possibility that a <\/span>copyright<\/span><\/a> owner might come out of nowhere and sue you makes you wonder if adding content is even worth it. Here are my suggestions on the use of copyrighted materials in your business.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Use of Copyrighted Materials in Your Business<\/span><\/h2>\n

Of course, you could always ask for permission. But first, you would have to know who the owner is, and then you\u2019d have to figure out how to contact them, and there\u2019s always the chance that they\u2019ll say no (or ask for an outrageous fee.)<\/span><\/p>\n

You could also look for content online<\/a><\/strong> that\u2019s free or low cost.<\/strong> That often works well for pictures, but not as well for music or movie clips. And public domain works (content whose copyright has expired, or that never had a copyright in the first place) can be useful if you want something historical or government-related, but otherwise often isn\u2019t a good fit.<\/span><\/p>\n

So where does that leave you?<\/span><\/p>\n

Fair Use in Business\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

If permission or publicly available content won\u2019t work, you could always fall back on fair use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fair use exists because Congress recognized that some uses serve a public benefit<\/strong>, but getting permission would be like finding Waldo or asking a grouchy dragon for a few of his coins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A for-profit business can have their use be considered a fair use, but there are a few precautions they should take to lower the risk of a lawsuit:<\/span><\/p>\n

Precautions for Fair Use in Business<\/span><\/h2>\n

Use the content for education, criticism, commenting, or news reporting.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These uses are more likely to be considered fair use than, say, charging money for a feature-length movie and handing out your advertising material with the popcorn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Use only a small portion of the original work.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

This applies more to books and movies than artwork. Showing <\/span>Gone with the Wind<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in its entirety is likely to get you into trouble; showing a thirty-second clip to illustrate a point (especially an educational point) would probably pass muster.<\/span><\/p>\n

Make sure your use is not a substitute for the original.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The entire reason we have copyright protection is to make sure that copyright owners can profit from their creations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is also the reason many copyright owners go after infringers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you create beautiful prints of a great photo,<\/strong> with advertising material on the back, recipients probably wouldn\u2019t feel the need to buy the photo from the artist. Or if you created a video with a complete song in the background, and didn\u2019t talk over the song, people might listen to your ad on YouTube instead of buying the song on iTunes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These kinds of uses anger copyright owners because those uses mean lost sales. They also make a court more likely to find infringement rather than fair use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do things to make sure that\u2019s not an issue:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n