s0fties

For my blog I would like to post screenshots of my favorite nude scenes from the DVD's that I own.

Is this legal? According to my research and confirmed by djtoell (member of DVD Talk) it is legal according to fair use laws to post screenshots from movies as long as it is only a few and doesn't affect the sales of the DVD.

As djtoell said in 2004...
"Using a handful of screenshots on a personal non-commercial website is almost certainly Fair Use and therefore not copyright infringement. The use is non-commercial, it uses only a tiny portion of the film as a whole, and it has no impact upon potential sales of the film.

DJ"

However, I'm not sure if this is the same with nude scenes from Hollywood films. My hope is to just post a few pictures from each of my favorite movies.

Thank you very much for any information!

Groucho

On behalf of the entire forum, we would like to know the url of your blog.

(Hoping it's not bestcelebritywangs.com)

s0fties

Haha, its not up yet because I have to sort out all these legal worries. But no fear, I will spread the joy when it's up

p.s. no wangs will be pictured

s0fties

I'm confused, doesn't Mr. Skin contact the owners of the movies to receive permission to use the images and clips that they let paying members view.

The media and clips "are owned by or licensed to Company, or used on the Website in accordance with fair use provisions or the U.S. Copyright Act " - the licensed part scares me because I don't have or want to seek out any licenses.

It goes on to say you can't use anything from their site "without the express prior written consent of the respective owners"

Do they pay the owners of the movies? Or do they use fair rights to snag pics from them for free? Can I post clips online too?

smirnoffski

You pretty much have the answer. You will likely have a valid "fair use" defense. People don't buy scenes from movies, so it is not the same as posting movie clips, hence you are not really intruding into any substantial commercial market.

Mr. Skin, however, derives REVENUE from all those screencaps. Because they are implicating an economic interest, it would require the permission of the copyright owners.

Basically, as long as you are not overdoing it and just posting a couple of screen shots and not deriving any revenue from your activities, you should be fine.

To be even safer, you may also want to provide a link to Amazon or something, where the particular movie can be purchased.

s0fties

Perfect, thank you for clarifying ^ and thank you for the answer before that too.

My site will only feature a few images per movie, and is not gaining money from membership or advertisements in any shape or form.

I have considered linking to purchase it and still am, but I'm leaning towards not doing this for now, keeping it completely ad and link free for as long as possible.

My other question, which is in no way dvd related, is if im allowed to use pictures from other sites (like maxim, nuts, TMZ) which are free on those sites, and then post them on my site, which i think i am because its presented free to begin with and I will always mention the author/owner of the images.

Nick Martin

Now where's that good ol' 'this thread is useless without pics ' smilie.....

Gobear

Well, that's a shame.

smirnoffski

Well, just because a picture is available for free, does not mean it is up for grabs. Photos are copyrightable material. And if someone else has obtained permission to use a particular photo from someone else, it does not mean you can use them as well. All those sites you mentioned are commercial sites and are deriving significant revenues from the use of copyrightable material, and it is reasonable to assume that they have obtained permission to use.

mythmaker18

You might want to check with your ISP before going "live". Some ISPs (like mine) have limitations on what content you can upload to your personal webspace if they're the ones hosting it. My ISP won't allow any nudity and can get you kicked off if you're caught doing it. Same goes for most "free" webspaces I know of.

If you're paying for your blog hosting, you might be more likely to be allowed to do this.

Mr. Salty

Thank god someone is finally trying to make nude photos available on the Internet!

Rockmjd23

Just make sure your screenshots aren't from a pre-1987 Traci Lords movie.

Rubix

the pre-1987 ones go in the chris hansen section of the site.

TheDuke

Speak for yourself!

Silverscreenvid

There are two separate issues you have raised.

First, the site that hosts your blog may have standards about the material that it allows on its site for a number of reasons. If that's the case, you may not be allowed to post nude photos of any sort or you may be required to limit access to your site as an "adult site." That has nothing to do with the source of the material, just the policies of your host.

Second, "fair use" is not a hard and fast test. There are a number of factors to be considered in determining whether the use is fair. One is whether your site is commercial or non-commercial. Another is the substantiality of the taking (i.e., how much of the original material have you borrowed). Normally, a few screen shots would not be substantial borrowing. However, it can be argued that certain key shots might be considered the "heart" of the material and you would not be allowed to use them. Another factor is whether your use is merely derivative (borrowing for the sake of borrowing, as when someone posts a clip on youtube) or transformative (i.e., you are changing the original material in some way, such as by reviewing or commenting on it).

DVD review sites like DVDBeaver use screen shots all the time and it is fair use because they are commenting on the video quality of the DVD release with a handful of shots as evidence. If you are commenting on the shots, i.e. "I really liked this scene in Showgirls because..." it's more likely to be fair use than if you merely post a bunch of screenshots from one or multiple films.

The issue of whether your blog affects the sale of the DVD is irrelevent. The actual issue is whether it affects the actual or potential market for the copyrighted material. In a famous case, a sculptor made sculptures using a well known photographer's copyrighted photos as his source (imagine the Times Square photo of the sailor kissing the nurse). The photographer sued for copyright infringement and won. The issue wasn't whether the sculptures affected the market for his photograph; it was whether they could affect the market if the photographer himself decided to make sculptures based on his photo. A studio could argue that they might decide to set up a web site for nude photos from their movie and your blog could hurt the market for that web site (not as far fetched as you might think, since Mr. Skin already does that and it would be very difficult for a studio to set up a competing web site for its own films).

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

The best advice anyone here could give you is to ignore all the advice everyone has given and contact a lawyer that specializes in intellectual rights. If you do go off of internet lawyer advice from non-lawyers and get sued, are you going to defend yourself? Probably not, which means you end up paying for a lawyer anyway and the hassle of possibly going to court. You'd save more money by coming up with all the questions you could possibly think of, even if they're things you're not planning on doing now and buying an hour of time with a lawyer and just burning through that list.

An hour of lawyer time now is going to be cheaper than if you need it in the future because you listened to internet law.

Cheato

Talk about an inappropriate screen-name. Or is that supposed to be irony?

joltman

Would they really bring a whole lawsuit against him right from the get-go? I imagine the first thing they would do is a cease-and-desist, in which case the blog is taken down and the whole legal matter is finished.

Groucho

Don't listen to this guy. Just post those pics!

Silverscreenvid

Lawsuits cost money, and they probably wouldn't be able to get much in the way of damages from someone running a blog on a personal website. In all probability, they would send you (and the provider that hosts your blog) a cease-and-desist demand.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

They wouldn't go for damages. A guy running a blog that's taking in zero income would just fold up shop since it wouldn't be worth it for him to pay a lawyer to deal with a lawsuit.

BSTNFAN

But, we ALL promise to visit your site before they crush you. :-)

Abob Teff

Since the OP isn't going to post any wangs, I will ...

Groucho

Here's my wang:

s0fties

Wow, a lot to think about. I think I'll add a home page with an 18 or older only check and clearly outline my understading of fair use and my not for profit sites intent. Does that sound like a good idea?