copyright questions

[gotletter]

would the following fall under "fair use":

I'm running a website that does reviews of movies, books, games, and assorted goofy stuff.  If a movie theater invites me in to review a movie; am I able to take an image of the movie released by the movie studio to grab reader's attention with said review?

Likewise with a review of a book or game; am I able to grab a product still from the supplier's website whom sent me to book or game to review and use that in my post?

Or would it be in my best interest to obtain permission just in case?

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Fair use is a tough area and I usually leave those question for when Oscar drops in and answers questions.

If you want to display a picture to go along with a review I would hotlink to image rather than having on and displayed from my server, hotlinking is not currently not considered infringement see Perfect 10 v. Google.  I say currently because Perfect 10 has just brought a suit against Tumblr and if it goes Perfect 10's way it could effect many sites like Pinterest and other sharing sites.

You may read about fair use here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

[gotletter]

This begs the following question..  All the icons above, facebook, twitter, youtube, and below with the facebook "like" icon.. someone made those.. Could they technically try to claim copyright infringement?

I know that sounds silly but it's a very serious question.  I'm in the process of totally revamping all of my websites to remove anything that could potentially be considered infringement.

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

Could they? You bet.

Everything in life is about weighing the likelihood. WOULD Facebook sue you for infringing on their trademark? I'd have to say there is close to zero percent chance of that. And if they came after you, it probably would be for using their trademark, not  copyright. I've read stories of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce suing someone for using a photograph they took of the Hollywood sign. Getty was even sued for using the trademarked pine tree air fresheners in a stock photo they were selling. But Twitter and Facebook want to encourage people to use their brand in the right context.

FYI all these major companies do have usage guidelines that tell you how you can (and cannot) use their logo:
https://www.facebookbrand.com/dos-donts
https://twitter.com/logo

Also, something else to be aware of is fonts. If you customize your site to use fonts beyond Arial, Times, and Verdana, you need to make sure the typography is cleared.

[gotletter]

heh in the case of twitter; a lot of sites use the box with the 't' in it, yet on the link to their logo&brand page it clearly shows that one is not to use such a box.

it's maddening.. and I'm not talking about football (just to cover my bases on THAT).

[Oscar Michelen]

Yes its technically a copyright infringement to copy and post the FB or twitter symbol but they would never do anything about it because it is free advertising and usually used to link back to their product. Who knows, their may even be a permitted use in their terms of service for that purpose. In any event, the infringement and the damages would be minimal. If however, folks started using it on products or to give the appearance that somehow fb or twitter are connected to a product or service, then they would likely bring a trademark infringement action.