So I am curious to hear from those in the community more familiar with the laws and guidelines...
In graphic design, in what scenarios are you able to use another company's image in your design? If we think about the Diablo 3 theme for MyBB (which looks very nice), how is it allowed that the images of Blizzard are able to be used?
I mean, how can you legally use another entity's images/assets in web design? How do you not get sued into the next millennium?
I had the simple question in mind, and Google only offered me the Fair Use Doctrine article on Wikipedia, but that was kind of confusing (legalese) and didn't help my understanding much at all.
Thanks!
http://community.mybb.com/thread-59896.html
Was looking at Jitendra's "Tales" (threads, but with pirate language on) and found that.
Kind of what I figured from the start, but wanted to be safer than sorry.
As for blizzard, they have already a section like images and thingies that can be used on a fan site of it like Diablo and such.
For other stuff, you should at least try to get in contact with the company whose products you are using. For example, I believe Anxiety contacted WWE in regards to trademark of wweforums.net .
So its always to get in touch before you do anything.
Basically, if you're not sure, ask
No harm can come of it. You're better being told now by the company that you can or can't use an image, instead of being sued 6 months down the line
A lot of companies like Blizzard won't care that you're violating their copyright by using their images and names of characters & whatnot.
The whole reason is because it helps promote their product.
Unless the site did the following;
- Cost them to lose revenue; this could happen because of piracy or "private" servers of certain games like WoW. In which case, you'll become their target.
- Revenue profit; if you're selling services (especially in-game stuff) & generating money from it, they won't like it.
- Claim that you're in affiliation with them. Make sure to state in the footer that your website is Unofficial, and is just a fan site.
- Promoted illegal activity using their product(s).
I had a run in once with a company, and it was because they had people contacting them about us, thinking we were affiliated.
The cease & desist I got stated all the copyright issues of images & names. But when we contacted them by phone, they told us the issue was just because of the confusion of affiliation. And so, we put the "Unofficial" statement in the footer, and the cease & desist issues were resolved.
i must admit whenever i have asked to use a companies logo or image for anything i have ever done i have never been turned down. but my sites have always been run of the mill normal stuff, with no porn or other nefarious content on them.
Free advertising is a boon to the industry they would be pretty daft to turn it down. that said i wonder if Apple are so happy for there logo's to be used.
Generally, you aren't allowed to use images from another company. The only exception would be if you are explicit written permission from the company, or they specify specific images which may be used (such as
Mozilla's Visual Identity Guidelines).
Fair Use most likely applies more to things such as screenshots - if you want to take an ingame screenshot of yourself after receiving an accomplishment and posting that on your forum, then that is OK.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and don't have extensive knowledge of fair use. Anything in this post can be 100% incorrect, and is to be used at your own risk.
(2012-04-07, 12:26 AM)Zash Wrote: [ -> ]Generally, you aren't allowed to use images from another company. The only exception would be if you are explicit written permission from the company, or they specify specific images which may be used (such as Mozilla's Visual Identity Guidelines).
Fair Use most likely applies more to things such as screenshots - if you want to take an ingame screenshot of yourself after receiving an accomplishment and posting that on your forum, then that is OK.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and don't have extensive knowledge of fair use. Anything in this post can be 100% incorrect, and is to be used at your own risk.
Kinda what I figured. I am thinking about employing a few gaming-related graphics into my theme, but I sure don't want to be sued into the next millennium.
The ONLY guarantee of not getting sued is not to use any of their images, period. In fact, if you're worried about getting sued, you should probably just take your site down immediately - the internet is a cesspool of greedy and idiodic lawsuits. By existing, you take your chances, just like everyone else.
Bottom line is that there's no predicting the future. Said companies have the right to change their ToS in the blink of an eye. Perhaps they don't change their ToS and come after you anyways. What chance do you have against a corporate giant? You don't have any.
Keep with your gut instinct, because common sense doesn't hold up in a court.
Actually, if the don't change their terms of service they cannot come after you. And if they do change their terms of service, you must agree to the new ones for them to be valid.