[sumo] Mark Buckton is attacking Le Monde du Sumo !!!

[Joshua Maciel]

For the US, the question is whether this falls under 'fair use'
provisions. Unfortunately, as stated by others, this is murky water
filled with uncertainty, and seems more like 'I know copyright
infringement when I see it' than an actual standard you can apply and
decide for yourself.

You can read wikipedia's summary here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

Personally I think that the use of photos, attributed to their
sources, for the purpose of informing people on a non-profit website,
especially in a language other than the site which it was taken from,
constitutes 'fair use'.

However, I am not the copyright holder, haven't looked into the use on
both sites, and wouldn't want to risk a lawsuit on it if I were the
publisher of Le Monde du Sumo. Of course, I doubt that the SFM can
really afford to make a big issue out of this, as it would cost them
money to sue for the photo's removal, and they'd probably have to
travel to another country.

Quite frankly, I would hope that the SFM would realize that
attributing the photo and whatnot to the original sort would more
likely help their cause, rather than hurt it, and that bickering like
children on the internet over a photo used for a good purpose is
incredibly juvenile.

We're talking about international sumo coverage here, of which there
is very little, let alone in French. Trying to lessen the audience for
sumo doesn't help ANY of us.

- Joshua Maciel

On 11/4/06, Eric Turner <eric.i.turner at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am also NOT a lawyer, and this is from U.S. law, so I don't know if it's
> applicable to France, Japan or anything else, but I found this interesting:
>
> the Copyright Act of
> 1976<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Copyright_Act_of_1976>,
> 17 U.S.C. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Code> §
> 107<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html>,
> : Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a
> copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or
> phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes
> such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple
> copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement
> of copyright.
>
> It's the "news reporting" phrase that caught my attention.  Still, as others
> have noted, this is a complex issue and incompletely addressed by any court
> system so far.
>
> FWIW
>
> On 11/3/06, Juergen Hader <jhsumo at gmx.net> wrote:
> >
> > Keri Sibley schrieb/wrote:
> >
> > > SFM magazine is providing pictures and articles to the public domain.
> >
> > Where do they explicitely say so? And if they don't, please see Myth #2
> > under <http://www.glamourmodels.com/resources/articles/070903.html>
> >
> > For all I've read, the author's point of view is shared by most courts
> > (at least here in Germany).
> >
> > > I see the internet as it was intended, not as the form it's been
> > > hijacked into.
> >
> > I know what you mean, but I think that 'justice' doesn't. And as much as
> > I dislike Mr. Buckton's behaviour and possible motives, I am afraid he
> > would have the law on his side.
> >
> > Bye.
> > Juergen,
> > (un?)fortunately not a lawyer.
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Sumo at webtrek.com
> > http://www.webtrek.com/mailman/listinfo/sumo
> >
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