Legal assistance required :)

[Tyrael]

Ok, I get an email from some guy telling me he's going to use my faq I wrote on a video game.

It annoys me he dictates to me how he's going to use my faq, but he decided to tell me about it so he could thumb his nose at me and tell me that regardless of my feelings he's going to use it anyway.

I still don't know what the hell good a video game faq is going to do him in an assignment.

So someone explain this Fair Use doctrine and tell me if he can really do this...I'm itching to tell him to put the Fair Use doctrine where it won't get sunburned.

 

[Bob_Bytchin]

Well, if he uses your FAQ as a reference, and lists his sources in the bibliography, then I think he's covered, and don't see what the harm is in him using your thoughts and ideas.

 

[Tyrael]

Heh.

I still wanna know what kind of assignment he's doing where he needs to add to his report how to blow a zombie's head off with a shotgun.

I need to go to that school.

 

[Bob_Bytchin]

I still wanna know what kind of assignment he's doing where he needs to add to his report how to blow a zombie's head off with a shotgun.

Got his email address?

He would know that answer I'm sure.

 

[Tyrael]

Heh, I'll ask him.

 

[lovetoread]

I had forgotten what name you used.

Could you pm and let me know?

I really need a good faq now.


thanks.

 

[Calamity Jane]

From: Info On Fair Use

Factors of Fair Use
If you use a piece of copyrighted material in your teaching, four factors will determine whether or not your use of that material qualifies as "fair use."

Note: ALL FOUR of these factors must be evaluated for fair use to apply.


1) The nature of the use
Is the reproduction or the distribution for education or for commercial gain?


2) The nature of the copyrighted work
Fiction, high-level analysis, works of art, and musical composition are considered the most creative and therefore receive the most protection from infringement. Compilations and derivative works are usually not protected by copyright at all (except possibly in their format or user interface).


3) The quantity of the work used
If you use 3% of the total substance of the work or less, you are probably safely within fair use. If you use more than 10%, you are in uncertain territory.


4) The potential impact on the copyright holder's market
If your use of some material could materially reduce the creator's ability to profit from it, this factor would point toward your use not being "fair".


The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

I think #3 is probably the most applicable. You can't use the entire work of another, and claim fair use.

 

[Tyrael]

Thanks for the help, CowGirl and Bob. I'll inform you if anything happens.

As for your request, lovetoread. You have a PM.