[KineJapan] Copyright-free images

[Markus Nornes]

>From the POV of North American publishing, the question of frame grabs
(from video or film) appears settled. There are good posts on the
background for this on the SCMS website and Bordwell's blog. They consider
it the equivalent of a quote, so no need to contact rights holders.
Obviously, NHK is taking this position. Good for them!

(This has, by the way transformed book design. Now many publishers use page
layouts that accommodate small images, since DVD grabs pixel out when blown
up.)

So I would assert fair use and let the publisher lead the way. If they
balk, you could try showing them the websites above, although they are
aimed primarily at American publishers.

I once worked with a press that was sitting on the fence. I pointed out
that if anyone is going to get sued over this, it'd be Thompson and
Bordwell. Their textbooks make a lot of money and they've never paid for
frame blow ups.

As for the photo from the children's book, you couldn't claim fair use
unless the book itself was the object of analysis.

Markus

PS: Covers are another matter. As PR instruments, they are not covered by
fair use principles.




On Thursday, September 11, 2014, Mark Roberts <mroberts37 at mail-central.com>
wrote:

> Dear Roberta,
>
> On Sep 10, 2014, at 10:01 PM, Maria Roberta Novielli wrote:
>
> I would use some stills taken from DVDs, but I wonder if the rights belong
> to the producers of the DVDs or to the original production companies, if
> still existing.
>
>
> My understanding has been that the production company is the rights
> holder, not the distributor. There is, as you note, a question in the case
> of production companies that no longer exist. I gather that the rights
> often go to the director or his/her family, but I am not sure about the law
> on this. For example, the ATG films are not old enough to be public domain,
> but the production company is defunct. What is their status?
>
> There is thus a lingering question in my mind about whether it is really
> necessary to go through the formality of contacting the rights holder. I
> have heard via the Copyright Research and Information Center of Japan (
> http://www.cric.or.jp/), that this is "recommended", even if it merely to
> inform them that you intend to use DVD stills in a publication. Of course,
> if the production company no longer exists, it may not be so simple to do
> this.
>
> It would be helpful to know how to handle this situation, and especially
> what to tell a publisher.
>
> I hope somebody on KineJapan more knowledgable than I can weigh in on this.
>
> Mark
>


-- 
*Markus Nornes*
Chair, Department of Screen Arts and Cultures
Professor of Asian Cinema, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
Professor, School of Art & Design

*Department of Screen Arts and Cultures*
*6348 North Quad*
*105 S. State Street*
*Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*
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