[KineJapan] Copyright-free images

Mon Sep 22 01:59:16 EDT 2014

Mark, That's University of Tokyo Press東京大学出版会?  Thanks for  
the warning! I shutter to think of a classroom shot from the 30s or  
40s filled with unnamed extras or in my case, real pupils. I haven't  
asked NHK about DVD stills. I don't have a DVD. I initially wanted to  
show short wartime newsreels from the NHK online archive at a  
conference. Having no information on internet availability for a  
conference room that had not yet been assigned, I was concerned I'd  
arrive intending to talk about a newsreel but be unable to show it. I  
asked NHK if I could buy a DVD of the newsreels. I was told   
相当の時間と経費が必要となります...（1分で12 
万円程度とVTR制作諸費用. So I went sans DVD. Fortunately,  
the internet was connected to the conference room (about 6 minutes  
before the panel started). The most I can say is that the section of  
NHK in charge of that material told me the use I described for a  
journal article was fair use under legal 引用 provisions. I also  
contacted the publisher 日本図書センター about reproducing  four  
photos from two of their books and they also said okay based on  
引用. I don't know yet what the non-Japanese journal publisher  
will require because my collaborators and I are still considering  
where to submit.

Speaking of institutional paranoia, I've had Japanese archives place  
rules on the use of their material that seem to surpass legal  
requirements. After spending a week at a prefectural archive that had  
copies of the historical materials held by each school in the  
prefecture, I was told as I bid the until then very helpful staff  
farewell that I needed permission from each current principal of the  
school before quoting or even referring to the material. Some  
principals wanted to see what I was going to write first. Of course I  
couldn't do that. A city archive in another prefecture with the same  
type of historical school material made no such restrictions.

An American colleague told me that he hired a Japanese agent to obtain  
permissions for one of his books and the agent had no trouble doing  
so. Does anyone have experience doing this?

Greg Johnson

> On Sep 21, 2014, at 11:36 AM, Mark Roberts <mroberts37 at mail-central.com 
> > wrote:
>
>> To resume this thread: while NHK may be taking the position that  
>> DVD stills are quotations, a number of other organisations in Japan  
>> do not agree.
>>
>> For example, I have been trying to publish several essays with DVD  
>> stills through the University of Tokyo. It's a small-format  
>> academic booklet, primarily for research libraries. The images are  
>> monochrome. The booklet will not be sold for money.
>>
>> I have been through this before, and with the generous help of  
>> members of KineJapan, managed to sort it out. From that, I thought  
>> Todai had agreed that DVD images may be treated like quotations.  
>> However, they changed their position ex post facto, after all the  
>> editorial work was done.
>>
>> Although I explained that there is consensus in our field on fair  
>> use of DVD images, that section 32 of the Japanese copyright law  
>> allows quotations, that the case of Uesugi Satoshi vs. Kobayashi  
>> Yoshinori sets a precedent for academic use of images in critical  
>> analysis, that NHK supports this policy, and that North American  
>> publishers do not require permissions ― in spite of all that,  
>> Todai phoned Shochiku to “check” on the law (even  
>> though we are not using images from any Shochiku films), and then  
>> contacted CRIC and JCOPY. Their position is that we really do need  
>> these permissions and portrait rights.
>>
>> I don’t know how long it will take to track down all of these  
>> rights, and I can’t really imagine pestering the families or  
>> heirs of directors/talent for such a low-level request. I feel bad  
>> that my colleagues are even spending time on this, though it seems  
>> to be their conviction that we must. I could understand the  
>> rationale for contacting production companies that still exist, but  
>> the claim that we need portrait rights as well seems rather  
>> excessive. After all, these are images of actors working for  
>> production companies, playing fictional characters in narrative  
>> films ― not paparazzi photos.
>>
>> It is not clear to me that Todai completely understands they are  
>> taking the position that we need permission each time we quote a  
>> primary source. Needless to say, in other fields of the humanities,  
>> such a stance would likely do immense harm to research. I have  
>> tried to explain that imposing such strict requirements on locating  
>> permissions could have a glaciating effect on future collaboration  
>> with Japanese institutions, but this concern has also been dismissed.
>>
>> Interestingly, Todai says that section 32 of the copyright law may  
>> be “too old”, but no other ‘newer’ laws  
>> are being cited. It’s all about what these other  
>> organisations say, starting with Shochiku. At this point, I  
>> can’t tell if we’re even operating in the realm of  
>> law, or it’s more the say-so of the copyright lobby mixed  
>> with institutional paranoia.
>>
>> If anybody has any suggestions about a line of argument against  
>> this position, I would be very curious to hear it. I am concerned  
>> this could delay publication for months or require that we ask the  
>> contributors to rewrite their articles and drop images for which we  
>> cannot secure permission.
>>
>> M. Roberts
>> Research Fellow, University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy
>> http://utcp.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/blog/mark_roberts/index_en.php
>>>
>>> 2014-09-11 2:16 GMT+02:00 Markus Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu>:
>>> 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.
>>>
>>>

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