Alphax (Wikipedia email) wrote:
That was me, and it's not a red herring. Every time we claim "fair use" on an image, it is because the image is not Free; that means, we are infringing someone's copyright.
I'm no lawyer but I think this is wrong. If our use of a copyrighted item is done under circumstances that meet the requirements of valid fair use, then we are _not_ infringing on that copyright. Fair use gives us the legal ability to use that copyrighted item in that manner.
There are many situations that lie in between "Free" and "copyright infringement," it's not either/or.