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. "Fair use" is something which exists under US law (presumably several others, but it's US law that we rely on) which we use to justify that infringement; I was making the point that with things like screenshots, we have to be careful that our claims are in fact fair and valid.
If you ever bothered to read section 107 of part 17 of the U.S.C. you would see it plainly written:
the fair use of a copyrighted work, ... is not an infringement of copyright.
This is much stronger wording than simply justifying an infringement. Free use and fair use operate on separate tracks. One does not follow from the other.
Ec