[Foundation-l] Fair Use (again)

[The Cunctator]

On 1/28/07, Jeffrey V. Merkey <jmerkey at wolfmountaingroup.com> wrote:
>
> All it takes is one lawsuit from someone who is upset at the images
> being used, and the money from
> the last fund drive could get used up in legal fees pretty durn fast. If
> someone object to images
> being used, then TAKE THEM OFF THE SITE, Fair use argments are not. I
> recall my interactions
> on en.wikipedia with people using copyrighted materials and some of the
> debates I had there.
>
> Bottom line, these anonymus editors are not the people who will get
> nailed. The foundation will
> be the ones who get served and Brad will have to hire a law firm to
> defend the Foundation. It's
> pretty simple -- if someone who owns th images does not want them used,
> then do not use them.
>
> There are a lot more torts than just copyright infringement they could
> pull out of the bag and use. They could claim
> unfari competition, tortious interference, and a whole host of other
> torts they may win with. It's cheaper, easier,
> and honorable to simply take down the images and tell the offended party
> it is being done as a courtesty. This makes
> it appear the foundation is acting in good faith.

This argument is pure copyright paranoia. What I mean by that is that
Jeffrey is asserting as fact a hypothetical scenario ("The foundation
will be the ones who get served and Brad will have to hire a law firm
to defend the Foundation.") That's possible, but certainly not
guaranteed.