Thought you would all be interested in this link – seems to cover most things:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/copyright

Hope this helps some of you.
Kelvin

Not a bad discription, but they fail somewhat on the “Fair Use” doctrine.

Remember that “fair Use” is US legislation only.

There have been cases about websites using pictures. Some have been judged to be Fair use, others have been judged to be outside fair use (illegal).

There is no fixed difinition of fair use, as its not a law as such, but an “opening” in copyright law, so people can use otherwise copyrighted material (parts of it) to review and discuss its content in another context.

The main idea is that the fair use has to be creative. You can’t just copy a picture, without using it in some connection with the original publication.

Any fair use situation can be tested in court. There is no pre-arranged rules and regulations, so each case has to be judged on its own.

In that light, you should see “Fair use” as a defence. Something to reply if accused of copyright infringements. Its not there to protect the copyright holder.

The main factors in deciding if use is fair are:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

2. the nature of the copyrighted work;

3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Using a private picture of an aircraft, to discuss this aircraft (or the situation in wich the picture taken) on a web based forum (educational purpose) is likely to be considered fair use, in particular if due credit is given to the creator.

However, only a US court can rule if it is or not.