How does fair use work for book covers, album covers, and movie posters? (2024)

FAQs

How does fair use work for book covers, album covers, and movie posters? ›

Book covers, album covers, and movie covers are copyrightable. However, fair use, a provision of U.S. copyright law, gives users the right to use copyrighted material without permission under certain circ*mstances. If a use is fair, the user need not notify or seek permission from the copyright holder.

In some cases, using copyrighted material for your album cover without permission may fall under "fair use" exceptions. Fair use is a doctrine in copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material for purposes such as commentary, criticism, or parody.

Fair use is a legal doctrine that permits the unlicensed use of such works in limited circ*mstances. The doctrine is based on the principle that the public is free to use portions of copyrighted works without permission or payment for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, and research.

Like other creative works, film and television stills, studio photographs, posters and other film- related images are protected by copyright and it is important that authors seek permission wherever that is necessary.

It might be copyrighted by the recording artist, the record company, the graphic artist or someone else. In every case, however, you'll need to get a license to legally sell such posters. If you're manufacturing the posters, then absolutely, yes. That is a clear violation of copyright.

First factor: Criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research are favored purposes under the first factor. If you use a cover or poster for one of these purposes, that weighs in favor of fair use. Nonprofit educational purpose also favors fair use.

How much of someone else's work can I use without getting permission? Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports.

You cannot change or alter the work. You may use up to 10%, but no more than 3 minutes, of a single movie, TV show or video. You may use up to 10%, but no more than 30 seconds, of music and lyrics from a single musical work. You must purchase performance rights to hold a live performance of a copyrighted work.

Fair Use Length Guidelines

Entire article, story, or essay. Up to 10% or 1,000 words, whichever is fewer, but can use at least 500 words.

How do I get permission to use a movie poster? ›

In general, the copyright term for a work created in the United States after 1977 (that is not a work made for hire) is the life of the author plus 70 years. All works published in the United States before 1926 are in the public domain.

Here is a selection of sites you can use to source copyright cleared images - sometimes this is where the author has given permission for the image/film/music to be freely used, sometimes it's where the copyright has expired on the resource: For images there's Pixabay or Pexels or Unsplash.

Copyright Infringement: Using copyrighted material (such as images, logos, or trademarked symbols) without permission is not allowed. Ensure you have the proper rights and licenses for any third-party content used in your album art.

There are many good websites you can use for royalty-free images, but some of the most popular are Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay. On these websites, you can search for specific images or browse through categories that fit in line with your album's theme.

You could even get sued because printing a piece of copyrighted artwork on a shirt without permission is essentially stealing. And you'll likely get caught if you're going to sell them. But printing one t-shirt for your own personal use is totally fine.

While you own the recording of your cover song, the copyright owner owns the composition and still give permission for the composition to be used in audiovisual media (this is a separate license from the compulsory mechanical license).

No p*rnographic imagery or a URL for a website that contains or links to p*rnography. No images from other copyright holders without written permission. No references to physical packaging, digital packaging, or retailers (for example, vinyl or CD). No parental advisory logo if the release is not explicit.