FBMF, understandably, acquiesced and took down the images.*
Now, Nintendo has attacked fansites, sending them C&D letters telling them that posting pictures of 5th gen pokemon from Pokemon Black and White is copyright infringement.
These images are, as I understand it, cropped images from screenshots of the games that have already been released in Japan. They were not illegally obtained.
The websites, again, acquiesced. Again, this is understandable.*
Now, let's look at Copyright Law, and specifically fair use.
In general, both cases should be in the clear. It's for a judge to decide, honestly, but I'm fairly confident in saying that any clear minded judge would find in favour of the websites, not the companies.Wikipedia, referencing 17 USC sec 107 wrote: Copyright does not prohibit all copying or replication. In the United States, the fair use doctrine, codified by the Copyright Act of 1976 as 17 U.S.C. § 107, permits some copying and distribution without permission of the copyright holder or payment to same. The statute does not clearly define fair use, but instead gives four non-exclusive factors to consider in a fair use analysis. Those factors are:
1. the purpose and character of the use;
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.
Given that Fair Use allows for the use of the images in question, at least in my interpretation (see any news program, their use of copyrighted imagery isn't much different), and given that the Lawyer in the pokemon case said that the images were not fair use, I think this is Wrong(tm). All the more so because the Lawyer in the pokemon case would have to know that he was blatantly lying, and trusting on the target's, and public's, ignorance of law (Fucking Laws, how do they work!?) to help him meet his client's request.
My question is, why? Why are companies doing this? Do they not understand that such behaviour is a shot in the foot for them? While the caliber of the shot differs (the example here isn't a big thing, I doubt anyone's boycotting that company over it) it's still self-destructive behaviour.
*I want to be clear that I'm not attacking FBMF or Water Pokemon Master here, both are "average joes," so to speak, with more important concerns and demands on their time than this. FBMF has a family to look after, and limited finances. I'm not attacking moderator decisions, I'm attacking the companies' behaviour, and their use of false hoods and intimidation.
