Copyright question

[Johnny L.A.]

Let's say an actor involved in a film gets a screen shot of the film from the production company and he puts it on his message board. A member modifies the photo of the actor to make a very funny photo (say, by adding a third eye) and posts it in the thread. Is that 'fair use'?

(The original screen shot and the modified photo have been removed from the thread, so the point is moot. The director is just concerned that an actual photo from an actual scene in the film might 'get out', and the actor removed the photos out of respect to him. So I'm just asking. And no, I'm not the member who posted it.)

[JustAnotherGeek]

WAG: wouldn't that be parody, thus fair use?

[Johnny L.A.]

WAG: wouldn't that be parody, thus fair use?
That's what I thought. The actor was sent the photo with the full knowledge that he would probably post it. Actually, the removal of the photos is my fault. I mentioned that they'd have to be careful the photo didn't wind up on a T-shirt or something. The 'artist' is a friend and business partner of the actor, so I'm sure he wouldn't use it inappropriately. This got the director worried about copyright infringement. The actor removed both photos on his own volition to be safe.

But yeah, it looks like parody and fair use to me. So I thought I'd ask.

[RealityChuck]

The actor probably doesn't hold copyright on the photo: the photographer or (if it's a movie still) the studio would.

Photoshopping the image would probably be considered fair use as parody, though. Putting on a t-shirt gets cloudy, since the actor had never given permission to use his image in that manner (though that's not strictly a copyright issue).