Quoting/Linking Copywritten material

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1

Recently I wanted to post a link to a still from the movie Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets. However, after extensive searching on the web, I discovered that out of the hundreds of stills taken from that movie, not one was the one I actually wanted to link to.

Now I could take my DVD of HP&tCoS and <details deleted> and then post a link to the still. However, this might technically make me guilty of movie piracy. Would this exceed what is considered “fair use” under US copywrite law, or the SDMB rules?

2

I’m not going to comment on “fair use” and US copyright law, that’s up to you to check with your lawyer. From the point of view of SDMB, we can’t monitor every link to be sure that it goes to a site that has the legal right to post the material. That’s just not practical.

So, no, we’re not encouraging you to break any laws. However, we are stating that we’re unable to monitor (beyond “workplace safe.”)