'Tis the Season to be jolly. Not. At least, "not" in the sense of expecting a portly foreigner to come down the chimney bearing gifts.
It might, however, be the season for romance writer conferences and retreats and spring flings. Many will be live and in person. Some may be over Zoom or through Microsoft Teams. If you are giving a presentation at one of these events, legal blogger Kiera Boyd of the law firm Fasken IP has some timely advice about copyright and presentations.
Copyright and Presentations: How to Avoid Presentation-Related Copyright Infringement
I've not seen a legal blog on this topic for years, if at all. There was a time when a speaker at a private conference could probably get away with using other people's photographs, music, video, or words, but now that everyone (almost) has a smart phone, one never knows when one is being photographed, recorded, filmed, or streamed. The chances of being exposed are greater than ever.
Also, at least in America, the legal laissez-faire approach to "Fair Use" (known as "Fair Dealing" in Canada, is tightening up.
Frank D. D'angelo of the law firm Loeb & Loeb writes warningly about a bit of a sea change in a couple of high-profile copyright infringment cases.
https://quicktakes.loeb.com/post/102j6l8/appeals-court-signals-narrowing-of-fair-use-doctrine-post-warhol#page=1
If you are an author, speaking at a convention, it is always best to get permission in writing from the copyright owner, even if you don't think that you need it, and even if it ought to be obvious that you are giving great publicity and promo to the author you are quoting or whose cover art you are displaying, or the musician whose music you are using to set a mood.
The most important rights to be aware of when jazzing up a presentation are "public performance rights", and "reproduction rights" (in the sense of copying, publishing, distributing).
Once upon a time, there was some tech titan who claimed that it is better to ask forgiveness after infringing someone else's copyright than to ask permission (and perhaps be explicitly denied permission) beforehand. This writer does not think that that is good legal advice!
If you cannot get permission from the copyright owner, make very sure that you do give attribution to the owner, and that you make it clear that your use is either news reportage --preferably with commentary--, educational instruction, criticism or illustrative for research purposes. There are other potential "Fair Use" defenses that would not make sense in a the context of giving a seminar (or whatever) at a readers-writers shindig, where your purposes are self-promotion.
Copyright infringement lawsuits are expensive for both the plaintiff and for the defendant, and the outcome is unpredictable. Best not to give a copyright owner the provocation, IMHO.
For more on Fair Use, check out the CopyrightAlliance.
https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/what-is-fair-use/
Check out Kiera Boyd's article, with special attention to what she suggests are best practices for using images that you find online.
Assume that any image you see online is protected by copyright, (even if the copyright symbol and attribution has been removed), but if the copyright symbol and attribution is on the image, that does not mean that you have a license to cut and paste it.
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
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