Copyright Tips & Fair Use

How To Make Sure Your Image Does Not Infringe Someone Else's Copyrights

The way to ensure that your image that you are going to use to create a Bubo doesn't infringe someone else's copyright is to use your own photo, or your family and friends' photo with their permission. If it's all yours, you never have to worry about the copyright - you own it! Make sure to follow the other guidelines in the terms of use, too.

Commercial Content Is Copyrighted

The most common reason we take down images for copyright infringement is that they are direct copies of copyrighted content and the owners of the copyrighted content have alerted us that their content is being used without their permission. Once we become aware of an unauthorized use, we will remove the image promptly. That is the law.

Fair use and parody

Generally speaking, when you use a photo editing software to cut out a celebrity's face, and replace it with your own face to create another photo, that should be considered as a parody for making fun of the celebrity, and is protected by the law as a fair use of the celebrity's photo. BuboMe is not much different from that photo editing software, allowing you to create parodies of the copyrighted work.

However, there's a difference between a parody and a satire, which on the other hand, isn't as protected. The difference lies in the subject matter that you are making fun of. A parody makes fun of the subject it is taken from, a good example would be, you making fun of the South Park using the South Park cartoon characters. Satire, on the other hand, is when you use the South Park cartoon characters to make fun of another celebrity. It is hard to make fun of something without using some copyrighted material. But with satire, you can always go and create the content yourself without any of your own work. And that is why we have to emphasize, do NOT use a celebrity's or another person's photo to create a Bubo without their permission!

If you would like to learn more about the principle of fair use, below are a few links to websites that discuss it. Please remember, however, that your decision about whether and how to exercise your fair use rights is solely yours, and we at BuboMe bear no responsibility for your decision.

Fair Use Links on the Web
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/
http://www.copyrightwebsite.com/Info/Law/FairUse.aspx
http://chillingeffects.org/fairuse/

DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT YOUR ATTORNEYS, AND THE INFORMATION WE PRESENT ON THIS PAGE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. WE PRESENT THIS INFORMATION FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.