Can we use....

Michael Anthony Horrigan

Michael Anthony Horrigan

More Cowbell Pictures
I would like to know if I can make a mock-up of a news web page. I would also like to use photos off the web of world leaders.

Is this allowed?

Thanks,

Mike
 
I doubt you'll be able to use picture of actual world leaders. However, if it's in a satirical tone, you might be able to get away with it, as Fair Use states that it's ok to use things like that for the purposes of Parody. Maybe someone else will chime in with more info.
 
I hope so... it would be a shame. I mean, if movies can use actual footage of world leaders in support of the plot... I hope I can use a few pictures for a five minute short.

Contact comes to mind with the Clinton footage that was used.

Mike
 
I seem to recall there was a bit of a contravrsey when that happened though. Something about the context and how it made Clinton seem to be pro-something-or-other.
 
I think that was from when they used the footage from some press conference for the movie Contact. It might have been about finding evidence of life on Mars, and editing it to make it sound like he was talking about the events in the movie.
 
Have you made a fake CNN web page or something like that? No good.

Fair Use probably only applies to news, which your short certainly is not, although technically I'm sure you can get away with it. If it's just a still you need, that shouldn't be very expensive.

Big movies pay money for that footage. That's how it works. If you want to work around that, you just have to be more clever!
 
It's really up to you to secure any rights you need. We leave that up to the filmmakers. If we see any obvious copyright violations when we screen a film, we'll pull it, but otherwise we rely on filmmakers to make sure they're not infringing.
 
Legally (ooh, there's that word again) it's a little complex, but a recognized public figure can be used more readily than a private person could, as long as it's not in the context of, say, endorsing a product. If it's incidental news coverage of a clearly public person you're probably okay with doing it, but it does step into a bit of a gray area without knowing exactly how you intend to use it. I suggest sending a PM to Barry_S with clear wording as to exactly what you intend to do and how you intend to implement it, and he should be able to tell you whether your intended use would fall within the fest guidelines for acceptable use.
 
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