Hi Jennine,
It is PJ from A Touch of Blusher again. Hope all is well.
I have some questions regarding using screen captures and video footage from fashion shows on a blog. I am interested in talking about Zac Posen’s Spring/Summer Ready-to-Wear collection on my blog. Even though I don’t write a lot about fashion, I occasionally write about collections I really like. Usually I link to photos, blog posts, and videos. But I always want my posts to be more visual.
In terms of copyright, is it acceptable to:
1) embed in my post videos from YouTube which are taken directly from websites like Elle.com, Style.com(and give relevant credits)?
2) include screen captures of fashion shows from these websites (and give relevant credits)?
3) include screen captures of designers’ official websites (and give credits)?
I tend to take copyright issues seriously. I have seen bloggers using photos and videos from fashion shows in their posts rather freely (and without giving any credit) but I am never too sure about this. Maybe there are conventions and general guidelines of doing this that I am not aware of.
Please let me know what is usually acceptable and what is not. I thank you in advance for your answer!
Best wishes,
PJ
I heart PJ btw.
I think this is a good question. Personally, I try to contact the owner of the images first and ask their permission to repost on my blog with a credit back them. I have found that 100% of the time that I have done this, the owner says yes. In my post I even will put “Copywritten photos republished with permission.”
If there really isn’t a way to get ahold of the owner, then I always credit back by ending my post with “Photo Credit: X website” and link it.
For example, I did a post on The Fashion Rag for the Emmys and ended up crediting several gossip blogs b/c I used their images.
So far no one has asked me to remove images.
PJ,
It’s ALWAYS important to request authorization to post images. This is a sensitive subject for me, because I had to threaten legal actions years ago against a NC newspaper who “mysteriously” printed one of my articles that I did not submit. It appeared online, and they could not explain how they were in possession of it. BTW, they were advertising payment if they printed your stories!!!
Copyright laws are just that; so I always contact photographers (especially of stock images) prior to publishing any work. As Shannon said, none have never said no, and some have even thanked me for asking permission.
Felicia,
You’re right. I spoke to a jewelry designer yesterday and she was so thankful that I asked her permission to use her images. She also had no idea that people could just swipe them from her website.
I think when you ask permission and also provide a linkback people are less likely to come after you for copyright b/c you are not claiming the images as your own.
such a good question. i always contact anyone i am writing about and like shannon says above always i receive a yes, and if i can’t get a hold i do the same…credit them w/ the website.
i will say i have been pretty hap hazard about the fashion week photos. i’ve been a bit lazy about giving photo credit to elle and style.com. my bad…i just get lazy.
as in terms of embedding videos…i think by the very fact that they allow you to embed videos by making code readily available it’s totes fine. also…most of those videos have their credit on them. so that seems kosher.
i’ve often wondered about this question on a larger level…like as blogs grow and increasingly become resources what will happen in the creative/intellectual property realm? it’s a great discussion…and am happy we have this blog to pow-wow about this stuff.
I have a disclaimer on the my blog that states that none of the images are taken by me. I also state the source of where I got the picture from on each posting. Well I try to anyway.
Hello Jennine and hello everyone,
Thank you for all the input. It is much appreciated! It is great to know that people do pay attention to copyright issues.
Shannon-
Your coverage of Emmys 2007 on The Fashion Rag is one of the posts I read before I asked Jennine the question. I like the fact that you give credits and that’s what I have always been doing (except for photos taken by myself). But the three blogs you gave credits to didn’t credit their images and I wonder if they actually own or have the permission to post them…(or am I missing something?)
I guess I am still slightly puzzled by this…
Meighan-
As for fashion show videos, I think you are quite right. Some websites (like Elle.com) intentionally make the videos publicly sharable and the credits are in the footage. I think I will go for those videos for my posts. (I will still put a link to the original source, of course.)
Hi PJ,
Glad you read my post on The Fashion Rag.
I guess from my own experience, when I buy an image from stock and whatnot, I don’t post credit. Many times when I see images posted on blogs–especially celebrity ones, if they don’t post credit I assume they in some way paid for that photo. There are some where it is easy to tell they stole the photo with “getty images” or “wire images” watermarked on it. I depend on if the blog is a reliable source of information and not just a haphazard blogger. The one thing I want to avoid at all costs is being in a perez hilton situation and being sued.
This is a very interesting topic. I have to admit, I haven’t asked the owners permission of pictures I used, yet, however I have always given credit to the source of the pictures.
But as I see how many of you ask for permission, I might start doing this as well. It’s mainly an issue of lazynes, not doing it, since you have to wait for the answer until you can publish your post.
One thing I’ve always wondered about is how I should credit images that have been customised by myself (in collages etc) if I’ve taken them from Google image searches or magazines. Is there any accepted rules?
Hello!
I’m looking for the answer on fashion copycat.
One day I hear that fashion has very little intellectual property protection, it has trademark protection, but NO COPYRIGHT protection and no pattern protection. It means that anybody can copy any garment and sell it as their own design. This is because fashion is too utilitarian to qualify for copyright protection.
Another day I see low budget fashion store taking the gloves off the floor because they copied design too much??? Apparently you can copy but you need to change at least one thing on the design (add one button more…etc).
Confused…
Can anybody explain this please to me?
Thank youuuuuuu, I appreciate!