Can I use a photo of the Marie Antoinette poster on my public blog? Does this fall under fair use?

Question

It's not on a commercial site, and I'm critiquing part of the movie.

Answer 1

I would say no, because your commentary is on the movie rather than on the poster. It thus would not fall under the copyright law's fair use exception: when the use is to comment upon, criticize or parody the copyrighted work.

As a practical matter, there would be a PR nightmare if the copyright owner sued a reviewer for this.

Advice: Follow the law, don't take chances.

Answer 2

This is a little tricky, but I'd say it falls under fair use, and no court would ultimately decide otherwise.

The trickiness comes if you assume the poster could be held by a different copyright hold than the movie, in which case the fair use exception for comment on the movie would arguably not create a fair use exception of use of the poster in talking about the movie. But in this case, the movie studio almost certainly holds the copyright for both, and though in theory they are separate copyrights, in practice they will be treated as one.

Throw in a comment on the image in the poster and how it relates to your critique if you are worried.

Also, in practice, I doubt you will run into any trouble. If you get a letter from the studio, it isn't worth fighting even if you are right, just take the image down.

Answer 3

Posting a small version of the movie poster to illustrate a movie review would fall under fair use.

Posting a full size downloadable high res scan of it wouldn't.

BUT..... if the copyright holder doesn't like it, he can file a DMRA complaint with your ISP, and you will have the hassle of fighting it. Won't cost you anything, but the ISP may simply take down the page when/if they get the complaint.

Richard