copyright question - images from films

[Michael Newcity]

Thorough guidance on what use of film stills is permitted under U.S.
copyright--as opposed to the policies followed by publishers--can be found
in The "Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Society For Cinema Studies,
"Fair Usage Publication of Film Stills" by Kristin Thompson, published in
Cinema Journal, volume 32, No. 2 (Winter 1993), pp.3-20.  There is little
doubt that film stills are protected by copyright.  They are considered
derivative works.  Sadly, there is no "bright line" rule to determine
whether a court will consider the use of a still image taken from a motion
picture to be a fair use or an infringement.  However, the conclusion of one
copyright scholar quoted in the SCS Report was:

"As a teacher and writer in the field of copyright law, I am firmly
convinced that the use of stills to illustrate  serious works of film
scholarship constitutes" fair use" within the meaning of section 107 of the
Copyright Act of 1976, and I would urge the Society, its members, and their
cooperating publishers to proceed on the basis of this understanding of the
law....In sum, I think the case for "fair use" in connection with scholarly,
analytical,
or critical use of frame enlargements is a particularly strong one."

Though copyright owners have sued over the use of stills taken from motion
pictures, those suits tend to involve commercial uses, e.g., the use of film
clips and stills for a program on the Biography Channel.  There don't seem
to have been any lawsuits for scholarly uses of stills, though this may have
more to do with the decidedly non-deep pockets of scholars and their
publishers.

Michael Newcity
Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies
Duke University
Room 303 Languages Building
Box 90260
Durham, NC
Telephone: [1] (919) 660-3150
Fax: [1] (919) 660-3188

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