Affiliate Marketing and “Fair Use” of Images

[Luke]

My buddy @Richard Newman - Attorney wrote this for my blog but I decided it might be a better fit here on the forum:

Affiliate Marketing and “Fair Use” of Images

Images and those that produce such content are protected by copyright law. Affiliates often post memes and other videos and images on various social media platforms to promote various products and services. However, the use of such copyrighted content without permissions from the owner can pose problems. With the exception of something like a Creative Commons license, merely giving the author credit is not enough.

“Fair use” is an often misunderstood exception. The policy underlying the fair use doctrine is to permit use of copyrighted materials where there is a distinct societal benefit (e.g., criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research) or creation of a new work. The exception does not permit mere copying a protected work, without anything more, and profiting from it.

Fair use factors weighed by courts include:

• The purpose and character of the use (public interest v. merely seek profit)
• Whether the use is “transformative” by adding a new expression
• Whether such use is of a commercial nature or is