Copyright Information and Fair Use

Copyright Information

All materials not related to Forumotion.com or the created works of Masashi Kishimoto are considered copyrighted by Narutoninja-rpg.com. Before any item is used please get the permission of the Administration Stuff before using the material and insure a copy of the permission is located or linked to the material.

Fair Use Section

"Fair use" is a legal doctrine which may permit the use of copyrighted material in www.narutoninja-rpg.com under a restricted set of criteria. It is not a blanket permission to use text, images or other copyrighted materials freely in www.narutoninja-rpg.com.

Content used under this doctrine on Narutoninja-rpg.com must meet the United States legal tests for fair use. Furthermore, www.narutoninja-rpg.com places additional restrictions on "fair use" of copyrighted material; the image or content can only be used if it is not replaceable with a free content image of equal or better quality. This might, for example, allow for the inclusion of a photo documenting a historical event such as the Hindenburg disaster, but a simple publicity still of a vehicle, building or living person will be subject to much greater scrutiny.

Contents

Under U.S. copyright law, almost all work published after 1922 has an active copyright (there are exceptions, however — see United States copyright law for details). In general, the use of copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder is copyright infringement, and is illegal. As such, on any wikia in www.narutoninja-rpg.com, which is hosted in the United States by Fourmotion.com, we are normally only able to use material that is not under copyright or is available under a sufficiently free license.

An important exception to this rule exists, recognized in a clause in the copyright act that describes a limited right to use copyrighted material without permission of the copyright holder — what is known as fair use (or "fair dealing" in other countries, where standards may differ). This clause exists to protect criticism and commentary; to prevent copyright holders from restricting free speech. This page is meant as a guideline for dealing with fair use materials on the Narutoninja-rpg.com — it provides general guidance on what is or is not likely to be fair use and how you can best assist editors when attempting to include material under fair use. However, it is not official policy. You, as the uploader, are legally responsible for determining whether your contributions are legal.

If you use part of a copyrighted work under "fair use" (except for short inline quotations), you must make a note of that fact (along with names and dates). It is our goal to be able to freely redistribute as much of Narutoninja-rpg.com's material as possible, so original images and media files licensed under a free content license or in the public domain are greatly preferred to fair use of copyrighted files. Never use materials that infringe the copyrights of others. This could create legal liabilities and seriously hurt the project. If in doubt, write it yourself. The www.narutoninja-rpg.com reserves the right to remove unfree copyrighted content at any time.

Note that copyright law governs the creative expression of ideas, not the ideas or information themselves. Therefore, it is perfectly legal to read an encyclopedia article or other work, reformulate it in your own words, and submit it to the project.

The Copyright Act of 1976 sets out four factors to consider when deciding if the copying of a copyrighted work is fair and allowable without the consent of the copyright holder (17 U.S.C. § 107):

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

the nature of the copyrighted work;

the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of Fair Use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.[1]

Briefly, these indicate that

The use must not attempt to "supersede the objects" of the original, but rather, must be scholarly or critical.

The less of the original that is used in relation to the whole, the more likely that use is fair, though the importance of the specific portion is also considered (as quoting the most important part may attempt to "supersede" the original).

The use must not infringe on the copyright holder's ability to exploit his original work (for instance, by acting as a direct market substitute for the original work), though not through criticism or parody.

To these, the project adds that if the media could be repeated by an editor then 'fair use' is not sufficient criteria for inclusion. Editors are asked to upload a free equivalent instead.

There is also a substantial body of case law which can be consulted, and is useful for determining what some of the vague terms in these factors (such as "substantiality" and "purpose") have translated to previously in a court of law. Stanford University Libraries has put together a summary of some of the most relevant cases on the subject.

On www.narutoninja-rpg.com, copyrighted, unlicensed material may be used under fair use if we firmly believe that the use would be judged to be fair if we were taken to court. Whenever possible, however, "free" material should be used instead of fair use material to avoid compromising the goal of a free encyclopedia and to avoid unnecessary legal exposures.