Hi, I whould like to know if it is legal to show a picture of the front page of a Transformers comics on a forum or a web site or a section of a page inside the comics like the image of a Transformes.

Thank you in advance!

 

As far as I know, it's against the rules here, but not sure on other forums.

 

ok but I dont talk about forums rules, I want to know if it legal to do it.

thanks

 

Check inside the publication, you'll most likely find a disclaimer that says something like; "reproduction in part or in whole prohibited." Which pretty much means you can't copy it in any way, including posting onto forums.
Quite how 'they' would prosecute you I don't know...

 

wikipedia uses a fair use definition on their site" something in legalese about a fair use clause" which basically boils down to if you are using the image to describe something on a website or blog and are using the picture to aid in this description then to them it is OK...but if you are just posting it to go" oh ah..look at the robots" then no not legal.

 

ok thanks

 

The cover of a comic is fine, you're pretty much giving it extra advertising. A single image from inside a comic is extremely unlikely to result in any legal hassle, however a whole page, or the entire comic would.

Lots of folk use comic images as sigs, as long as you're not re-distributing a lot of artwork, you won't have a problem.

 

ok but just to understand well, it's not legal to show image from a comics, but it's legal to show screenshot of an animated serie like that Transformers Movie (1986 Animated) - Transformers Screen Captures - TFW2005.COM ?

 

What is it you actually want to do? You're being very mysterious.

 

I just want to know what I can put on my web site and what I cannot put to be legal.

 

This really isn't an easy question and would depend on many factors including what your website is and how much of the protected material you are using. Under US law, fair use permits you to use materials based on a balancing of four elements:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

You would need to consider these factors in determining whether your intended use falls within the fair use exception.

Also, it's not "illegal" to throw an image up on a website (meaning that the police won't bust down your door for it). However, you could be sued by the owner of the mark for money damages. It's a subtle distinction, I know, but just wanted to throw this out there.

Best advice I can give here is (i) make sure you clearly credit the source for each image you use and note that the Transformers symbols, etc., are copyrighted and owned by Hasbro (you can find language to this effect on almost every transformers website) and (ii) when in doubt shoot an email to the author/artist explaining what you want to do and asking for permission.

 

ok thanks for the good answers.

 

If you use images that were publically released as preview images by IDW or whoever, and you're not using them to make money off them, I doubt anyone is going to mind all that much, but it does depend on what you're planning to do.