Is is legal for me to scan and post images I tear out of magazines on my blog? Do you know New York State Law?

For example, if I go through Vogue or Food & Wine and I see something I want to talk about, can I write comments on it, scan and post it if I cite the source?

I would email these publications and ask for permission, but I doubt they would give me the time of day (unless it was to sue me!), and I couldn't possibly ask for permission for 100's of specific images. Or maybe I would have to...

What about the photographer (if applicable)? If the magazine gives me permission, could the photographer sue even if the magazine owns the image and I have no way of crediting them?

I would not want any trouble!
Hopefully there is someone out there that knows the actual law for New York State and can help me out :)

Thank you!!

Charis P

This is a federal copyright law matter, not New York law, and the vast majority of the photographs in magazines like Vogue and Food & Wine are protected from unauthorized use by copyright law. Photographers usually assign any rights they have to photos to the magazines that purchase them or are staff photographers making any photographs they produce for the magazine the property of the magazine publisher. Some photos are stock photos whose copyrights are owned by photo licensing companies like Getty Images. It is those images you have to be most careful about because those copyright owners tend to be vigorous in monitoring and enforcing their photo copyrights.

Generally speaking unauthorized republishing of the photos is copyright infringement and can incur some hefty statutory penalties. You mentioned you would be publishing them to make commentary on them, and in that context you might have a basic defense against copyright infringement which is know as "fair use." In its most general sense, fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and "transformative" purpose such as to comment upon, criticize or parody a copyrighted work. If the publication is limited, e.g. from a photo layout from Vogue you only republish one or two photos as reference points for comments about how magazines hold out impossible and unhealthy standards for physical beauty, then you might have such an obvious case for fair use that the copyright holder will not even bother to take any action against your publication.

On the other hand keep in mind that some stock photo company's will file a copyright infringement claim against you even if they see a possible and even persuasive and compelling fair use defense in the publication. Look for watermarks in the photo, e.g. a watermark stating "All Photos Property of Getty Images" and avoid using them in your blog.

The safest course of action would be to ask the publisher for permission to use the photos. If you explain that they are being used only for commentary purposes they may give you permssion to publish. On the other hand if you ask and they refuse to give permission or inform you the photos were licensed from a photo licensor you may have undermined any fair use defense later on if you decide to use them anyway since your request could be deemed as an acknowledgment that the copyright would be enforceable against your use of any such photos. Alternatively you can just simply publish them, hope for the best, and try to use a fair use defense if the copyright owner takes any action against you.

Harlequin Eyes

Ask the magazines that publish the images. Usually they're paying photographers to take the pictures specifically for them, so they should have the rights to the images, but if they don't they would tell you how to get in touch with the photographers. Even if it is just from a magazine, the photos are still someone's copyright.

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