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Charles Incharge wrote:
>
> Hi All - I am thinking of writing an e-paper on an aspect of network
> security (firewalls and such). The paper includes screen shots of different
> application GUIs - some are commercial products, other shareware.
How about covering the Open Source products?
> I do have one issue, though -- are these screen shots of application GUIs
> protected by copyright law?
Yes.
> If so, are all the titles and website that discuss software (that include
> GUI screenshots) violations of copyright law if they do not have specific
> written permission?
No.
Copyright law has built-in exceptions for "fair use", such as quoting in a
review or an academic paper, or creating a parody or ...
Details differ from country to country, and there's a lot of case law
about this. In the US, the Supreme Court has made some good decisions
in this area. For example, they ruled that taping a record for use in
the car or taping a TV movie to watch later are fair use, despite howls
of protest from the industries affected.
As long as what you do falls within the limits of "fair use", it is
entirely legal. Consult a lawyer if there's any doubt about where
those limits are.
Also consider whether someone irritated by a bad review might bring a
spurious suit. Against a big company, this can be a disaster even if
the law is clearly on your side.
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