SaltyMilk: Is This Image Copyright Infringement?
A while ago I used to check out a new lads site SaltyMilk in which talked about the latest and greatest models on the planet. SaltyMilk used to post pictures from models profiles and photoshoots. About 3 months or so ago the site was sold and since then the owner has just been posting images straight from Magazines. Since this time I have completely gone off the site. I dont really see the point of just posting pictures from magazine photoshoots on a blog and hope for as much traffic as possible from Google. Whats your thoughts?
2 Comments
To answer the question in your title, if this new company is not getting permission to scan and republish these images, the uses almost certainly are. Though thumbnails that are used to link to the work were ruled a fair use in the Perfect 10 v. Google case, it seems unlikely that this use would meet that standard.
Other sites that have engaged in similar activities have run into copyright troubles. Perez Hilton, for example was sued by various photo agencies for his use.
There are many reasons that could explain why they haven’t been sued or had takedowns filed against them, it’s possible that the magazines don’t think it is worth their while or are unaware of the infringement. But it definitely could happen.
Once again though, we’re assuming they don’t have permission for this use, which they may well have.
However, I do agree that I don’t see the point. If I can get the images elsewhere and in higher quality, there isn’t much point.
It is a copyright infringement. More than that, Corrigon (http://www.corrigon.com) specializes in finding such infringements on the web.