Potential Copyright Issue

[CopyrightMike]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

Hi there, I'm currently talking myself round and round in circles on a potential copyright issue I have, so would greatly appreciate some advice. I've designed a number of phone widgets which I plan to sell in the Google Play store. Some of the widgets play music. People like to see what they're playing and so the widgets make use of album cover art. To advertise these widgets in the Play store I plan to use screen shots from my own phone that show the widgets in action. Am I going to end up in a legal mess with record label lawyers chasing after me if I show their album cover art? Advertising these widgets without using cover art is going to be very difficult. Using well known album cover art will make it very clear to those viewing the widgets what they do. I was hoping it would be considered 'fair use', but from what I can understand it isn't? I'm not actually selling anything that contains someone else's art work – if you buy my widgets, no cover art is supplied with them. The widget will use the cover art from the music that you have on your phone. Also, the widgets trim the cover art into a circular shape and some of them partially obscure the art, but apart from that, no other modifications are made. Thanks, Mike.

 

[FlyingRon]

I'm still having a hard time understanding what exactly you are doing. Even if your application doesn't play music, displaying the cover art is subject to all kinds of restrictions as well. Where are you getting the art? If you're setting up your own squeezebox server or the like, you're violating the copyrights by including that artwork there. If you're using one of the licensed cover art servers, I'd have to ask if you are compliant with the use of that server. Unlike the MUSIC itself, there's typically not any compulsory or blanket licensing for the art.

If you're infringing with the application, the advertising is infringing as well.

This isn't really fair use. Use in advertising is NOT a fair use protected use.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

Hi there, I'm currently talking myself round and round in circles on a potential copyright issue I have, so would greatly appreciate some advice. I've designed a number of phone widgets which I plan to sell in the Google Play store. Some of the widgets play music. People like to see what they're playing and so the widgets make use of album cover art. To advertise these widgets in the Play store I plan to use screen shots from my own phone that show the widgets in action. Am I going to end up in a legal mess with record label lawyers chasing after me if I show their album cover art? Advertising these widgets without using cover art is going to be very difficult. Using well known album cover art will make it very clear to those viewing the widgets what they do. I was hoping it would be considered 'fair use', but from what I can understand it isn't? I'm not actually selling anything that contains someone else's art work – if you buy my widgets, no cover art is supplied with them. The widget will use the cover art from the music that you have on your phone. Also, the widgets trim the cover art into a circular shape and some of them partially obscure the art, but apart from that, no other modifications are made. Thanks, Mike.

Like FlyingRon, I am not real clear in what you intend to do with the cover art.

The cover art is copyright-protected but it can potentially be used for identification/descriptive purposes. If you are not using the music from the album, however, using it as a way to advertise your own product would be infringement - even if you are using it as an example of what your app does.

I guess I do not see why you need to show the album cover art.

If you want to use the record label album cover art to attract consumers to your app or as a way to advertise your app, this would not be a fair use of the material. It would be infringement.

Could you, perhaps, explain a little bit better what your intended purpose is? That could help.

 

[CopyrightMike]

Like FlyingRon, I am not real clear in what you intend to do with the cover art.

The cover art is copyright-protected but it can potentially be used for identification/descriptive purposes. If you are not using the music from the album, however, using it as a way to advertise your own product would be infringement - even if you are using it as an example of what your app does.

I guess I do not see why you need to show the album cover art.

If you want to use the record label album cover art to attract consumers to your app or as a way to advertise your app, this would not be a fair use of the material. It would be infringement.

Could you, perhaps, explain a little bit better what your intended purpose is? That could help.

Thanks for the speedy replies.

I'll try to explain a little more fully what I'm hoping to do:

Android phones have little programs called 'Widgets'. These widgets can perform a variety of simple tasks e.g. A clock widget that shows the time, a calendar widget that shows your calendar entries etc. I've designed and created some very nice widgets that play music. The cover art the widget shows is the cover art for the music that is on your phone. So if you're using one of my widgets to play, for example, Pink Floyd's dark side of the moon, you'll see their iconic prism splitting a beam of white light into the visible light spectrum on a black background in the widget. This cover art is on your phone if you've legally purchased their album and is not supplied by me. I'm only using their cover art in advertising the widget to show potential customers what it looks like when functioning. The cover art in the advertisement would be from albums that I have on my phone that I've taken a screen shot of. Here are some examples of something similar. As you can see, they've used album cover art in their listings:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shamrockstudios.zwskin.creatif
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ZooperSkin.UBER.mPOD
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vish.zwskin.quadro&hl=en picture 5 & 6

Thanks again for your advice.

 

[quincy]

Thanks for the speedy replies.

I'll try to explain a little more fully what I'm hoping to do:

Android phones have little programs called 'Widgets'. These widgets can perform a variety of simple tasks e.g. A clock widget that shows the time, a calendar widget that shows your calendar entries etc. I've designed and created some very nice widgets that play music. The cover art the widget shows is the cover art for the music that is on your phone. So if you're using one of my widgets to play, for example, Pink Floyd's dark side of the moon, you'll see their iconic prism splitting a beam of white light into the visible light spectrum on a black background in the widget. This cover art is on your phone if you've legally purchased their album and is not supplied by me. I'm only using their cover art in advertising the widget to show potential customers what it looks like when functioning. The cover art in the advertisement would be from albums that I have on my phone that I've taken a screen shot of. Here are some examples of something similar. As you can see, they've used album cover art in their listings:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shamrockstudios.zwskin.creatif
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ZooperSkin.UBER.mPOD
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vish.zwskin.quadro&hl=en picture 5 & 6

Thanks again for your advice.

If I am understanding everything correctly, your use in advertising of album covers, the music of which you are not licensed to sell or planning to sell, could be seen as infringing on the copyright held in the cover art.

You can look into licensing various cover art for purposes of advertising your app, but whether any license would be granted is a question mark.

That said, you will probably want to have an attorney in your area do a personal review of your app anyway, to best ensure you have protected yourself adequately from any other suits that could arise, and this is one area that you will want to check out.