Use of copyrighted material in a student project that will be publicly available

[Tyvent]

I'm in Massachusetts. My coding group is creating a donut review website as an exercise in coding frameworks. The site will be publicly available through a third party (Heroku). I'm aware that we'll need to ensure that our site complies with Heroku's user agreement.

Beyond that, our wishlist of features includes one element that is likely copyrighted but protected under fair use. However, I'd like a second opinion to be more sure of our footing:

When the user logs in, we want to play an audio clip of Homer Simpson speaking one of his iconic lines: "Mmmmmm, donut." Is this use protected? Again, the site is publicly available but strictly non-commercial.

 

[FlyingRon]

And why do you think this is fair use? It doesn't sound like fair use at all but rather both copyright and trademark infringement. While you could use the brand names of the donuts under fair use to review them, you're not doing a review of Homer Simpson just exploiting him for the benefit of your site.

Further, even if it were fair use, you can expect that the hosting provider will just rollover and delete your content in order to shield them from any liability if Matt Groenig or Fox or whoever has the rights complains.

 

[quincy]

I'm in Massachusetts. My coding group is creating a donut review website as an exercise in coding frameworks. The site will be publicly available through a third party (Heroku). I'm aware that we'll need to ensure that our site complies with Heroku's user agreement.

Beyond that, our wishlist of features includes one element that is likely copyrighted but protected under fair use. However, I'd like a second opinion to be more sure of our footing:

When the user logs in, we want to play an audio clip of Homer Simpson speaking one of his iconic lines: "Mmmmmm, donut." Is this use protected? Again, the site is publicly available but strictly non-commercial.

It could be a fair use if not used for commercial purposes but you are right that the clip is copyright-protected. And it is important to remember that fair use is an affirmative defense to infringement, not permission to use copyrighted material.

Ultimately, whether a use is a fair use or not will be determined by a court, this after the copyright holder takes exception to the use and sues.

Watch this video titled, "A Fairy Use Tale" to learn more about the fair use defense and to see how short clips can be used fairly: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2007/03/fairy-use-tale

Because there will always be a risk of legal action taken against unauthorized users of copyrighted material, it is legally wisest to get permission to use copyrighted material from the holder of the rights.

 

[xylene]

When the user logs in, we want to play an audio clip of Homer Simpson speaking one of his iconic lines: "Mmmmmm, donut." Is this use protected?

A clever login sound is not fair use - even if it is on a non commercial project/cloud website.

Honestly this sounds very half baked, quite silly and better to simply be omitted. Lots of people roll with no sound on anyways.

 

[quincy]

A clever login sound is not fair use - even if it is on a non commercial project/cloud website.

Honestly this sounds very half baked, quite silly and better to simply be omitted. Lots of people roll with no sound on anyways.

I actually think it a clever way to introduce the student project to users. That said, it can also be a legally risky introduction to the project.

I read Heroku's terms of use and I suspect the video clip would be pulled from the site if used.

 

[Tyvent]

Thanks, folks! I've never had to deal with fair use issues before, so this was all very helpful.

 

[quincy]

Thanks, folks! I've never had to deal with fair use issues before, so this was all very helpful.

You're welcome, Tyvent. We thank you for the thanks.

Good luck with your student project.