February 7, 2008

Flyer Admits Error

The battle between Tennessee state Rep. Stacey Campfield and the Memphis Flyer over the paper's publication of a doctored photo slandering Campfield is over and Campfield won.

Update: I just got word that the Knoxville News Sentinel is making calls to people who have used their original un-doctored photo of Campfield demanding they stop using it because it is copyrighted material. They have every right to make that request, but "Fair Use Doctrine" under U.S. copyright law probably protects the noncommercial use of the image without the newspaper's approval. The fair use doctrine allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. Clearly, websites that are posting the photo in order to compare it to the doctored version in the course of commenting on the Flyer's decision to use the doctored version (which it swiped from a blogger) would fall into the "review" category.

Update: As I urged him to do, Campfield mentioned his fair-use rights to the folks at the News Sentinel and, to their credit, the paper backed down. Campfield has the details