Aren't GIFs a form of piracy?

[Tadaima]

Almost all GIFs are derivatives. It may be on a very small scale, but it's basically micro-piracy. Most are short clips, but some drag on for as much as a minute. How are they even legal?

Better yet, how do sites like Facebook get away with giving them such a large push? Wouldn't they be pissing off their media partners in doing so?

Spoiler

P.S., It's a soft G, as in "giraffe"

 

[Kayhan]

SunhiLegend is the villain GAF deserves.

 

[EchoChamber]

It's a fucking hard g.

 

[Breads]

fair use

 

[hamboner]

I'm with EchoChamber.

 

[Princess Viola]

because fair use is a thing that exists

 

[BronsonLee]

Only if your product is so shit it can be spoiled by a 10-15 second clip in low quality with no sound

 

[Sanjuro]

Yes, they are illegal, but only if you print them out.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Brief clips of anything fall under fair use.

 

[weemadarthur]

Use in parody is protected, as well as Fair Use for certain purposes.

If not illegal behavior, then it shouldn't be classified as piracy.

It could still be considered unethical in some schools of thought.

 

[Media]

fair use

And done.

Hell, those fan vids you see on youtube are completely legal on the video side too; it's fair use. The music, however, since it hasn't been changed, is not. And that's 4+ minutes of clips.

Also, gif not jif, thanks.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

In the UK the answer is "it depends". Certainly fair use is not as powerful in the UK as it is in the US.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

fair use

How does that work in America?

I mean in Germany it would be illegal, depending how long that clip is. You are still using copyrighted material, just not in MKV, AVI etc. form but as a GIF.

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

No, but webms are

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

Only if your product is so shit it can be spoiled by a 10-15 second clip in low quality with no sound

YOU FORGOT TO ALT CAP!


Gifs kinda seems like ads to me, like I have searched out movies from gifs I have seen.

 

[Camper Van Beethoven]

Avatars are piracy.

 

[Corpekata]

How does that work in America?

I mean in Germany it would be illegal, depending how long that clip is. You are still using copyrighted material, just not in MKV, AVI etc. form but as a GIF.

The general rule of thumb is if it appears "reasonable" and wouldn't take away audience from the real product. It would be very hard to get a judge to agree that a gif is a violation of fair use.

Given most gifs are under 10 seconds long and do not contain notable aspects like audio, it would be very rare circumstances that would cause them to be considered piracy or illegial.

The only circumstances I could see it applying are like, for Vines and other content that can realistically fit into a very short window.

 

[Oppo]

depends on who you ask. remember the whole sampling debate in the 80s.

olympic cronies would say yes.

but even then it's for zero damages, so.

 

[Nester99]

Micro-piracy?

I don't even...

 

[system11]

How is writeable media still allowed? Most of it is used for infringement on a massive scale.

 

[Joqu]

I'm a form of piracy

 

[CHC]

Soon people will be micro-pirating whole movies on Tumblr - with thousands of gifs, all with yellow captions!

 

[zoukka]

No. Your freedom of expression should guarantee the use of short clips of sound/video to illustrate a point. Of course the pervert war against music sampling has fucked up perceptions but that should not dissuade us. It's not piracy by any fucking standard. It's called a reference.

 

[KonradLaw]

I mean in Germany it would be illegal, depending how long that clip is. You are still using copyrighted material, just not in MKV, AVI etc. form but as a GIF.

Doesn't Germany have Bagatelldelikt? Not every illegal act is a crime.

 

[zethren]

Fair use, and also it's a hard G.

Graphic.
GUH-raphic.

All else is ridiculous lol

 

[StickSoldier]

I haven't seen sunhi in awhile. Has he made any Gifs lately? He's the master of those man it's crazy. I never seen someone who can make them so fast while maintaining quality that is unmatched. He is a genius really.

 

[Tadaima]

In the UK the answer is "it depends". Certainly fair use is not as powerful in the UK as it is in the US.

Should probably have mentioned that I'm a UK citizen. When I was working in media services, companies would always be overly protective of their work and how it was used. GIFs just shit all over that.

 

[Massive Nights]

I've always wondered how Frinkiac and Morbotron haven't been shut down.

 

[Mindwipe]

In the UK the answer is "it depends". Certainly fair use is not as powerful in the UK as it is in the US.

Indeed, but you have to reproduce a "substantive" part of a copyrighted work. Most GIFs are very short, but impact is also part of that test, so something like a goal from the football is probably infringing.

 

[marrec]

Almost all GIFs are derivatives. It may be on a very small scale, but it's basically micro-piracy. Most are short clips, but some drag on for as much as a minute. How are they even legal?

Better yet, how do sites like Facebook get away with giving them such a large push? Wouldn't they be pissing off their media partners in doing so?

Spoiler

P.S., It's a soft G, as in "giraffe"

GIFs aren't piracy, they aren't micro-piracy either. The law is clear about Fair Use and GIFs will never fall outside of Fair Use unless Sunhi starts selling views.

 

[allenpergallon]

Definitely falls under fair use, but only if you use a hard G.

 

[Kibbles]

 

[Corpekata]

I've always wondered how Frinkiac and Morbotron haven't been shut down.

Sites like those are probably only good for business. They let their fans do advertising for them for free.

This is even ignoring that it would be covered under fair use. There's just no reason for Fox to want to shut them down.

 

[pretty done]

youtube is piracy

I'm 100% sure you could watch Game of Thrones from season 1 to the end of season 6 if you just know the correct order of all the scenes

 

[marrec]

I've alerted Sony of your micro-piracy, prepare to be litigated.

 

[Mindwipe]

I've always wondered how Frinkiac and Morbotron haven't been shut down.

Fox appear to have taken an active decision to let them live. Which is interesting and very, very non-Fox.

One wonders why they aren't trying to at least commercialise them though.

 

[dIEHARD]

I've alerted Sony of your micro-piracy, prepare to be litigated.

Thats got layers of piracy though. Source is clearly a camcorder.

 

[Japanmanx3]

Getting away with Team hard G everyday I post on GAF son.

 

[nubbe]

This gif is made of a screener
The irony

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Everything in the OP is wrong.

 

[Phu]

We've all lost if gifs are ever considered piracy.

 

[snacknuts]

Fair use, and also it's a hard G.

Graphic.
GUH-raphic.

All else is ridiculous lol

It's a soft G. The sound it makes in the word it begins is irrelevant. See: the U in SCUBA.

 

[Killer Queen]

Fair use, and also it's a hard G.

Graphic.
GUH-raphic.

All else is ridiculous lol

But the acronym isn't graphic. The g is followed by an I. Like Giraffe

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Indeed, but you have to reproduce a "substantive" part of a copyrighted work. Most GIFs are very short, but impact is also part of that test, so something like a goal from the football is probably infringing.

Yes except that broadcast sports are not considered dramatic performances for copyright purposes and are dealt with under their own genus of broadcast right.

 

[SparkleMotion]

Gif is pronounced with a soft g. I don't know how this agends that it's a hard g got started.

 

[Data West]

WWE took down several popular wrestling gif twitters and a lot of indie promotions do consider it some form of piracy.

So yes.

 

[The Albatross]

OP is right, most skirt the edges of legality between fair use and reproductions of copyright. The NFL and NBA Used to strictly crack down on gifs posted on Twitter from their live broadcasts, but then the NBA realized how much more profitable it would be for them to encourage fans to post gifs, and the NFL slowly followed suit.

Still, sometimes major sites get cease and desist orders from the NFL. BleacheReport used to have their weekly gif posts, and the NFL made them stop.

 

[Ladekabel]

It's only piracy if you call them jif.

 

[guek]

My mind immediately went to

To answer the op though, no, I don't believe so

 

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