Terms of Service
Each and every reader is required to acknowledge in advance, as a terms of service prerequisite, that all material provided by The Ethical Skeptic is to be used for entertainment purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information, nor for the availability of this information itself. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages incurred from the communication, use, or abuse of this information. All recitations regarding health practices, diseases, treatments, or supplementation are intended to be practiced only under the direct knowledge and supervision by one’s own medical doctor. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at anytime and without notice.
Title 17 U.S.C. § 107 “Fair Use” Act
The Ethical Skeptic takes United States laws regarding freedom of speech and Fair Use (17 U.S.C. § 107) very seriously
All work contained in this website, its blog, and the work of The Ethical Skeptic collectively here and in other media is subject to © 2008 – 2022, The Ethical Skeptic. All rights reserved.
You are allowed limited use of the subject material above, provided all the following conditions are met:
- Attribution is given to ‘The Ethical Skeptic’ or @ethicalskeptic.
- The material is not not altered, misrepresented in its conclusions, nor are portions of the material phrase-lifted to change its context or meaning, nor is the material itself imparted a different meaning or context.
- The material is not used for commercial or any other form of revenue/donation-generating purposes.
- The material is not used to support subversive, violent, disinformation, misinformation, malinformation or propaganda campaigns of any form, private or public.
The purpose of this website, including all of its author’s ideas, expressions, images and opinions expressed therein, is solely for the purpose of commentary, criticism, reporting, parody, teaching and to act as a free resource within a public domain set of topics. All of the contentions in this blog are the opinions of the author, expressed about the public conduct, assertions in the media and socially promoted actions of persons or groups who have chosen to take a public stage on these topics; and who have made certain fatalistic and public contentions inside domains of reasonable dispute. The opinions in the blog challenge the soundness of these expressed ideas and the philosophy behind them, as a matter of public interest. None of the opinions expressed within this blog are intended to impugn personally those people or cause harm to the organizations or persons mentioned. Free speech domain is parametrized by the critique of publicly promoted opinions, or authoritative disagreement on issues, conclusions, policies, agendas, statements, approaches or matters of fact. That is indeed the purpose of this blog.
None of the commentary, imagery, or intellectual property on this site is used, either directly or indirectly to promote products, services or people; nor are they employed to derive compensation/revenue of any kind, benefit career advancement, nor exploit benefit of any kind for any individual or organization. It is the practice of this blog and its author to rigorously defend its rights. These rights include current active retention of counsel, vigorous pursuit of frivolous litigation or harassment and defense of the rights afforded us in the United States Constitution and Section 107 of Title 17 (17 U.S.C. § 107). All quotations and images employed in this blog are used in a transformative, instructive, related, informing and limited scope employment compliant with enforcement of 17 U.S.C. § 107 precedent and interpretation. All parodies are restricted to parody as commentary and instruction pertaining to the subject matter of the material itself, and are not meant to be construed as a general disparagement of any individuals mentioned. All the work, except where explicitly quoted and cited, are the creative works of the author and solely his ideas. Any similarity to a previously published phrase or work is purely coincidental.
Copyright Law of the United States of America
and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States CodeChapter 1 – Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright
Section 107 . Limitations on exclusive rights: “Fair use”
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Legal Guide for Bloggers:
https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/IP
When can I borrow someone’s images for my blog post?
Images are subject to the same copyright and fair use laws as written materials (17 U.S.C. § 107), so here too you’ll want to think about the fair use factors that might apply. Is the image used in a transformative way? Are you taking only what’s necessary to convey your point? A thumbnail (reduced-size) image, or a portion of a larger image is more likely to be fair use than taking an entire full-size image.
I want to parody someone. Can I use some of their images and text in my parody?
Yes, parody is recognized as a type of fair use, like other commentary and criticism, and courts recognize that a parody must often take recognizable elements from the work it comments upon. Courts do distinguish parody from satire. Parody copies from the object it mocks, while satire uses recognizable elements from the original work to mock something else or society in general.