Arguments would go unanswered, works uncritiqued, theories undeveloped. Rather than encouraging the production of new works, copyright protections would deter them. If every blogger, book reviewer, scholar, and nonfiction author who quoted a paragraph or two from another work had to fear a copyright suit, the cultural conversation would atrophy. But Shields has a good case that they constitute “fair use,” the legal exception that allows creators of new works to use bits of old ones without violating copyrights. The Times claims that the tiny reproductions violate its copyrights. Shields licensed each photo but not the thumbnails. (The cover also includes essays meant to be read as part of the text, making it more integral than the usual dust jacket.) Inside the back cover, the book shows the photos in their original context, with a thumbnail of each front page, about 2 inches by 3 inches. The book is War Is Beautiful by David Shields, who argues that from the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, the Times systematically selected front-page photographs that “glamorized war and the sacrifices made in the service of war.” To make his case, he reproduces 64 photographs, each on a separate page, and classifies them into categories such as “Father,” “Painting,” “Movie,” and “Pietà,” based on their aesthetic elements.
It’s been called “ ridiculously petty” and a “ hissy fit,” but a copyright lawsuit filed by the New York Times against the author and publisher of a book critical of the newspaper’s war photography could turn out to be good news for commentators on our image-saturated culture - if it gets to court. Pictures Deserve 'Fair Use' Protection, Too
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