legalities of using screenshots in movies reviews

what are the chances?

[pompousjohn]

I had planned to do a string of movie reviews in a humorous vein making liberal use of screenshots with humorous captions intintionally misinterpreting what was on the screen, what are the chances of getting sued/taken down/dumped by advertisers?

Is there a chance I could simply remove offending content in the case of complaints, or is the idea just too dangerous?

[mack]

It's a risky ploy unless you seek permission first. Many movie production companies provide press releases with media that can be used for review purposes, but they may not see what you are doing as the "intended use"

You really need to contact the copyright holders to seek permission before you do this.

Mack.

[BigDave]

Parody is probably the most protected form of fair use (in the USA) and at the end of it all, your humorous commentary is likely to be ruled as legal Fair Use.

But you didn't ask that, you asked "what are the chances of getting sued/taken down/dumped by advertisers?".

Many rights-holders find it incredibly hard to accept that parody is Fair Use and protected speech. There is a very good chance you will be sued. They may not win, but they can certainly sue.

And you will almost certainly be taken down, but if you believe it is Fair Use, it is easy to get it back up. Then you can enter a counter claim to recover your laost revenue.

[pompousjohn]

Well I don't mind fighting the good fight and battling for my first ammendment rights to make fun of other people's intellectual property, I live pretty much on the edge of civilization in a country where nobody even knows what intellectual property is,

-but I don't want to lose my Adsense account.

[Beagle]

Al Frankin, after a judge threw out Fox News's suit against him: "In America, parody is protected free speech, even if the subject of the parody doesn't get it."

But, yes, they did sue him.

(Sorry, I just love that quote so much I have to toss it in every once in awhile--with appropriate attribution, of course.)

[crescenta]

Without giving out any URLs, look up sites about current and recent popular science fiction television series, and you'll find that some of the more organized, larger sites are full of screenshots and Adsense. So far they've been doing okay. For quite a while they've been doing okay.

I would not be so worried about writing a movie review and showing screenshots, at least not in some cases. This seems to be a form of commentary (as long as there's really a review—not just a bunch of pictures). But I would not be willing to risk my Adsense account over the screenshots, either, just on the off chance that someone decided to make a stink. You never know.