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The case against BO's policy on screenshots.

Business Objects is saying that use of Screenshots in "unauthorized" course materials is a violation of their intellectual property rights.  But screenshots in a course book are clearly "fair use" as defined by the copyright law.

Business Objects would like you to think that just because these course books are for sale, that they can't be fair use.  However, 'profit' is only one of the 4 factors to consider and the other 3 outweigh the first one in this situation.  First, the screenshots used are a minimal percentage of the entire program (test #3).  Second, independent course materials actually increase the value of the product (test #4). 

And look at the case law, like the case of Sony vs Bleem.  Bleem created software to allow you to play a Sony PlayStation game on a computer.  To show the enhanced graphics quality of the computer Bleem ads included a comparison of screenshots.  Sony said that Bleem could not use the screenshots without permission.  Sony lost the case.  I quote the ruling:

"the commercial use of copyrighted material is not presumptively unfair; rather, commercial use is but one of four factors that we must weigh."

The court found that while Bleem might reduce the value of Playstation consoles, it did not reduce the value of the copyrighted games in question.   Similarly, the screenshots do not reduce the value of the copyrighted Crystal Reports software.  It might reduce the value of Business Objects own course materials and training, but these are not being copied.