Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Law

Hello men and women,

Last week, the Toronto Sun contacted me and asked me to take down this blog because, in their view, I had been illegally posting copyrighted images (Sun covers). I spread the word around and a lot of people who know things told me that the law is definitely on my side. I'd also like to point out that it took the Toronto Sun more than two years to contact me about this. Quick on the draw!

Anyway, Torontoist's Steve Fisher has written an article about my heartbreaking plight. Please give it a read!

Stay tuned and keep reaching for the stars,
Michael A. Balazo

6 comments:

  1. Please please please put them back up. Its a legal battle you would surely win, and you would get to embarass them even more then you already have. I, for one, would chip in $100 to your legal defence fund to start.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They can only make themselves more and more ridiculous by battling you. You may wish to contact the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild to see what suggestion they can offer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Damn, my productivity just took another internet-related dive. I just found out about this site from the Torontoist article. This is amazing. Please don't ever remove it. I've got tears in my eyes from laughing so much. And ditto on the legal defence fund.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Found this on Reddit, linked from Torontoist.
    Sue Ann Levy should do a story about you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. As long as you reproduce the entire front page and then make comment on said front cover, it is Fair Dealing under the Copyright Act.

    You must credit source and, if possible, author. However this is probably moot since it's obvious that the front page of the Toronto Sun comes from the Toronto Sun and the author is the Toronto Sun.

    It doesn't matter if the front page contains, for example, a Reuters photograph or an advertisement from General Motors. As long as you reproduce the entire page, (front page or even an inside page), and the *page itself*, (read those two words again), is the target of your criticism or review, it is Fair Dealing.

    Like many newspapers, the Toronto Sun will, from time to time, reproduce other publishers' magazine covers, newspaper pages, book covers, CD covers, DVD covers, etc. All of this is covered under Fair Dealing in the Copyright Act.

    If the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act pass (later this year?), two new conditions for Fair Dealing will come into effect: parody and satire. However, your use of the front pages may or may not additionally qualify under parody.

    Remember that Fair Dealing is not a free-for-all but in fact is quite narrow in scope. *Most* bloggers get it wrong when they swipe pictures and think it's Fair Dealing.

    Perhaps interesting to point out that many newspapers, including the Toronto Sun, frequently get Fair Dealing wrong when they steal pictures from Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc.

    Many newspapers also get privacy laws wrong too, but that's a whole other story.

    Keep up the good work.

    (Disclaimers: I studied copyright law. None of this is intended as legal advice. I used to work for Sun Media as a journalist. The Sun person you spoke to is very nice and well-intentioned. She was just misinformed).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for standing up for yourself. Reading too much of the Sun can lead to lost of trust in humanity. It's fun to read the comments but then after a while the weight of truth these people writes with lays heavy on the hopes.

    It good to have a good laugh at them. It is defeating to think they were about to take you down. It is very uplifting to see you posting again.

    Thank you for keeping the Sun civil.

    Now please do something about the girls in yogurt commercials - they are enjoying the dairy too much and must be taken down a peg.

    ReplyDelete