3 ms·

I kinda figured this was coming sooner or later. McMansion Hell is using unquestionably copyrighted photos, but claims that they fall under Fair Use. I think th

I kinda figured this was coming sooner or later. McMansion Hell is using unquestionably copyrighted photos, but claims that they fall under Fair Use. I think that's true (but IANAL), but fair use is an affirmative defense that has to hold up in court.

smhenderson 9y ago
And just because he's right doesn't mean court cases aren't expensive. I hope he either gets the attention he needs to raise some funds or gets noticed by someone willing to help him pro bono. It's a good concept for a site. On it's surface it looks down right like community service. It's a bit snarky here and there but, man, some of those houses invite that kind of criticism. I don't see him selling anything, just a plug at the bottom about an article he wrote elsewhere. Maybe he should switch from using Zillow's copyrighted pictures and ask readers to send in pics from their neighborhoods. Perhaps ask people to please assign copyright to him if they do. If people know he's not making money off it and just sharing info/thoughts on ugly housing I bet people would contribute.
- oh_sigh 9y ago
  s/he/she/
- rkho 9y ago
  She* :) https://twitter.com/mcmansionhell https://twitter.com/mcmansionhell
  - smhenderson 9y ago
    oops, thanks. Thought I saw a picture of a "he" on the home page. Went to check again and it looks like the site is completely gone now, including this article. That didn't take long!
r00fus 9y ago
Can we effectively say fair use is dead? I wish mcmansionhell well, but how much is it going to cost them to fight Zillow? I wonder if EFF would be capable of helping out.