Memo on the Use of Screenshots in Game Studies Scholarship
I asked Christopher Ogino, who was my summer research last year, to look into the question of whether screenshots of video games used in academic publications would constitute fair use under United States copyright law. His conclusion was, generally, “yes.” I’m posting his Memo here because I believe there is some confusion about this issue and I haven’t found much else available on the Internet that addresses the fair use issue so comprehensively.
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
I asked Christopher Ogino, who was my summer research last year, to look into the question of whether screenshots of video games used in academic publications would constitute fair use under United States copyright law. His conclusion was, generally, “yes.” I’m posting his Memo here because I believe there is some confusion about this issue and I haven’t found much else available on the Internet that addresses the fair use issue so comprehensively.
