Framing Other Websites

<Gay Gilmore wrote I swear I remember there was a copyright case a while ago regarding one site putting the content of another inside a frame on its own site. Does anyone recall anything like this?>

One such case is Washington Post Co. v. Total News, No. 97-1190 (S.D.N.Y.). That case settled without any court ruling. You can find the Washington Post's complaint online.

Kelly v. Arriba Soft, Inc. also includes an issue of framing. In addition to displaying thumbnails of pictures in its index, Arriba Soft also provided its online visitors access to the full-sized photos by inline linking or framing the originating site. In 280 F3d 934, (9th Cir. 2002), the court says that while the creation and use of the thumbnails in the search engine was a fair use, the display of the full-sized image is a violation of the artist's exclusive right to publicly display his works. However, the 9th Circuit later withdrew that opinion and replaced it with 336 F.3d 811 which holds that thumbnails okay and remands the framing/full-sized images issue because in the court's words "the district court should not have reached whether Arriba's display of Kelly's full-sized images is a fair use because the parties never moved for summary judgment on this claim and Arriba never conceded the prima facie case as to the full-size images."

• Joy Butler

Law Office of Joy R. Butler
Entertainment, Intellectual Property & Business Law 1717 K Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036 (202) 309-2656/Fax: (202) 478-0386
Website: http://www.joybutler.com Received on Fri Oct 28 2005 - 01:10:00 GMT