WG: Third-party graphics in Screen Snaps: Legal issue?

Subject: WG: Third-party graphics in Screen Snaps: Legal issue?
From: Bernd Hutschenreuther <hutschi -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 15 May 2017 19:10:36 +0000 (UTC)



Bernd Hutschenreuther <hutschi -at- yahoo -dot- com> schrieb am 21:03 Montag, 15.Mai 2017:


Hi, I think this depends on the country you are working for what is allowed and what is not allowed considering copyright.Trade marks may have a right on its own.Consider also translation. A word can mean something very different in another country. So I'd avoid to show symbols which are not essential for the procedure. This includes trademarks, but has other reasons than law.
The copyright in Germany allows as well short quotations as "Beiwerk" (for examples a person unimportant for the picture in the background) in Photos.ÂSo it may be important to consider who is your customer.
Additionally, you can read the copyright information for the connected symbols.
Note: It may be important to write fictive text in text fields, fictive names etc. when you insert examples.In the reference guide it may be good to cut the essential screen very carefully.In User manuals, you need data.In Reference manuals I'd avoid to insert data if possible. (In cases it is not possible, you can invent names).Â
The base rule: show only the essential things, and as complete as possible.
For own trade marks and similar things, consider the user guide of your office.ÂIf none is available, write one and give it to your quality assurance team for proof reading.
Best regardsBernd




"Hickey, John David" <john-david -dot- hickey -at- vyv -dot- ca> schrieb am 20:04 Montag, 15.Mai 2017:


Greetings!

Whenever I take screen snaps of the software I'm documenting, I try to be
aware of the *stuff* that might be surrounding the application. By Stuff, I
mean third-party applications, trademarked names, icons, etc. When the
engineers write quick procedures in forums, they are decidedly not as
careful, so icons and app names that are not linked to us appear in the
background.

It seems to me that this would give a bored copyright lawyer something to
do, giving our company a tedious legal issue. I'm considering asking for a
little more "oomph" in our own forums to remove the copyright issues from
their posts.

But how big a deal is this? Am I being overly-sensitive? If some unrelated
trademarked stuff appears in a screen-snap, is this a legal issue? Do we
need permission? Do we need to cite copyright information in the
Disclaimers page?

--

--
*John **David** Hickey*
*Documentation Specialist*
Office +1 514 373 2364
Mobile +1 514 791 3627
Skype john-david.hickey
www.vyv.ca *|* Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/vyvcorp> *|* YouTube
<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnZiSZ_PEQBKhq4HtukRBA>
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