Ask HN: How "illegal" is the application I am building?

#1

Post by theschnabler » Fri, Mar 29, 2013, 7:33 PM UTC

I am currently building an iPhone app that links popular fashion on Instagram with retailers and stores.

Content "creation" is done manually by checking Instagram's popular feed (using the Instagram API) and copy/pasting popular images of fashion items into a database (including the stores links where you can buy them).

Obviously I'm worried about copyright issues. I'm not storing any images (only the links), but I don't think that makes any difference. My app credits the respective Instagram user as the owner of the picture - but again, I don't think that makes any difference. Is this "fair use" of the data, and if not - what's the point for Instagram having an API? Can anyone spare some legal knowledge?

Re: Ask HN: How "illegal" is the application I am building?

#2

Post by lazugod » Fri, Mar 29, 2013, 7:42 PM UTC

What are the stated copyright terms of the API?

Re: Ask HN: How "illegal" is the application I am building?

#3

Post by cbs » Fri, Mar 29, 2013, 8:25 PM UTC

Anyone with the legal knowledge to help you probably knows better than to do so. Find a lawyer, this type of thing is why they exist.

Re: Ask HN: How "illegal" is the application I am building?

#4

Post by staunch » Fri, Mar 29, 2013, 10:49 PM UTC

Don't worry about it until your thing gets big enough for anyone to care. Then hire a lawyer. See: YouTube, Pinterest.

This is not legal advice.

Re: Ask HN: How "illegal" is the application I am building?

#5

Post by dtsingletary » Sun, Mar 31, 2013, 4:44 PM UTC

Instagram's Terms essentially say you have to respect the copyright and license of the photos.

However, their API doesn't provide any mechanism to know what those licenses and copyrights are yet, which makes it pretty difficult to honor it. Still, you're bound by the terms, not their execution. If it's a business you plan to make money off of, you should probably consult legal advice and plan ahead to lose it.

Re: Ask HN: How "illegal" is the application I am building?

#6

Post by s-p-n » Sun, Mar 31, 2013, 6:49 PM UTC

If you don't have access to a legal adviser at the moment, then at least give the copyright holders a way to contact you and ask to remove specific images of their property.