Many publishers ask researchers to secure copyright owners permissions for screenshots for academic works. However, typical academic use falls under fair use. Jesper Juul writes that following argument (that permissions is not needed) can and should be used when publishers ask the permissions:
- Precedent: Video game reviews, commentary, as well as a large body of academic scholarship uses video game screenshots under assumptions of fair use.
- The court decision of U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals SONY v BLEEM 9917137v2 ruled that screenshots can be used under fair use (http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/getcase/9th/case/9917137v2&exact=1)
- To assert the copyright of the game developers, we have added game developer and publication year under each image.
Petri Lankoski 