screen shot copyright?

[Ashanen]

This is slightly off topic, but I am hoping that the experise here might know
the specifics of the answer. If you were dev eloping a tutorial program,
implemented in Java (or whatever), and the tutorial was about use of another
program (just for instance, Microsoft Excell)...would it be a breach of
copyright to include screenshots of the program being tutored (which would
obviously be almost essential to the task), or simply multimedia animations
which would show how to perform certain tasks, again using screenshots from the
tutored program? Is this an allowable thing to do in general terms, or is it a
copyright issue?

 

[Mark Preston]

This is slightly off topic, but I am hoping that the experise here might know
the specifics of the answer. If you were dev eloping a tutorial program,
implemented in Java (or whatever), and the tutorial was about use of another
program (just for instance, Microsoft Excell)...would it be a breach of
copyright to include screenshots of the program being tutored (which would
obviously be almost essential to the task), or simply multimedia animations
which would show how to perform certain tasks, again using screenshots from the
tutored program? Is this an allowable thing to do in general terms, or is it a
copyright issue?

Yes, its a copyright issue and making copies without permission breaks
copyright, even if it is a screenshot of your own work. However, rules
vary from country to country and it may be permitted where you are.