Kerry ad and copyright

nbruce writes ““A television advertisement for Democrat John Kerry’s presidential campaign appears to have violated copyright laws by broadcasting several photos from the Caller-Times book “South Texas Heroes.” . . . These veterans or their relatives say they did not give permission to use their photos, nor did the Caller-Times. . . .â€?

The ad maker said he was related to most of the subjects and thought therefore it would be OK to use the photos. That doesn’t make much sense or sound like a good reason. However, Eugene Volokh of The Volokh Conspiracy (June 3) has an interesting and detailed description of why this probably is “fair useâ€? and not “copyright infringement.â€?”