Sometimes one will hear of a photo being reprinted, redistributed, or otherwise used without specifically being licensed or having permission granted. Often the defense is called "fair use". What does this mean from a legal standpoint?
Answer
Fair use describes a clause in copyright law that permits use of limited parts of copyrighted materials without permission in restricted situations. Usually for commentary, criticism, reporting, etc.
Fair use normally requires that only a small percentage of the whole work be used (for example a quote of a few lines from a book), so with regards to photo's you may find fair use can only be applied when dealing with collections of copyrighted images, or if your reproduction is of significantly reduced quality.
[I am not a lawyer and fair use clauses will vary between jurisdictions so it is best to check with the original author of a work if you are unsure.]
Wikipeida has a more detailed article on fair use
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