Peanut blog site steals Tribune work

Photojournalists and media practitioners have criticized the Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN) over its unauthorized use of a photograph and for its subsequent remarks toward the photographer who took the image.

The controversy erupted after PGMN posted a photograph showing Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte and former senator Antonio Trillanes IV during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, 29 September.

DAILY TRIBUNE photojournalist Aram Lascano took the photograph.

“We have the copyright to that photograph,” Daily Tribune counsel and veteran lawyer Nilo Divina, founder and managing partner of DivinaLaw and Dean of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law, said.

“The fair use doctrine is not an unbridled license to unreasonably exploit the work of another. And it is PGMN’s burden to prove that the four-fold criteria for fair use applies,” Divina said.

The four-fold criteria for fair use is the benchmark legal framework for determining whether copyrighted material can be used without permission under United States copyright law and the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.

The statutory doctrine requires courts to evaluate the purpose and character of the use, including whether it is transformative or commercial, alongside the nature of the copyrighted work, which favors factual over highly creative content.

Additionally, legal assessments must weigh the amount and substantiality of the portion used against the “heart of the work,” while fundamentally analyzing the economic effect of the unauthorized use on the potential market and value of the original creation.

“LOOK: The cameraman goes in and out of focus for two people who adore each other,” PGMN wrote in its caption accompanying the photograph.