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Regretsy (www dot regretsy dot com) is a very popular blog that publishes photos of items for sale at a site called Etsy (www dot etsy dot com)  with the sole purpose of mocking, criticizing, and mean-spirited commentary of the item for sale and the person selling it.  The photos are posted without the consent of the 'target' individual, who is presumably the copyright holder of the photos. 

The site appears to be 'for-profit' (even though they say they do contribute to charity), clearly non-educational, non-newsworthy etc etc. 

Does this fall under fair use, even for a for-profit entity?  If so, is there any other recourse to prevent an item from appearing on the site?  The 'vicitims' often face public humliation, damage to their shop's reputation, and a permenant record of the negativity via Google et al.

Interested in your comments.

Thanks
AF

[JSonnabend]

Looks like social commentary to me.

- Jeff

[Zonath]

The profit/non-profit nature of the use to which the copyrighted work is put is only one of the considerations that go into the multi-part test for fair use, and there have been several commercial 'fair uses' which have passed the test.  So, without a lot more information (and I'm not at all familiar with either Etsy or Regretsy), it would really be impossible to tell whether or not there's any actual fair use happening there.

I guess the short answer is that a commercial use can be fair use, although the commercial nature of the finished product does weigh against it.

[Smokin]

haha, great site. Im now wondering what crap you are trying to sell. Its fair use.

[MYK]

I'm familiar with Regretsy.  It's just art criticism, not significantly different in scope from the New York Times Book Review -- although the NYTBR tries to find good books to recommend, whereas Regretsy seeks out hilariously bad "arts & crafts" to pan.

I think the most memorable was the floral-design anal covers for dogs ("disco ball" version also available).  It was never clear to me whether they tied on to the tail and simply hung down over the embarassing dog anus, or were a plug-in sort of thing.  I'm not really sure I do want to know, though.  No, let me reorder that: I'm really sure I do not want to know.

I couldn't find the Regretsy review, but here's a link to an Etsy auction of the same or a similar item (I believe much more recent than the Regretsy review):
http://www.etsy.com/listing/63198269/holiday-butt-covers-for-your-cat-and-dog?ref=tre-4ce057b2550b6d91277c51ae-3

But I digress.

Anyway, Regretsy gets threatened with legal action frequently, and they're still going.  Yes, you could probably pay an attorney to sue them.  No, I don't believe your suit would succeed.  (Yes, you could instead sue them yourself, pro se.  No, I don't believe you would succeed.)  There's this little thing called "the First Amendment", which protects not merely the rights of bad artists to express themselves through artistic works but also the rights of others to express their feelings about the artistic works of bad artists.  Utilize the Google(R) search engine to search for the quoted phrase if you need more information.

Personally, I feel that Regretsy performs a public service by humiliating at least a small number of bad artists who are deserving of humiliation.  By driving bad artists through the streets, hurtling putrid eggs and rotten tomatoes at them (if only virtually), and perhaps even shaming them into improving (or throwing themselves off a cliff), Regretsy helps to improve the overall artistic milieu.  The founder and author(s) of Regretsy are deserving of awards, accolades, money -- nay, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  (Hey, if Obama is deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize, why not?)

Now, if we could only do something about mimes, perhaps involving a scorpion pit.

[Dazed-n-confused]

haha, great site. Im now wondering what crap you are trying to sell. Its fair use.

No clue what the OP is trying to sell via that Etsy website (or what criticism on the regretsy website prompted his OP here), but the works on his own photography website are certainly stunning.