[Commons-l] Models, toys, and other objects can be copyrighted

Wed May 24 18:10:55 UTC 2006

On 5/24/06, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> No, this is not the purpose of commons.  The purpose of commons is to be
>  very restrictive and narrow so that a huge range of people who would
> like to feel comfortable reusing our work can do so.  There will of
> course be borderline cases, but unlike the other projects, commons
> should come down firmly on the side of caution.
>
> Indeed, by doing so, we make all the more clear what is broken about
> aspects of current copyright law worldwide.

I agree that we should come down on the side of caution, but not
paranoia.  Photos of copyrighted characters are probably not OK;
photos of general 3D objects, even if those objects are copyrightable,
are generally not considered copyright infringements, in the US at
least and many other countries.

-Matt