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

Wed May 24 22:26:40 UTC 2006

On 5/24/06, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> Anthony DiPierro wrote:
> > Maybe it's time for commons to decide not to concern itself with
> > copyright issues when they only impact certain types of commercial
> > use, and do not prohibit the uses of such images even in a commercial
> > encyclopedia.
>
> 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.
>
Not only did you take my quote out of context, but you responded with
a point which is completely tangental to the comment I was making.  I
agree that the purpose of commons is to be very restrictive and
narrow.  But if you're going to allow items which are non-free due to
trademark law, then the decision has already made not to insist on
absolute restrictiveness.

> Indeed, by doing so, we make all the more clear what is broken about
> aspects of current copyright law worldwide.
>
Who are you going to make it clear to?  Most of the world *supports*
copyright when it comes to blatant commercial non-educational use.
Considering the reluctance of Wikimedia to release its own logos under
a free license I would assume Wikimedia itself even supports this.
Those people who are completely anti-copyright in all situations,
well, I don't think they need anything made more clear.

Anthony