[WikiEN-l] copyright on old paintings

Mon Aug 25 03:43:44 UTC 2003

james duffy wrote:

>> Erik wrote
>> Wikipedia should be hosted in the country which has the most liberal
>> policies overall concerning information. Currently, that country is 
>> still
>> the United States. 
>
> Does this mean that wikipedians outside the US can break their own 
> native copyright rules when loading something onto wiki and are 
> covered because of US law? Or would the presumption be that as they 
> had broken native copyright rules in scanning or copying the image, 
> they or wiki would be liable in their country?

Technically yes, but the offence is in the act of putting the material 
up rather than in the fact that it appears there at some later time.  In 
a situation where this might be an issue, and the upload would be so 
valuable to Wikipedia, you could (without counselling an illegal act) 
explain your plight to a Wikipedian in a "safe" country who may then be 
moved to exercise his own initiative to contribute the picture.

One of the e-text sites includes material that has gone out of copyright 
in Australia (where, like in Canada, the copyright term is life +50) on 
an Australian server.  It warns Americans and others that they could be 
violating their country's copyright laws if they view the material.

Ec