Fastfission wrote:
I'm not talking about quoting, I'm talking
about things like the
copious images of Disney characters sprinkled throughout the site,
without even mentioning the anime characters. But I'm not advocating
paranoia, but I am advocating a less nonchalant attitude about fair
use. At the moment it is often used as a "get out of copyright free"
card in ways which I suspect would not be legally defensible [...]
Like how exactly? How would a picture of Mickey be used in any
other way than to illustrate an article about animated characters
or Disney?
One of WP's most useful defenses is to become even more popular
and respected. We want to be in a position where all the judges
in the building have to recuse themselves because they and their
clerks consult WP on a daily basis, or have them find lawyers in
contempt for merely suggesting that WP has any evil intentions. :-)
Perhaps more realistically, we want to be so credible and widely
used that merely publishing the C&D letter on the main page will
cause the foolhardy company to get deluged with hate mail and
backpedal within 24 hours, disavowing any knowledge of the law
firm that sent the letter. We've shown we can raise thousands of
dollars within a few days just by asking; that's a reservoir of
good will that can help us deal with a wide variety of threats.
Stan