[WikiEN-l] Would you like one of your videos posted on Wikipedia?

Mon Sep 18 22:16:15 UTC 2006

On 18/09/06, User:Unforgettableid <unforgettableid at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 9/18/06, Stephen Streater <sbstreater at mac.com> wrote:
> >
> > There may be rights issues as well. It's not as simple
> > as just uploading a video, unfortunately. Some content
> > I have shot is only available for non-commercial use
> > because it was shot in Royal Parks, so this cannot be
> > released under a free licence so cannot be included
> > in Wikipedia.
>
> Why would that be? Can a tree, a river, or a building be copyrighted?
> You claim that there "may" be rights issues but you have not cited any
> American law which back up your claim.

> Recently, a lot of [[Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt]] has been spread
> regarding these issues: Popular Photography magazine discussed them
> recently. In reality, a building, a park, or such _cannot_ be
> trademarked.

To the best of my knowledge, the United States does not possess any
"royal parks". Given Stephen appears to live in the UK, a country
which does have royal parks, it seems reasonable to assume he shot the
videos there. In which case, the question of what  American laws apply
to the filming seems a bit less relevant.

If you are going to complain about people spreading "fear, uncertainty
and doubt" about legal issues, it may be useful to spend some time
considering

a) that different jurisdictions have different laws;
b) that moving to one jurisdiction does not magically invalidate any
implicit or explicit contract you made in another; and
c) that "trademarked" and "copyrighted" are Not The Same Thing At All.

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk