[Wikipedia-l] picture copyright check

Fri Feb 20 16:15:07 UTC 2004

As further material in the current debate, here is the result of a more random
sample of pictures on en:. I used the first 100 pictures in the alphabetical
order starting at 'E'.

A number of pictures have not been counted:
* Wherever the same picture was uploaded twice (in different sizes), it has
  been counted only once (those are mostly unproblematic pictures, but on
  the other hand some of them contained the copyright information on only one,
  and in that case that one has been counted)
* There was a series of 'pictures' containing nothing more than country
  names written vertically. These are used in the results of the Eurovision
  Song Contest. They have been counted as only one picture.
* Six very simple maps showed the administrative subdivision of East
  Sussex. They have been counted as only two pictures.

Extra pictures have been included to make the total come to 100 again.
Of these 100:

57 seemed unproblematic, being either Public domain or GNU/FDL:

* 6 were own photographs by Wikipedians
* 4 were own drawings by Wikipedians
* 8 were presumably own drawings by Wikipedians, but not described as such
* 19 were stated to be US government material
* 3 not so stated clearly were
* 8 were stated to be Public Domain, and were so on account of age
* 4 not so stated also were
* 1 was stated to be free of copyright
* 2 were stated to be from a site, and the site states they are free of
    copyright
* 2 were believed by me to be either not copyrightable or copyrighted by the
    uploader

16 might have problems:

* 4 claimed to be fair use
* 1 was a sound file; the song is out of copyright, but what about the
    recording
* 1 is allowed for non-commercial use only
* 1 is allowed for educational use only
* 1 has permission to be used on Wikipedia, but it is not clear whether this
    includes GNU/FDL licensing
* 1 has permission to be used on Wikipedia, but explicitly no permission to
    alter or provide for distribution by others
* 7 were logos, flags or coats of arms, which I doubt are copyrightable

27 did not contain any copyright information and did not fall under any of
the previously mentioned categories. Of these 26:
* 1 might be an unmarked own photograph
* 2 might be unmarked own drawings
* 2 are still likely to be public domain from NASA
* 1 might well be uncopyrightable
* I have not made any attempt to seek out to what extent they might be
  fair use

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The list:
Own photograph:
  ECORAN32.JPG
  ECORAN42.JPG (duplicate)
  Eastern-Grey-334.jpg
  Eastern-Grey-Kangaroo.jpg
  Eastern_Reef_Egret.jpg
  Eastern_Yellow_Robin.jpg
Own drawing:
  ECClines.png
  ECexamples01.png (duplicate)
  Eadric.png
  Ear-anatomy-notext-small.png
Own drawing (not mentioned):
  EINF.gif
  ESCAustriaJ.png (presumably uncopyrightable)
  EUDofCofHere.png
  EUnit.gif (duplicate)
  EZero.gif (duplicate)
  E_with_sharp_and_C_with_b6b_figured_bass.png
  EastSussexEastbourne.png
  EastSussexNumbered.png
US government material:
  E4-CG24Cruising.jpg
  EJMcCoy.jpg
  ELWilson.jpg
  EMK.jpg
  ES-3A_Shadow.jpg
  E_4b.jpg
  E A Behring.jpg (also age)
  E_friedman_pic.jpg
  Eagle.column1.arp.300pix.jpg
  Eagle Horst 1.jpg (probably)
  Earth's_atmosphere.jpg
  Earth_Night_Small.jpg
  EarthquakeFreewayCa1989.jpg
  EarthshineDiagram.png
  East-timor-map.png
  EasternKingbird23.jpg
  EasternMeadowlark23.jpg
  EasternScreechOwl23.jpg
  EasternTowhee23.jpg
US government (not mentioned):
  Earth-apollo17.jpg
  Earth_am1.jpg
  E1-tracer.jpg
Public domain because of age:
  ENC 1-NA5 600px.jpeg
  ENC SYSTEME FIGURE.jpeg (duplicate)
  ENC plate 1-143 300px.jpg (duplicate)
  Eagleowl.JPG
  Eagleowl.jpg
  Eakins.jpg
  Eallen.jpg
  EarpV.jpg
Public domain because of age (unmentioned):
  Eadred.jpg
  Eadwig.jpg
  Earl of aberdeen.jpg
  Earlofhopetoun.jpg
Stated to be free of copyright:
  EagleAndChild.jpg
Various copyright-free (unmentioned):
  Easter_island_(Chile).jpg
  Easter_island_and_south_america.jpg
Either copyright uploader or no problems expected:
  Ear-red.png
  EastBerlinBoroughs.png

Fair use claimed:
  E.W. Bullinger.jpg
  EDSA_Revolution_pic1.jpg (news event)
  EarlJones.JPG
  EarlineWParmon.JPG
Sound file (see above):
  Earlross.ogg
Only allowed for non-commercial use:
  E-meter.gif
Only allowed for educational use (Wikipedia is already borderline):
  Ear.jpg
Permission received with unknown extent:
  ESW-pre1974.png
Permission received without further copying:
  EastGreenwichLibrary.jpg
Logo/flag/coat of arms:
  EARLlogo.jpg
  ESC1956logo.jpg
  Eafflag.jpg
  East Finland.png
  East_Turkestan_flag_large.png
  East_timor_coa.png
  East_timor_flag_large.png

Possible own photograph:
  EJ20030502020.jpg
Possible own drawing:
  East_london_line.png
  Easternvirucounty.jpg
Possibly NASA:
  Earth-mars.jpg
  East_Hills_Sol8_L256-A11R1.jpg
Possibly not under copyright law:
  Early_cyrillic_alphabet.png
Others unmarked:
  E.U._Essien_Udom3.jpg
  E803994f3zd.jpeg
  EBarak.jpg
  EBerlinerGramophoneDisc.png (1)
  EEdwardsSmall.jpg
  EF140.jpg
  ERCIYES1.jpg
  E_Cresson.jpg
  E_Hurley.jpg
  E_coli.JPG
  E_coli_o157.JPG
  E_juenger.jpg
  Eagle closeup small.jpg
  Earl_Hines.jpg (2)
  Earlepage.jpg
  EarlyParlophoneLabel.jpg
  East_Week_First_Issue's_Cover_29-10-1992.jpg
  East_Week_Re-launched_First_Issue_Cover.jpg
  Easter.jpg
  Eastern_Curlew.jpg

(1): This one too might be insufficiently artistic to be copyrightable, being
     a faithful photograph of a 2-dimensional work out of copyright.
(2): Something seems to have gone wrong here, there is no picture.

Andre Engels