[Foundation-l] Copyright issues...walking on thin ice

Sun Aug 8 00:05:45 UTC 2004

On Sat,  7 Aug 2004 18:44:52 -0400, mbecker wrote:

> I've put the image up for deletion here: 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Votes_for_deletion/Image:TrangBang.jpg

Votes for deletion has expanded since you were last here. There is now
[[Wikipedia:Images for deletion]] and [[Wikipedia:Copyright problems]]
(which is where copyright-violating images should go to be deleted).

> Apparently this is not an isolated incident though.

No, there are hundreds of them. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fair_use_images

> Again, I've been gone for quite a while. Has there been a consensus by the community that we should start using copyrighted material in wikipedia? 

There is not a complete consensus over whether we should allow fair use images.

> Even if this is fair use, what's stopping the copyright holders from suing the wikimedia foundation, and incurring a great deal of legal fees? 

The legal risk lies with the user who uploaded it and claimed it was
fair use, not with the Foundation.

> Also, how do we ensure that it is clear that these images are not reproducible under the GFDL?

It is generally believed that fair use images are compatible with the
GFDL. See http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Do_fair_use_images_violate_the_GFDL%3F

> Is the foundation willing to pursue lawsuits against them for violating copyright law? 

If an image really is fair use, it is not violating copyright law.

> If we decide to indeed allow the upload of copyrighted material under "fair use" who determines that it is fair use?

The person who uploads the image should do that before they upload it.

> 1. Are we breaking copyright law?

If the images are fair use, then we are not.

> 2. Is it worth making wikipedia less free to include copyrighted material?

There is a lack of agreement over this. The German Wikipedia have a
policy which disallows fair use completely.

> 3. Is the wikimedia foundation willing to incur legal fees to fight cases against it for copyright violation

We are protected to some extent by the [[Online Copyright Infringement
Liability Limitation Act]]. We would take the images down if someone
sent a valid takedown notice, so presumably we would avoid legal risk
that way.

Angela.