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

Tue Aug 10 13:35:01 UTC 2004

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 06:10:38 -0700 "Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales" <jwales at wikia.com> 
wrote:

>1.  Fair use/fair dealing is a morally proper doctrine under any sane
>system of copyright.  We should not hesitate to make proper use of it,
>in all media.

The real problem is not with putting them into Wikipedia, but with putting 
them under the GNU/FDL license. Putting pictures into Wikipedia under fair 
use will be okay if not done too extensively, provided we use relatively 
low-resolution and specify the maker. But Wikipedia is not just a webpage, 
it is a document under the GNU/FDL. Which means people may make derived 
works and publish those. What if someone takes a Wikipedia page, and makes a 
derived work from it by removing all but the copyrighted picture, then 
publishes that under the GNU/FDL. We are currently permitting them to do so. 
But we can't.

Andre Engels