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

Wed Aug 11 14:45:56 UTC 2004

Toby Bartels wrote:
> So am I agreeing with you?  No!  Because the Wikimedia server does *not*
> present to you a web page that combines text material with an image!

While Toby and I are agreeing, I don't even think this hypertechnical
(to a court) explanation of how images are separate is necessary.  The
license clearly contemplates compilations of works which "are not
themselves derivative works of the Document".

The intepretation that says that just because two things appear on the
same page, they are therefore derivative works (of each other?)
strikes me as unfounded, but I am willing to look at case law, if any
exists.

> I think that you have a good point about the paper version.
> When a paper version is printed, we will have to take more care.
> Even so, we'll probably want to treat images as separate documents;
> but we'll need to take additional steps to make this clear to the reader.

I think that's totally correct.

> Offhand, I would suggest printing a notice of copyright information
> along the side of each image that appears in the paper version,
> similar to (but more detailed than) the photo credits in magazines.
> The FDL notice for the article would again have to specify text only.
> But we can (and should!) think about this matter more carefully
> when we start producing printed versions.

I also would support, as our image tagging gets more mature and
comprehensive, that we display this information on the web pages as
well.

--Jimbo