[Foundation-l] Re: Commons copyright violation and OTRS

Thu Jul 21 01:29:42 UTC 2005

Delirium wrote:

> Robert Scott Horning wrote:
>
>> What needs to be done here is to research exactly who may be correct. 
>> Many WWII photographs are likely to still be under copyright (the 
>> life+75 rule has not gone into effect yet, or the 100 year rule... 
>> depending on what copyright laws you are using, and was published 
>> after 1924 when prior copyright had entered into public domain) and 
>> my gut feeling is that it is likely to be a copyright violation.
>
> A significant portion of WW2-era photographs were taken by U.S. 
> government personnel during the course of their official duties, and 
> are therefore in the public domain.

Perhaps so, but without some indication of how we know that Photograph X 
was taken by US government personnel, we don't know that the photograph 
is in the public domain. In which case, given my understanding of what 
the Commons' policies were supposed to be, it's not eligible for 
inclusion there. We need to *know* that it's public domain because we 
have facts to support this, not because we're engaging in wishful 
guesswork. Otherwise, it reminds me of those people who mistakenly 
believe that every picture on a federal government website is public domain.

--Michael Snow