[Foundation-l] re GFDL publisher credit

Fri Jul 14 17:43:51 UTC 2006

Anthony wrote:

>On 7/13/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>>Robert Scott Horning said:
>>>The precedence that I would like to use for why the WMF should hold
>>>copyright on Wikimedia project content is the same reason why the Free
>>>Software Foundation holds copyright for the GNU projects:  If there is a
>>>copyright violation, they can be a legal party to enforcing the
>>>copyright and defending the GPL.
>>>      
>>>
>>My preference here would be to have each editor appoint WMF as a
>>non-exclusive agent for the purpose of taking all steps to defend
>>editors' copyrights.
>>    
>>
>Optionally, I hope.  I personally have no desire to sue people over
>the vast majority of my legal rights under copyright law.  Basically,
>as long as you don't take my works and then create a non-free
>derivative, I don't care what you do with it, at least so far as
>copyright law is concerned.
>
I think that that view is shared by most of us who have a philosophical 
attachment to the concept of free information.

>Frankly, I'd hope that the WMF would do the same, and only use
>lawsuits to make works more free, not less.
>
I presume that with "optionally" you are referring to WMF retaining the 
option to sue or not sue based on the circumstances of the situation, 
and not that each editor has an option about naming WMF as agent ... 
sometimes.  The alternative would only create more confusion when the 
WMF's right to pursue the matter comes up.  On the other hand, it would 
be ridiculous to demand that WMF pursue with vigour every bit of 
perceived copyvio.

This also relates to the need for the Board to take a clear policy 
position that every credited extract from any WMF project not exceeding 
a pre-defined size will be considered as fair use throughout the world.  
By agreeing not to prosecute certain apparent violations in civil 
actions, or to co-operate with authorities in criminal prosecutions it 
would be a big step forward in establishing a level playing field for 
fair use.

Ec