[Foundation-l] Smurfs Movie is infringing on wikipedia copyright

Sun Dec 18 00:54:18 UTC 2011

On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 1:46 AM, Mike  Dupont
<jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Well I found it disturbing, and i stlll find it disturbing.
>
> I still find that we are failing our mission if we just accept this.
> Someone has to stand up and say something about this, so I guess I
> will have to stand alone.
>
>
> here are some stats on the licences in general
> http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Metrics/License_statistics I did not
> find any license stats for wikipedia or commons.
>
> Also a number of images are fair usage on wikipedia.
>
>
> In any case, it is a bad example for kids, it is a bad example for
> students, it is a bad example for anyone. we should not allow the
> wikipedia logo and name to be used in such a manner.
>
> People need to check the license before you use them, advertising
> agencies cannot just take pictures off the wikipedia and copy them
> into your advertising, students cannot just copy them into their
> homework. You need to research into them first and check the license.
>
I guess, this is just one of the times where things in Hollywood are a
bit different than in real life. The students and kids will just have
to realize that things in films are not always true to life...
(Without having seen the movie, I guess a long sequence on proper
licensing would have been very boring, and ad agencies in real life
would have a legal team making sure the licences are alright and who
would be sued if they aren't – it's not like they would take their
cues from a short scene in a Smurfs movie.)

Best regards,
Bence