[Wikipedia-l] Fair use in non-English Wikipedias (moved from wikien)

Sun Nov 27 22:19:56 UTC 2005

On 11/27/05, Anthony DiPierro <wikilegal at inbox.org> wrote:
> Again, from a legal standpoint, I don't think it should matter whether
> 99% of editors and readers live in Poland or 5% do.  So if someone
> *could* sue Wikipedia for an image in the Polish Wikipedia, then they
> probably *could* sue Wikipedia for an image in the English Wikipedia.
>
In case it's not clear, I'm implying here that Wikipedia probably
*could* be sued for copyright infingement which is fair use even on
the English Wikipedia.

I've had some conversations with actual lawyers about this, and
they've suggested that this is possible even in the case of images
whose copyright is held by US companies.  The US company could get a
ruling in a foreign court using foreign laws.  Whether or not this
ruling could be enforced is another question, but as Wikipedia is
starting to hold assets in lots of different countries that part is
becoming easier.

Anthony