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Since Dolly the Sheep is a sort of test-case for this new procedure, I have a few comments to make.
Imagine if Dolly were still alive. How feasible would it be to find out where she was kept and obtain permission to photograph her for wikipedia (it's not like we have a brand name like Britannica, CNN or the BBC)? This can be expanded to anybody who is alive and notable enough to have an entry in wikipedia, and to resources not available to the general public (things in museums, in the vaults of museums, private art collections, the inside of famous buildings, military, etc). We need to consider what is best to be done in these cases where it isn't feasible (or likely) that a wikipedian will be able to photograph the famous item or person, or to find a public domain image (because if these famous things/people are rarely seen then there are people who make a living from selling images of them, not by placing them in the public domain).
I would also like there to be a (well-thought out) policy on things like:
I have long been confused by the copyright policy, and laws of the USA, and the impact of both on future editions of wikipedia (e.g. paper copies, which will presumably be sold in other countries). If we have to delete all our images and start afresh, so be it, but I want the policy to defined now, to be in line with the law, explicit and easy to understand, and forwardthinking (i.e. we must consider these cd-rom or paper versions of wikipedia now, or face doing this all again in the future). fabiform | talk 17:48, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I don't think we should be deleting images that are not infringing on copyrights. Rather why not just quarantine them? This means not using them in any article. If at a future time we change our minds, we have the images, and no work is lost. Also, many people might have uploaded images that are under the GFDL (i.e. their own images) or under fair use, but not mentioned so. They could be gone now, so there would be no way to reach them. Should these images be deleted just on a change of policy? After all, there is a checkbox that asks you that you only submit GFDL images. If someone uploaded their own pictures, which they put under the GFDL by virtue of checking that box, why should those images be deleted just because the author is not around anymore and there was a policy change? just my 2 cents, Dori | Talk 18:11, Feb 20, 2004 (UTC)
Hi. The great majority of the found images I upload are from before 1923. There have been a few exceptions, I'll mention one to see if there are reccomendations for improving my handling of such cases. The image I used in American Austin Car Company article, as I say in the image description, "American Austin motorcar, from ad in July, 1930 magazine. Presumed fair use in unlikely case that any copyright renewal was ever filed on ad. " The company has been out of business for more than 60 years, making it unlikely that any renewal was ever filed to extend any copyright term. (Additionally, people who have worked with material from this era have told me that it was not common practice for companies to copyright their magazine ads in this era, so it may well not even have had any copyright to begin with, although I do not assume that.) What do people think about my use of this image? Ok, inappropriate? Wondering, -- Infrogmation 18:46, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Specific case, rather than general policy. Dolly is now stuffed, mounted, and on display at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh. Assuming the museum allows visitors to take photos (UK museums generally do, don't they?), replacing the Roslin Institute's picture with one almost as lifelike is something any Edinburgh wikipedian could do quite easily next time they're up by Chambers Street. –Hajor 20:48, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Permission to photograph anything on exhibit in the National Museums of Scotland for Wikipedia has been denied. Fabiform, can you explain the conditions under which they notified you of that denial? Do they not allow any photography at all, or just photography intended for publication in a collaborative free-content encyclopaedia? –Hajor 20:24, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I am trying to find some pictures of civilian victims of the Afghanistan war which were either released under the GFDL or which can be used under the fair use doctrine. Even after an intensive search I haven't found any GFDL and I therefore would like to know if for example using low-res screen captures from Al Jazeera & Co would count as Fair Use ?
Damn all this copyright bullshit.
As the author of this policy I have avoided specifically stating whether, in cases where remote alternatives exist (such as shooting a photo of a seclusive author), we are allowed to use fair use images in the meantime.
I hope this can be worked out in consensus over the coming weeks. As a fair use advocate, I feel of course that we should have such images. As an open content advocate, I must acknowledge that having these images will reduce the motivation to acquire open content pictures. —Eloquence 23:13, Feb 20, 2004 (UTC)
Thank you Eloquence for starting this page.
Newspapers and magazines often print still frames from movies, TV shows, and video games, under the fair use doctrine. Sometimes they use the images sent to them in a press kit from the studio, which I believe always comes with some permission lines printed at the bottom of the photo itself. But often a magazine will just grab a still frame and print it, if the movie is old. Obviously this is the only way to show a scene from a movie, unless we were to insinuate a Wikipedia agent onto the set and take some covert shots. I think we should have such images. We could crib from the guidelines of the Associated Press for a start, if it's not feasible to get a legal opinion to hang our hat on moving forward. In either case this fair use page should explicitly talk about this -- images of this type could be useful to Wikipedia and people will want to upload them. (In the past, I've included some old Apple II game screenshots on Wizardry and RobotWar.) Tempshill 20:03, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)
In jurisdictions where fair use is law, fair use is entirely compatible with the GFDL. See meta:Do fair use images violate the GFDL? for far more extensive analysis of just why they are compatible with it, in jurisdictions where fair use is the law. Jamesday 08:59, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Anyone considering actually using this should realise that we can expect that the vast majority of images used in the encyclopedia will be used under fair use, fair dealing or similar provisions of law in other jurisdictions. The net effect: to add a vast amount of overhead for no useful purpose. If you see an image tagged as fair use and can find one which is more freely reusable, replace it. No need for lots of overhead for the most commonly used image category. Fair use is compatible with the GFDL (as are lots of licenses) in jurisdictions where fair use applies, so it's not necessary to eliminate them provided we describe them properly, so those who want to avoid a particular image type can easily do so. Jamesday 08:59, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Creating as much open content as possible is a legal argument. Jimmy started considering fair use images as a posible problem after he was told that fair use didn't exist in the UK. Then he over-reacted and headed in the wrong direction. In a jurisdiction where fair use exists, that fair use is a public domain right, one which was never granted to the copyright holder. That is, fair use is open content, provided only that the use is moderately conservative, so it will be applicable to the vast majority of GFDL-accepting reusers, which is the case for the vast majority of the fair use situations I've considered over at possible copyvios. In other jurisdictions, the people viewing the articles will see the image and be interested in getting one they can use without fair use... and it will encourage them to do so if it improves the article, just as stubs do at present for text. That's why those in the UK are uploading licensed images even where the image is fair use in the US - the UK people often require a license, so they are going out and getting those licenses or seeking replacements more compatible with UK law. Which is just what we want to have happen. That's why we don't delete text stubs and there's no reason to have a different practice for images. Jamesday 22:45, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Please try to edit this into something readable before adding it to the page. Moreover, please limit yourself to one paragraph, preferably not of the current length. —Eloquence
For all images, the potential copyright issues are far more extensive than fair use, fair dealing or other ways to use information. Architecture and signs have IP attached, so permission may be required or there may be moral rights requirements even where an uploader asserts that an image is in the public domain or is GFDL. Also, each country around the world has its own copyright laws and terms, so what is in the public domain differences in each jurisdiction. In the US and UK, the question of whether a scan of an old work is free of copyright is easy: it is, because mechanical conversions don't create a new copyright. However, there's sure to be a jurisdiction somewhere where that is not the law. It's nowhere near as simple (simplistic) as arguing that avoiding fair use makes everything fine. The laws around the world are not that simple.
For these and other reasons, no reuser outside the US or other jurisdiction where a DMCA-equivalent protects them can use the Wikipedia images without checking each image. Similarly, no reuser in print even in the US can use even asserted public domain or GFDL images without doing their own checking, because they have legal liability if the is IP in the image. We can try to help, with accurate tagging and source information, but we cannot make it unnecessary for reusers to do this work. Regardless, even if we eliminated every fair use image and replaced them all with claimed GFDL images, we wouldn't eliminate the need to do this checking: accurate source information matters far, far more than any claimed copyright status.
I removed this line: "During this deliberation process, the files may exist on the server, but should not be linked from any pages but this one." I think it's unreasonable to require that we remove all fair use images while going through a ten-day process. And unless we remove them all, that means those listed here would be penalized for going through this process. Furthermore, fair use is a decision which is made in context, based on use, not something which applies to the image itself. Anthony DiPierro
The images have to be displayed in their context - in their article - to decide on fair use. The context is key. The same applies when suggesting that an image my be a copyvio - if you remove the image from the article, you remove the ability to judge whether it is a copyvio or fair use. Jamesday 00:03, 1 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I'm not entirely clear on the guidelines laid out in Image use policy. If I wanted to add (a smaller version of) this picture to the article On Your Mark (about a Japanese animated music video), would that be allowed? I believe that image is from a calendar; if I posted an actual frame from the music video itself, would that fall under fair use? I see professional movie reviewers using shots from movies all the time, must they always have special permission? If I copied a Disney park photo from a Disney park web site, would it be fair use to put that image on a Wikipedia article about the park? I have trouble seeing how the reproduction of any image here on Wikipedia would cause any sort of financial harm to the owner of the image, and an image would often help make an article clearer - what's a good rule of thumb to use in deciding whether my intentions for an image fall under 'fair use' or not? Brian Kendig 19:14, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)
This rule is frequently flouted. I've seen {{msg:GFDL}} photos and free-to-use images I've uploaded overwritten by {{msg:unverified}} or {{msg:Fair use}} pics. On such occasions I've been been reluctant to engage in rv wars – it would be seen as ego-pushing ("my pic stays") even though the real purpose is, as it says on the front page, to "build an open-content encyclopedia". To what extent should aesthetic considerations ("better pic", "rm amateurish photo") over-ride the freedom of the project, and who's to make that call? –Hajor 19:03, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Is the blurb on the back of a paperback, or on the flyleaf of a hardback, fair game for inclusion in a Wikipedia article? It would seem intuitively obvious, since the purpose of the blurb is to garner publicity for the book, but is there any hard policy? I would of course assume that any such text would be clearly annotated as such. -- Phil | Talk 08:37, Jun 9, 2004 (UTC)
No, in general it's not. The blurb is a work in it's own right. Added to which blurbs are often wrong, sycophantic(1) or spoliers. However short quotes from the blurb, or recycled review quotes should be OK. ( (1) Be aware, for example of the London play which quoted a national paper "The best play ever" wher the full text was "The best play ever written on a Wednesday and performed the following night") Rich Farmbrough 13:45, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)
OK, so I understand the fair use policy (I mean, I've been adding hundreds of fair use logos to Wikipedia), but I've got a situation I wanted to ask about. I just picked up three old books - one on helicopters since 1907 and two on World War II aircraft. They are definitely copyrighted works, but they contain good illustrations of aircraft, many that could be for articles that don't have any pictures at all ( example). Plus, there are a number that have pictures with questionable or no copyright information already ( example).
So, anyways, the question is, could this qualify as fair use or not? It seems close, but I think you could justify these images as historically significant, informational and, of course, they would be reasonably small and at a low resolution. Anyone else have an opinion? RADICALBENDER ★ 00:57, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)
The Berne convention says that: "Authors shall enjoy, in respect of works for which they are protected under this Convention, in countries of the Union other than the country of origin, the rights which their respective laws do now or may hereafter grant to their nationals, as well as the rights specially granted by this Convention." [1]
So it seems to me that Wikipedia should be assuming the protections of the country of origin. If the work is a US work, then fair use applies. If it isn't, then it shouldn't. anthony (see warning) 17:14, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.poster.net/treacy-eric/treacy-eric-the-south-staffordshire-regiment-2504022.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.postershop.com/Treacy-Eric/Treacy-Eric-The-South-Staffordshire-Regiment-2504022.html&h=397&w=313&sz=15&tbnid=QM_yTkGNAXsJ:&tbnh=119&tbnw=94&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3DEric%2BTreacy%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN is a photograph by Eric Treacy, from around 1930. The Treacy Collection is owned by the National Railway Museum, who licence it out to posters, etc. I would contend this is a work of art rather than any old snapshot of a train, and a particularly important and well known of Treacy's photographs. I have a bigger version in a book. What do you think? Dunc_Harris| ☺ 19:42, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thumb|right Can we check that this would qualify? I think not, but User:E7hgwfj6 thinks so. It wouldn't be too difficult to arrange a photo of a volunteer in his boxers would it? Dunc_Harris| ☺ 19:54, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Hi, a new user ( User:Raj2004) asked me for help with contacting a website or some such in regards to quotations. They might very well be fair use for all I know. Any help is appreciated. Here is a link to his request on my talk: User_talk:Sam_Spade#Dvaita_and_Visatadvaita. I will direct him here, and a couple other places (like the pump, and Boilerplate_request_for_permission). Cheers, Sam [ Spade] 18:00, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Is an image of a person considered fair use? AdamJacobMuller T@lk Sun Nov 14 20:15:28 GMT 2004
I don't know the legality of photographing/scanning Set cards: please see Talk:Set (game) for my question in detail, and please respond there. Thanks! — msh210 20:40, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)
In reference to my Solarquest page:
Nathanlarson32767 16:01, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I have included several press kit photos in the article Duran Duran, and tagged them as fair use for the moment, as I don't know what else might fit. These were included in press releases sent out to newspapers and magazines at various points in the band's career. I believe these are intentionally distributed without copyright so that media can reproduce them freely, but I don't have the fine print to examine myself. Does anyone know the legalities on these? GFDL pictures of bands are very hard to find -- I've been trying on this one for a couple of months, but pro photographers don't want to use free license, and I haven't found a reasonable fan pic that includes the entire band -- certainly not from the band's early history, where pics are most significant. The article is now a featured article candidate, so I wanted to clarify this issue as soon as I can. Thanks, [[User:CatherineMunro| Catherine\ talk]] 02:51, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Was there an answer on this? I'd like to know too. A couple bands without pictures on Wikipedia have Press Kits on their websites including photos. Andreac 17:05, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I've been working on fleshing out the article on the Samogitian language, and I would like to include a recorded example of the spoken language. I have some (copyrighted) folklore recordings of native speakers singing, telling stories, etc. If I take a short (~15 seconds) excerpt of one story and credit it appropriately, is this fair use? The key, I think, is that the content of the story is not important to the article. -- Theodore Kloba 17:40, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)
Would posting a small section of the Tube map for an article about the station it's centred on (just to show where it is in relation to other stations nearby) be covered under fair use? The current system of just writing what the next and last stations are is somewhat unsatisfying. Jisatsusha 03:24, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I'm still unclear on when I can claim "fair use" and put an image on Wikipedia, and when this would be a copyright violation. Would someone please tell me whether these examples would be "fair use" or copyright infringement?
- Brian Kendig 21:45, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
What constitutes low resolution? Should Wikipedia have a standard image size for such things?
Should there be a project to acquire these images?
Is it fair use to copy these images from Amazon?
BenFrantzDale 05:43, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I have a nice photo I personally took of the Buddy Holly statue in Lubbock, Texas. I would like to upload it for use in both of the above articles. According to this website [2], I believe it would qualify for fair use since it is for a non-commercial educational purpose. However, Holly's widow, Maria Elena, is well-known for strictly enforcing the copyright on Buddy's likeness and I don't want to even get close to the line on this one. Would appreciate any thoughts. H2O 05:43, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Can quoting one stanza out of a five-stanzas song be fair-use ? Another wikipedian claims it is the "heart of the song" and therefore fair-use cannot be applied. Note that the lyrics have political relevance to that article. Bogdan | Talk 12:36, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I was generally wondering whether I can assume I can use fair use on articles about contemporary artists to show a painting of the artist to complement the article and show an example of the artists work as illustration (its low resolution, only one image, etc). I'm interested in writing and expanding some articles on contemporary artists. I also want to see if I can use an image of a Thomas Kinkade painting to illustrate the article on kitsch. There are older paintings I could find maybe but I think his painting is really the best illustration to descbie what people talk about..
I have a picture of a chemistry reaction formula that i downloaded off some site. Its not a secret formula or anything. I think this should be useable...I'm using it for Hoffman elimination. If anyone knows anything more about this topic, mention it on the article's talk page. Thanks. Bubbachuck 04:46, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Reply from Xill: Well, technically they created the picture. If you redrew the picture, then the new one should fall under your own copyright. What might be wrong is if they actually patented the method, and you were giving the method away, but that's now that it sound's like your saying.
I've been asked to justify why I tagged this page {limitedgeographicscope}. It's simply because the page makes frequent reference to the US, without any indication that this guidance applies to non-American users, non-American pictures, or non-American readers. The page introduction states:
Also see Wikipedia talk:Fair use#National treatment above, and Wikipedia talk:Copyrights#US Government PD is not worldwide PD!, and many other points in the copyright spaghetti that indicate confusion over international applicability.
User:Morven told me that "US legal doctrine" is applicable to the project since the servers are in the US. If that's the case, that statement should be at the top of the page somewheres, and my tag can be deleted. I didn't know where the servers were located until he told me that. Please don't assume that you're talking to an American!-- Yannick 21:37, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)
67 machines in Florida, 5 in France, and 11 in the Netherlands, Ref. [3] -- Yannick 00:03, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I just discovered that some global satisfaction can be found at Fair dealing. Still doesn't tell you how to write an international encyclopedia, though. -- Yannick 00:12, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
If I gain a written (e-mailed) permission from a copyright holder to use an image as either GFDL or Fair Use, does Wiki need a copy of that permission? I am also asking this in the assumption that the original provider will not bother to reference to Wiki, or remove thier "Copyright" notices. If Wiki doesn't retain the permission, what happens if I lose it in some suicidal hard drive event?
Is quoting a definition from a dictionary fair use as long as the name of the dictionary is provided? Definitions of capitalism and Definitions of socialism were recently deleted by an administrator because he thought it was a copyright violation. It was a list of definitions with only one definition quoted from each dictionary. RJII 16:42, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I know covers of comic books are generally fair use when used to provide information about the character or title, but what about interior panels? Are scans of copyrighted comic book interior pages fair use? I'm inclined to think not, and yet a huge number of pictures on Wikipedia are copyrighted comic book interior page scans which the uploaders have marked as fair use. — Lowellian ( talk) July 1, 2005 10:27 (UTC)
The issues covered on this page appears only to apply to images, not to text, so I'd like to see if we could get some additional guidance here. We're currently having a discussion over at Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Full Plot Summary about how long a book summary can be before it no longer qualifies as fair use. Right now it's 8235 words, 50 kilobytes, which is arguably too long. Per this site, there are approximately 197,000 words in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, so the summary is roughly 4% as long as the original. Does anybody here have any suggestions? Clearly nobody has any issues with summaries that are up to a thousand words or so, so the question becomes where to draw the line. -- Arcadian 16:08, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
I think there is a mistake in the first sentence of this guideline. The sentence says that copyright law and fair use allow for considerable "uses" of copyrighted material, but isn't fair use actually a copying exception? Correct me if I am wrong, but does copyright law restrict the use of a legally obtained individual physical copy of a work or does it only come into play when copies or derivative works are distributed? There seems to be a lot of confusion over whether copyright law generally, and the word "use" in "fair use" specifically, applies to either: the fairness of and allowance for making copies, or, how the original legally obtained physical copy can be used. zen master T 20:59, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
How long can a fair use sound clip from a particular song be? Is one verse or refrain ok if it is made "to illustrate the point"? -- Salleman 11:50, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
Can images labeled as fair use be transfered to wikipedia commons to be used in other language wikis or does the US copyright law restrict this? -- 141.113.101.21 07:11, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
can sports cards be scanned and used as the picture on a sports player's page? Brun8 22:56, 4 August 2005 (UTC)
For those interested in fair use issues, and improving Wikipedia's implementation of fair use, I encourage you to visit the new Wikipedia:WikiProject Fair use. Thanks. -- Fastfission 19:39, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
I think the ten point system for determining fair Fair Use needs more explanation. How many yeses or nos are supposed to qualify an image for Fair Use? The system should also probably be in its own section, and I might take care of this. Theshibboleth 03:41, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
I hope someone who knows a bit more about copyright than I do can help me out with this. :) My question is the following: I'd like to upload an image of the Fuller brooch to the article. There is an image that's linked in the article (which originally comes from [4]); I'm wondering about whether one could claim fair use now or not, but what's more important, I wonder if the image is copyrightable at all. Considering that the brooch displayed is more than 1000 years old (and thus in the public domain itself, as far as copyright is concerned) and considering that the photograph is merely a photographic reproduction of the brooch, it seems that the reasoning behind Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. is applicable, but that ruling only applies to two-dimensional artwork (which the brooch isn't).
So, my questions are... would it be OK to upload the image? If yes, should it be tagged as fair use or as PD? If no, why not? Thanks. :) -- Schnee ( cheeks clone) 20:08, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
I have boldly updated this page in line with discussion on Wikipedia:WikiProject Fair use, the mailing list, and User talk:Jimbo Wales. In general, it is widely believed that we need a policy on what sort of fair use material we are willing to accept, and this is my attempt at that.
Please edit it to make it better.
The Uninvited Co., Inc. 15:59, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
All of these requirements are met or one? It should specify not imply. -- None-of-the-Above 04:24, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
Is AFP.com a fair use site. I would like to consider using this photo of President located at http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050901/photos_pl_afp/050901155931_hc7pmpn4_photo0 Kindly advise. Kyle Andrew Brown 20:02, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
Here are just a few problematic statements in the present version of the page:
To my knowledge, our use of publicity photos must be as "fair use", because we no longer allow the use of limited licenses.
What's the justification for saying "there is no fair use exemption for them"? I don't see why these are being treated different than any other copyrighted media. I do believe that there should be a special warning for using photographs whose copyrights are owned by companies who make their income exclusively off of photograph licenses (because the argument that we are defrauding them is a lot stronger), but there are many instances in which said use could still be "fair" in my mind. What's the rationale behind such strongly worded text?
Same question as the news photos. Obviously if it is feasible to take our own pictures of the thing in question (no need to "fair use" a photograph of a dog, for example, as there are many dogs), "fair use" wouldn't apply. But if it is something more specific, I don't see why it wouldn't qualify as "fair use" ("Bruno, the wild dog of the Pampas, known for eating cattle" or something like that).
I think this whole section should be deleted, personally (along with the similar tags). "Fair use" is a defensive claim because you don't have permission; a license is a form of permission — they should not be confused with one another. I think it also confuses the re-using issue. Images licensed only to Wikipedia are not allowed on Wikipedia. The only way to use a copyrighted image on Wikipedia which is not licensed for any use is to use it under a "fair use" claim, if one applies. -- Fastfission 19:06, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
Are all images of all visual art fair use? I know of a photo of King Tut's death mask that someone claims the copyright to. Can we use it here? Can we edit it and use it here? Jim Apple 05:17, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
If an institution such as a school puts an image of its building on the front page of its website, to describe and/or promote itself, it it fair use to copy that image and use it to describe that institution in an article about it? Kappa 00:31, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
For some time now I've been thinking about and discussing more potential policy changes and clarifications for fairuse images, but finding something which strikes a balance between our many needs and many perspectives is very difficult. Still, the existing system leaves a lot to be desired, and there is a lot of argument related to fair use images. Some users believe we are overusing fair use and reducing the freeness of Wikipedia, while others counter with the fact that fair use is essential to our goal of producing an encyclopedia. Virtually all who have evaluated the situation agree that there are a lot of incorrectly tagged images.
Recently, the new speedy delete criteria for unsourced images has caused a lot of additional discussion about all facets of image copyright handling on Wikipedia. After extensive consultation with quite a few Wikipedians I have decided that there is a lot more to gain by changing some details in our procedures rather than proposing a more comprehensive policy change. As a result I have created two new templates: {{ fairusenoalternative}} and {{ fairusereplace}}.
Both templates share a common characteristic: two variables. These allow (and encourage) the user of the template to provide both where the work is fair use, and why the work is fair use. This is necessary because all fair use is dependent on context and must always have a basis. I do not suggest we impose standards on what goes into the why field right away, but rather feel out what is most useful. The two templates differ from each other because they separate fairuse into two broad classes. In one class we have fair use where there can be no alternative to that work. For example, if we are writing about a copyrighted painting there is no freely available work which could act as a reasonable alternative to the use of an excerpt of the painting in that context. The other class is for works where, while our use would be considered fair use by law in the US, it is possible to create free works which would act as a good replacement. For example, we might currently be using a fair use photograph of Steve Jobs but anyone can take a picture of him, and many possible pictures would do as good or better of a job as the fair use image. Because Wikipedia is the free Encyclopedia, we prefer the freely licensed image when we have an option. It is possible for a work to have multiple instances of both tages, because the replaceability of the work and the rationale of the use may differ from linking article to linking article. However, I think situations requiring multiple tags will be rare.
After the tags are in wide use, the plan is to convert the existing {{ fairuse}} into a message requesting fairuse review and disambiguation. We also have some subject-area fair use tags which may benefit from being split and being provided with where and why fields. Enjoy!-- Gmaxwell 16:55, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
Apparently not everyone has the same idea as to whether a magazine cover may be used for the article of the person appearing on the front cover. See User talk:Evil Monkey#Playboy covers for a discussion about this. I think everyone should be agreed on this before a bunch of people remove cover photos and then a lot of other people see it the opposite way around. Thanks Dismas| (talk) 16:10, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
Example image Unless a city has a policy to put work generated by city employees as part of their job into the public domain, then that work is still protected by copyright. So, how does/should this apply to mugshots? The purpose of these images is somewhat similar to that of publicity shots in the entertainment industry with the major difference being the wishes of the subject. In that case, the images are copyrighted, yet the holder of that copyright let's them be used rather freely in order to drum up publicity. That makes it easier for us to make a fair use claim on those type of images. Does this also apply to mugshots? Is there even a market for mugshots that may be damaged by copyright infringement? What should our policy on mugshot use be? -- mav 04:17, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
Let's try to work out the chain which resulted in the photos being published worldwide: - 1. Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top are suspected of being terrorists and allegedly committed various acts of terrorism in Indonesia. 2. The Indonesian authorities do their best to find the latest photographs and descriptions of the alleged perps within their records, failing such, relays a request to the M'sian authorities for assistance. 3. The M'sian authorities in turn search their records, i.e. identity cards and passport registration records, failing such, resort to requisitioning the latest photos from their relatives, friends et cetera. Of course, their friends and relatives could always cite copyright issues...but they don't. 4. The photos are relayed to the Indonesian authorities for publication nationwide in order to assist with the arrest of the perps, if possible. At this point of time, the M'sian authorities or the owners of the photographs could again easily cite copyright issues...but they don't. 5. The perps are also enjoying international limelight and a lot of people are eager to know about these two previously obscure Malaysian terrorists. There will be demand for news...and photographs of them. At this point, we haven't even heard of the chicago(?) guy and the collector of little things citing copyright issues. 6. One of them is unceremoniously gunned down in Java, Indonesia for resisting arrest...generating a lot of goodwill for the Indons at the White House...and a lot of publicity for the dead perp. Most M'sian and Ind'sian papers and newsreports show Azahari Husin's photograph, the very same one appearing in Wikipedia later...yet, no complains so far (except maybe for the family). 7. As we are reaching the end, there is a realisation that no-one, and I mean NO-ONE has come forth to seek royalties for those photos or citing copyright issues. Furthermore, there are no alternative photos available for these two perps. Therefore, the photos currently available in public domain are what the authorities believe to be the latest images (in order to assist with identification) and the issue relating to the release of the photos are of public concern. N.B. Obviously the two perps would not have volunteered their mugshots. Oi. Babyrina2 01:46, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I think the tendency to call unlicensed images used under the term "fair use images" tends to mislead editors into assuming they can use an image when they can't. I, therefore, think we should avoid using that phrase and instead use the term "unlicensed images". Images being used under the fair use doctrine are not licensed; the fair use doctrine merely permits the use of the image without a license. We have to make it crystal clear to people that fair use is a per-instance doctrine that authorizes an image to be used only in a specific context and that the image itself remains unlicensed and is not available for general use outside that context. Kelly Martin 00:37, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
I'd like to use an image of an IBM 603 tube multiplier found here on the CPU page I'm rewriting. Of course the image is probably Copyright IBM, but in their "Terms and conditions" set forth for that portion of the site ( here), they explicity state "Fair educational use of the contents of this Web site is permitted." Does uploading this image to Wikipedia qualify as proper fair use under our rules? I find it very unlikely that IBM would agree to license the image under a Free license or release it to public domain, so I think application of fair use is the best way to go here. I'm pretty sure this is kosher, but wanted to be positive before I use the image. -- uberpenguin 20:43, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
Will do... The worst that can happen is the request is denied (or ignored... or sent in, sent back, sent here, sent there, lost then found again, then subject to public inquiry then finally buried under a pile of soft peat for 3 months then recycled as firestarters). Eh... I'll do it this weekend :) -- uberpenguin 22:18, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
Does fair use of an image require that we list the source of that image, legally or by our own policy? I've noticed quite a few images getting marked as fair use for reasonable fair use rationales but without their source being specified. -- fvw * 20:53, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
We legitimately use Image:Afis.jpg this image at Great Romania People's Party. We currently lack an image for Corneliu Vadim Tudor, head of that party, depicted on the poster. The template claims fair use justification for "identification and critical commentary on the poster itself or the political movement it represents". Do I correctly understand this to mean that we cannot use the poster in the article on Vadim Tudor? -- Jmabel | Talk 17:52, 30 September 2005 (UTC)
Does anyone have guidance on roughly how long a sample of a copyright sound recording may be and qualify as a "brief song clip"? -- Tabor 03:11, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
I wasn't sure if I should post this here or on the Help desk but I put it here for now.
There is some reverting going on on the Bob Dylan page right now regarding the use of lyrics in the article. About this edit [6] in particular. I was wondering if this classifies as fair use. Thanks Akamad 00:45, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
As I wrote on Talk:Bob Dylan, the use of six lines of lyrics from a historically significant Dylan song unquestionably falls under fair use. Whether or not we're writing a review is irrelevant. The law doesn't restrict fair use with such specifics. Rhobite 02:54, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
I have suggested at Template talk:Albumcover that the following two lines:
...should be stricken from the Policy section of this page. See, for example: Template:Album infobox 2 (and its being kept per consenus at Templates for deletion). However, this is not only the case with Album covers. See also Template:The Beatles, which also uses "Fair Use" images as decoration for a template. There are a number of other examples. I'd suggest that consensus seems to be that such use is desirable, so review of the policy appears necessary. If the policy should not be changed for some reason, I would suggest that nominating such Templates for deletion is unlikely to result in consensus to delete. Jkelly 18:32, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
Justinc, it is your opinion that the use of album covers (for Gettin' in Over My Head and What I Really Want for Christmas) at Smile (Brian Wilson album), a Featured Article, is consistent with the sentences "The material must contribute significantly to the article" and "They should never be used on templates (including stub templates and navigation boxes)", and that it meets the rationale given at Template:Albumcover, and so nothing needs changing? Jkelly 21:25, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
Okay, so I propose that the change should be as follows:
Does this match how you see the articles being used, and how you think policy should read? Rewording also needs to happen at Template:Albumcover, and I hope that you will contribute to that discussion as well! Jkelly 22:07, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
I'm not clear which images are you referring to, Kappa, of the ones I've brought up. In any case, I'm not really looking to be convinced that any particular use of any particular image is Fair Use. My goal with this (these?) conversations is to draw some attention to whether or not our policy (here) our rationale (at Template:Albumcover) matches our use of the images. Jkelly 01:25, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
Template:Album infobox 2 does not have any images in the template namespace. So discussing that template in relation to the second line named above is not relevant. I don't really see that the infoboxs use of images in the chronology section violates the first line either. In my view it is within the framework of regulations that we have; "... specifically illustrate relevant points or sections". -- Tokle 17:01, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
On a related note: I've come across a few musician articles in which someone changed the discography to a table, and then added an album cover image for each album. I am now removing these images whenever I come across them. The way that I read fair use, at least as it applies in the U.S., is that we could use an album cover in an article about the album itself. There is another issue here, too, concerning usability: clicking on the image brings the user to the "Image:" space, not the album article itself, which is potentially confusing. Both issues were brought up in the {{ Album infobox 2}} deletion debate. (Speaking of, someone had mentioned that the consensus was to keep that template; IIRC there was no consensus whether to keep or delete. FWIW.) I had already started to wonder about this when Miles Davis was the article of the day a few weeks ago, and the image was the Kind of Blue cover. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 00:09, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
I would appreciate comments on Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fair_use#Newspaper.2Fmagazine_tag_anomoly with reference to: Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fair_use#Images_from_agencies_i.e._wireimages_and_ap. Thanks Arniep 14:02, 27 October 2005 (UTC)
The phrase "(not for identification without critical commentary)" recently added to "cover art" is pretty cryptic. I imagine if I'd been following this talk page I'd know what was going on, but I haven't, and the project page should stand alone. Can someone reword more clearly to indicate what is and is not acceptable use? -- Jmabel | Talk 17:59, 17 November 2005 (UTC)
The article fair use is about the legal concept. This article is inaccurate in discussing the legal concept. I suggest this article be edited to refer to the article fair use for all uses of the legal aspect so we don't have the problems that go with keeping it accurate in two places, and I suggest this article be clear that it is solely about wikipedia guidance. The two uses of the phrase (fair use law versus fair use guidance) are not the same. WAS 4.250 14:05, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
The first inaccuracy is "The reproduction of any significant portion of a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder is copyright infringement, and is illegal." For example, Wikipedia is copyrighted and it is not illegal to reproduce significant parts of it. Oh, you say, the GFDL does give permission from the copyright holder. So it does; but people reading this page to get their legal understanding of the issue could easily misread it, while in the context of the article fair use "giving permission by for example the use of GFDL" is in keeping with the subject of the article, while in this article it is irrelevant (so says the deleter). "Entire works may be copied under fair use for personal uses and educational uses." is both as true and as false as "The reproduction of any significant portion of a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder is copyright infringement, and is illegal." It's simply not so cut and dried as either. But wikipedia guidance can be mostly cut and dried and simplified. Many more inaccuracies exist in the article and the quoted sentence is wrong for several reasons not simply the ones I just gave. I, again, insist it would be far far better to confine this article to guidance and let the fair use article deal with the legal aspect. WAS 4.250 19:39, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
The fair use doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law which contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. [7] WAS 4.250 23:43, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
[8] WAS 4.250 23:43, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
[9] WAS 4.250 23:43, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
"In a lawsuit commonly known as the Betamax case, the Supreme Court determined that the home videotaping of a television broadcast was a fair use. This was one of the few occasions when copying a complete work (for example, a complete episode of the "Kojak" television show) was accepted as a fair use. Evidence indicated that most viewers were "time-shifting" (taping in order to watch later) and not "library-building" (collecting the videos in order to build a video library). Important factors: The Supreme Court reasoned that the "delayed" system of viewing did not deprive the copyright owners of revenue. (Universal City Studios v. Sony Corp., 464 U.S. 417 (1984).)" [10] WAS 4.250 23:43, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
"In a 1979 case, a company copied two of Brilliant's phrases-'I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent' and 'I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy'-and altered a third phrase, all for sale on t-shirt transfers. The district court acknowledged that the phrases were distinguished by conciseness, cleverness, and a pointed observation, and ruled that they were protected by copyright." [11] WAS 4.250 00:39, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
I'm really not sure what you're proposing. First, the "Entire works may be copied under fair use" is completely irrelevant to Wikipedia, because the copied work is not being shared with the public. And university fair use policies are at best a weak model for Wikipedia because they don't have to deal with the problem of pass-through to commercial users. The UT example has the same problem, plus it rambles on about all sorts of stuff.
I think it's possible that if you took these sources and tried to distill them down with Wikipedia as your focus, you might get somewhere, but what you've got above, frankly, isn't much of a start. -- Mwanner | Talk 00:21, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
You deleted
with an edit summary of "delete an untruth ( a lie). there are 4 important factors in considering fair use. size is only one. in some cases 12 words can not be copied. in other cases the entire work can be copied."
You really need to learn to be more careful in your reading and use of language, especially if you are going to edit policy statements. "Any significant portion" means whatever portion the courts judge to be significant. In some cases, as in the instance you cite, they have judged that 12 words constitute a significant portion of a work. Note, too, that "significant" can refer to any number of different attributes of a portion of text, not just the size.
I have restored the deleted text. Henceforth, please propose changes here before making them in the article. -- Mwanner | Talk 20:50, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
If we want to rewrite it to be more generalizable, how about:
I don't think that is clearer but it doesn't hash out over what is fair use. In any event, it cannot go from "Under U.S. copyright law" to "This is a page for discussion of fair use" without explaining what fair use is and why we have a policy on it in the first place, which is the entire point of the introduction. -- Fastfission 23:34, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
The fair use doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law which contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. For more information about fair use see: [12] [13] [14] WAS 4.250 14:55, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
If you insist on something shorter maybe:
Fair use is roughly the right to use copyrighted work by others without their permission for parody, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. There are four factors determining fair use: purpose of use, nature of the copied work, how much was copied, and to what extent the copyright holder is deprived of potential markets for the work.
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. For more information about fair use law see: [15] [16] [17] Fair use or the Law section below. WAS 4.250 15:59, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
The US Copyright office says "Although fair use was not mentioned in the previous copyright law, the doctrine has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years. This doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law. ". [18] WAS 4.250 07:19, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
This seems pretty puerile considering that fair use itself is a grey area rather than a fine line, why superimpose a fine line here?
The only reason why anyone cares about copyright infringement is because someone is trying to make money off someone's intellectual property or someone is trying to misrepresent intellectual property in a way that would debase the value of said intellectual property. Most of the time here on Wikipedia, I don't think that's the case, particularly in one case recently I ran into with {{user Democrat}}, where someone used this page as an excuse to remove the Democratic Party's logo from a user box.
I've started a rfc on the subject above here.
Now let me ask you, what would the Democratic Party have to to gain from suing Wikipedia/the Wikimedia foundation (a non-profit entity which includes many of its own low-level members) other than bad publicity and perhaps some money that would more than likely be negated by legal costs?
If you'd like, I'm probably going to see the head of New Hampshire's state party tonight, I'll ask her if the DNC would mind at all in regards to "allowing" us to use the logo, but otherwise, I say to all of you -- don't let the fear of litigation quash you from expressing yourself. karmafist 21:34, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
—:IMHO the clear cut "house policy" of not having fair use outside the main namespace is good precicely because the legal aspects themselves is such a gray area. It leaves absolutely no room for misinterpretations. I agree that there are cases where it would probably be just fine to claim fair use outside of the main namespace, and that this rule can seem overly "totalitarian" in some cases, but IMHO turning it into a judgement call is just a too big can of worms to be worth opening. There are already enough problems with people inproperly tagging images, and claiming fair use left right and center in articles. Opening up for "some" fair use images on userpages and such will just result in people interpreting it as a "free for all". If the price for avoiding having to deal with that kind of problems on a regular basis (there are enough copyright and license issues to deal with in the ensyclopedia itself) is to not allow people to display logos of theyr political party, or the movie poster for theyr favourite movie or whatever on thyer userpage then IMHO that's a very very small price to pay. -- Sherool (talk) 23:41, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
Under U.S. copyright law, almost all work published after 1922 may have an active copyright (there are exceptions, however — see United States copyright law for details). The reproduction of any significant portion of a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder is copyright infringement, and is illegal. As such, on Wikipedia, which is hosted in the United States, we are normally only able to use material that is not under copyright or is available under a sufficiently free license.
An important exception to this rule exists, recognized in a clause in the copyright act that describes a limited right to use copyrighted material without permission of the copyright holder — what is known as fair use (or "fair dealing" in other countries, where standards may differ). This page is meant as a guideline for dealing with Fair Use materials on the English Wikipedia — it provides general guidance on what is or isn't likely to be fair use and how you can best assist editors when attempting to include material under fair use. However, it is not official policy. You, as the uploader, are legally responsible for determining whether your contributions are legal.
Under U.S. copyright law, almost all work published after 1922 may have an active copyright (there are exceptions, however — see United States copyright law for details). This page is meant as a guideline for dealing with fair use materials on the English Wikipedia — it provides general guidance on what is or isn't likely to be fair use and how you can best assist editors when attempting to include material under fair use. However, it is not official policy. You, as the uploader, are legally responsible for determining whether your contributions are legal.
According to the U.S Copyright Office, fair use is roughly the right to use copyrighted work by others without their permission for parody, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. There are four factors determining fair use: purpose of use, nature of the copied work, how much was copied, and to what extent the copyright holder is deprived of potential markets for the work. [21]
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. For more information about fair use law see the Law and External links sections below.
Maybe we've identified the core of our difference. You think there IS a "bright line" for wikipedia. I do not. There is no magic formula. We must not JUST tell them "10% or 30 sec whichever is less" but also WARN them that there is no magic formula, that the courts decide it case by case, that they are legally responsible, that they can not blindly rely on the simplistic semi-bright lines provided, that in the end the courts will weigh 4 important factors (and the first ammendment among other things). Just saying don't copy too much is very dangerous advice. Sometimes everything can be copied. Sometimes 12 words can not be copied. And the example I gave of everything being copied is the most famous case of everything being copied. The example of copying an entire poem exists too as I'm sure you know so I get the impression you are not arguing in good faith. Prove me wrong - show me you aren't just arguing for the sake of arguing.
WAS 4.250
14:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
I want to know some things, as I find the page Wikipedia:Fair use lacks information on this. Exactly how long is brief, I saw a discussion where it was said not more than 30 seconds or 10% of the original file. Does it mean 30 seconds is always the limit and if the file is not long (not qualified for 30 seconds sample) then I use the 10%, or is 10% usable for longer files which would give 60 seconds sample for 10 minutes surpassing the 30 seconds limit. Also, exactly how much samples should be the maximum for an album, not talking about singles but big enough album. If only there were numerical values like 10% of the number of tracks, more or less, it would help. At least something more appropriate than brief.-- DarkEvil 04:12, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
There is no magic formula. The fair use doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law which contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. For more information about fair use see: [22] [23] [24]
Seven notes copied and used in a song you sell MIGHT cost you money in a lawsuit. Copying AN ENTIRE SONG for personal use is GENERALLY fair use. There is no magic formula. WAS 4.250 04:29, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
[25] says:
4.2.1 Motion Media
Up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, in the aggregate of a copyrighted motion media work may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project created under Section 2 of these guidelines.
4.2.2 Text Material
Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less, in the aggregate of a copyrighted work consisting of text material may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project created under Section 2 of these guidelines. An entire poem of less than 250 words may be used, but no more than three poems by one poet, or five poems by different poets from any anthology may be used. For poems of greater length, 250 words may be used but no more than three excerpts by a poet, or five excerpts by different poets from a single anthology may be used.
4.2.3 Music, Lyrics, and Music Video
Up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work (or in the aggregate of extracts from an individual work), whether the musical work is embodied in copies, or audio or audiovisual works, may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as a part of a multimedia project created under Section 2. Any alterations to a musical work shall not change the basic melody or the fundamental character of the work. WAS 4.250 13:27, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
How does "in the aggregate" apply or not apply to Wikipedia? Section 1.3 says "These guidelines apply to the use, without permission, of portions of lawfully acquired copyrighted works in educational multimedia projects which are created by educators or students as part of a systematic learning activity by nonprint educational institutions." Is Wikipedia a "nonprint" enterprise? I have doubts about "30 sec or 10%" being applied to copying commercial music to an online encyclopedia (database???). But I'm no lawyer. WAS 4.250 13:35, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
[26] says:
[27] says these are NOT covered
Further the act only covers accredited, nonprofit educational institutions: "TEACH says it is not copyright infringement for teachers and students at an accredited, nonprofit educational institution to transmit performances and displays of copyrighted works as part of a course if certain conditions are met. If these conditions are not or cannot be met, use of the material will have to qualify as a fair use or permission from the copyright holder(s) must be obtained.". WAS 4.250 13:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
[28] says:
The bottom line is there is no magic formula. WAS 4.250 14:06, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
The site just cited describes the unsettled nature of current fair use law, including first ammendment defense and "transformative use". Raise your hand if YOU want to be a test case. WAS 4.250 14:15, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
So, I think the better is to not use fair use audio on Wikipedia, it does seem that any lenght would qualify as suable to me. Until the case is settled at least. Or if we had the advice from a lawyer that would be good.-- DarkEvil 17:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
What would be the process for including song or sound clips in Spoken Wikipedia? Can I not, then, GPL my piece? - WAZAAAA
This is DarkEvil once again, I just posted a question about audio which kind of made me more aware that fair use is a complicated matter and I wish for me as well as for wikipedia to not have trouble with the law. So, I'd like to know about something if someone takes a screenshot from a game using an emulator, which is illegal if you don't own the game. Then this person modifies this image by removing a black border around the image (crop). Then, the image appears to dark when it is reduced on Wikipedia so this person enhances the brightness/contrast of this image. I couldn't find information about slightly modyfing fair use images.-- DarkEvil 18:04, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Copyright protects creativity. If after your modification it is all about your creativity and not someone else's it is YOUR creation and YOU are the copyright holder to that new image. There is no magic formula for knowing exactly how many tweaks make it yours ... Hey I could write a song with that title! WAS 4.250 18:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Removing a border and altering contrast adds no creativity and removes none of their creativity. If the image has no creative content in the first place, it can not be copyrighted (people CLAIM copyright all the time on things they have no legal copyright on). An image of a generic arrow to the left (for example) can not be copyrighted. WAS 4.250 18:29, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
OK, thanks for the fast answer, this one really resolves my problem.-- DarkEvil 18:30, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
You're welcome. WAS 4.250 19:07, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Yeah, there's a lot of interesting angles on modification. I was trying to help this one specific case. Modifying a copyrighted image for critism or parody is allowed but is better thought of here at wikipedia as original research and we should limit ourselves to reporting such parody and critism by others. WAS 4.250 21:50, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
I uploaded this photo and got it from here. I think this would qualify as fair use under promotional material. Tell me if I am correct. -- MateoP 22:29, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
There picture of the 4 people found here and here would make a great image for a presidential election article. However I suspect that this probably can't fall under fair use. So what can I do? Can I email the web page and ask permission? Thanks for more information. -- MateoP 15:45, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
There's a nice new template, {{fairusereview}}, to request someone to review the fair use status of an image. But how does one actually encourage a review to happen? Does simply putting the template on mean that an expert is likely to look at it eventually? Or should I request a review here or on some other page? I'm not sure what effect {{fairusereview}} really has.
Thanks for any guidance, Stephen Turner ( Talk) 07:54, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
Would an image, in musical notation, of a transcription of a brief section of music be fair use? A brief sound clip is fair use, but a transcription would differ in that it is an image and not a direct reproduction of the sound or the score. When attributed to the copyright holder can this be fair use? Hyacinth 15:59, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
The Wikipedia article GFDL should answer your questions. Note that GFDL is a license placed on a creative work by the owner of the copyright of that creative work. WAS 4.250 21:53, 26 December 2005 (UTC)
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Since Dolly the Sheep is a sort of test-case for this new procedure, I have a few comments to make.
Imagine if Dolly were still alive. How feasible would it be to find out where she was kept and obtain permission to photograph her for wikipedia (it's not like we have a brand name like Britannica, CNN or the BBC)? This can be expanded to anybody who is alive and notable enough to have an entry in wikipedia, and to resources not available to the general public (things in museums, in the vaults of museums, private art collections, the inside of famous buildings, military, etc). We need to consider what is best to be done in these cases where it isn't feasible (or likely) that a wikipedian will be able to photograph the famous item or person, or to find a public domain image (because if these famous things/people are rarely seen then there are people who make a living from selling images of them, not by placing them in the public domain).
I would also like there to be a (well-thought out) policy on things like:
I have long been confused by the copyright policy, and laws of the USA, and the impact of both on future editions of wikipedia (e.g. paper copies, which will presumably be sold in other countries). If we have to delete all our images and start afresh, so be it, but I want the policy to defined now, to be in line with the law, explicit and easy to understand, and forwardthinking (i.e. we must consider these cd-rom or paper versions of wikipedia now, or face doing this all again in the future). fabiform | talk 17:48, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I don't think we should be deleting images that are not infringing on copyrights. Rather why not just quarantine them? This means not using them in any article. If at a future time we change our minds, we have the images, and no work is lost. Also, many people might have uploaded images that are under the GFDL (i.e. their own images) or under fair use, but not mentioned so. They could be gone now, so there would be no way to reach them. Should these images be deleted just on a change of policy? After all, there is a checkbox that asks you that you only submit GFDL images. If someone uploaded their own pictures, which they put under the GFDL by virtue of checking that box, why should those images be deleted just because the author is not around anymore and there was a policy change? just my 2 cents, Dori | Talk 18:11, Feb 20, 2004 (UTC)
Hi. The great majority of the found images I upload are from before 1923. There have been a few exceptions, I'll mention one to see if there are reccomendations for improving my handling of such cases. The image I used in American Austin Car Company article, as I say in the image description, "American Austin motorcar, from ad in July, 1930 magazine. Presumed fair use in unlikely case that any copyright renewal was ever filed on ad. " The company has been out of business for more than 60 years, making it unlikely that any renewal was ever filed to extend any copyright term. (Additionally, people who have worked with material from this era have told me that it was not common practice for companies to copyright their magazine ads in this era, so it may well not even have had any copyright to begin with, although I do not assume that.) What do people think about my use of this image? Ok, inappropriate? Wondering, -- Infrogmation 18:46, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Specific case, rather than general policy. Dolly is now stuffed, mounted, and on display at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh. Assuming the museum allows visitors to take photos (UK museums generally do, don't they?), replacing the Roslin Institute's picture with one almost as lifelike is something any Edinburgh wikipedian could do quite easily next time they're up by Chambers Street. –Hajor 20:48, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Permission to photograph anything on exhibit in the National Museums of Scotland for Wikipedia has been denied. Fabiform, can you explain the conditions under which they notified you of that denial? Do they not allow any photography at all, or just photography intended for publication in a collaborative free-content encyclopaedia? –Hajor 20:24, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I am trying to find some pictures of civilian victims of the Afghanistan war which were either released under the GFDL or which can be used under the fair use doctrine. Even after an intensive search I haven't found any GFDL and I therefore would like to know if for example using low-res screen captures from Al Jazeera & Co would count as Fair Use ?
Damn all this copyright bullshit.
As the author of this policy I have avoided specifically stating whether, in cases where remote alternatives exist (such as shooting a photo of a seclusive author), we are allowed to use fair use images in the meantime.
I hope this can be worked out in consensus over the coming weeks. As a fair use advocate, I feel of course that we should have such images. As an open content advocate, I must acknowledge that having these images will reduce the motivation to acquire open content pictures. —Eloquence 23:13, Feb 20, 2004 (UTC)
Thank you Eloquence for starting this page.
Newspapers and magazines often print still frames from movies, TV shows, and video games, under the fair use doctrine. Sometimes they use the images sent to them in a press kit from the studio, which I believe always comes with some permission lines printed at the bottom of the photo itself. But often a magazine will just grab a still frame and print it, if the movie is old. Obviously this is the only way to show a scene from a movie, unless we were to insinuate a Wikipedia agent onto the set and take some covert shots. I think we should have such images. We could crib from the guidelines of the Associated Press for a start, if it's not feasible to get a legal opinion to hang our hat on moving forward. In either case this fair use page should explicitly talk about this -- images of this type could be useful to Wikipedia and people will want to upload them. (In the past, I've included some old Apple II game screenshots on Wizardry and RobotWar.) Tempshill 20:03, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)
In jurisdictions where fair use is law, fair use is entirely compatible with the GFDL. See meta:Do fair use images violate the GFDL? for far more extensive analysis of just why they are compatible with it, in jurisdictions where fair use is the law. Jamesday 08:59, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Anyone considering actually using this should realise that we can expect that the vast majority of images used in the encyclopedia will be used under fair use, fair dealing or similar provisions of law in other jurisdictions. The net effect: to add a vast amount of overhead for no useful purpose. If you see an image tagged as fair use and can find one which is more freely reusable, replace it. No need for lots of overhead for the most commonly used image category. Fair use is compatible with the GFDL (as are lots of licenses) in jurisdictions where fair use applies, so it's not necessary to eliminate them provided we describe them properly, so those who want to avoid a particular image type can easily do so. Jamesday 08:59, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Creating as much open content as possible is a legal argument. Jimmy started considering fair use images as a posible problem after he was told that fair use didn't exist in the UK. Then he over-reacted and headed in the wrong direction. In a jurisdiction where fair use exists, that fair use is a public domain right, one which was never granted to the copyright holder. That is, fair use is open content, provided only that the use is moderately conservative, so it will be applicable to the vast majority of GFDL-accepting reusers, which is the case for the vast majority of the fair use situations I've considered over at possible copyvios. In other jurisdictions, the people viewing the articles will see the image and be interested in getting one they can use without fair use... and it will encourage them to do so if it improves the article, just as stubs do at present for text. That's why those in the UK are uploading licensed images even where the image is fair use in the US - the UK people often require a license, so they are going out and getting those licenses or seeking replacements more compatible with UK law. Which is just what we want to have happen. That's why we don't delete text stubs and there's no reason to have a different practice for images. Jamesday 22:45, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Please try to edit this into something readable before adding it to the page. Moreover, please limit yourself to one paragraph, preferably not of the current length. —Eloquence
For all images, the potential copyright issues are far more extensive than fair use, fair dealing or other ways to use information. Architecture and signs have IP attached, so permission may be required or there may be moral rights requirements even where an uploader asserts that an image is in the public domain or is GFDL. Also, each country around the world has its own copyright laws and terms, so what is in the public domain differences in each jurisdiction. In the US and UK, the question of whether a scan of an old work is free of copyright is easy: it is, because mechanical conversions don't create a new copyright. However, there's sure to be a jurisdiction somewhere where that is not the law. It's nowhere near as simple (simplistic) as arguing that avoiding fair use makes everything fine. The laws around the world are not that simple.
For these and other reasons, no reuser outside the US or other jurisdiction where a DMCA-equivalent protects them can use the Wikipedia images without checking each image. Similarly, no reuser in print even in the US can use even asserted public domain or GFDL images without doing their own checking, because they have legal liability if the is IP in the image. We can try to help, with accurate tagging and source information, but we cannot make it unnecessary for reusers to do this work. Regardless, even if we eliminated every fair use image and replaced them all with claimed GFDL images, we wouldn't eliminate the need to do this checking: accurate source information matters far, far more than any claimed copyright status.
I removed this line: "During this deliberation process, the files may exist on the server, but should not be linked from any pages but this one." I think it's unreasonable to require that we remove all fair use images while going through a ten-day process. And unless we remove them all, that means those listed here would be penalized for going through this process. Furthermore, fair use is a decision which is made in context, based on use, not something which applies to the image itself. Anthony DiPierro
The images have to be displayed in their context - in their article - to decide on fair use. The context is key. The same applies when suggesting that an image my be a copyvio - if you remove the image from the article, you remove the ability to judge whether it is a copyvio or fair use. Jamesday 00:03, 1 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I'm not entirely clear on the guidelines laid out in Image use policy. If I wanted to add (a smaller version of) this picture to the article On Your Mark (about a Japanese animated music video), would that be allowed? I believe that image is from a calendar; if I posted an actual frame from the music video itself, would that fall under fair use? I see professional movie reviewers using shots from movies all the time, must they always have special permission? If I copied a Disney park photo from a Disney park web site, would it be fair use to put that image on a Wikipedia article about the park? I have trouble seeing how the reproduction of any image here on Wikipedia would cause any sort of financial harm to the owner of the image, and an image would often help make an article clearer - what's a good rule of thumb to use in deciding whether my intentions for an image fall under 'fair use' or not? Brian Kendig 19:14, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)
This rule is frequently flouted. I've seen {{msg:GFDL}} photos and free-to-use images I've uploaded overwritten by {{msg:unverified}} or {{msg:Fair use}} pics. On such occasions I've been been reluctant to engage in rv wars – it would be seen as ego-pushing ("my pic stays") even though the real purpose is, as it says on the front page, to "build an open-content encyclopedia". To what extent should aesthetic considerations ("better pic", "rm amateurish photo") over-ride the freedom of the project, and who's to make that call? –Hajor 19:03, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Is the blurb on the back of a paperback, or on the flyleaf of a hardback, fair game for inclusion in a Wikipedia article? It would seem intuitively obvious, since the purpose of the blurb is to garner publicity for the book, but is there any hard policy? I would of course assume that any such text would be clearly annotated as such. -- Phil | Talk 08:37, Jun 9, 2004 (UTC)
No, in general it's not. The blurb is a work in it's own right. Added to which blurbs are often wrong, sycophantic(1) or spoliers. However short quotes from the blurb, or recycled review quotes should be OK. ( (1) Be aware, for example of the London play which quoted a national paper "The best play ever" wher the full text was "The best play ever written on a Wednesday and performed the following night") Rich Farmbrough 13:45, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)
OK, so I understand the fair use policy (I mean, I've been adding hundreds of fair use logos to Wikipedia), but I've got a situation I wanted to ask about. I just picked up three old books - one on helicopters since 1907 and two on World War II aircraft. They are definitely copyrighted works, but they contain good illustrations of aircraft, many that could be for articles that don't have any pictures at all ( example). Plus, there are a number that have pictures with questionable or no copyright information already ( example).
So, anyways, the question is, could this qualify as fair use or not? It seems close, but I think you could justify these images as historically significant, informational and, of course, they would be reasonably small and at a low resolution. Anyone else have an opinion? RADICALBENDER ★ 00:57, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)
The Berne convention says that: "Authors shall enjoy, in respect of works for which they are protected under this Convention, in countries of the Union other than the country of origin, the rights which their respective laws do now or may hereafter grant to their nationals, as well as the rights specially granted by this Convention." [1]
So it seems to me that Wikipedia should be assuming the protections of the country of origin. If the work is a US work, then fair use applies. If it isn't, then it shouldn't. anthony (see warning) 17:14, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.poster.net/treacy-eric/treacy-eric-the-south-staffordshire-regiment-2504022.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.postershop.com/Treacy-Eric/Treacy-Eric-The-South-Staffordshire-Regiment-2504022.html&h=397&w=313&sz=15&tbnid=QM_yTkGNAXsJ:&tbnh=119&tbnw=94&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3DEric%2BTreacy%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN is a photograph by Eric Treacy, from around 1930. The Treacy Collection is owned by the National Railway Museum, who licence it out to posters, etc. I would contend this is a work of art rather than any old snapshot of a train, and a particularly important and well known of Treacy's photographs. I have a bigger version in a book. What do you think? Dunc_Harris| ☺ 19:42, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thumb|right Can we check that this would qualify? I think not, but User:E7hgwfj6 thinks so. It wouldn't be too difficult to arrange a photo of a volunteer in his boxers would it? Dunc_Harris| ☺ 19:54, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Hi, a new user ( User:Raj2004) asked me for help with contacting a website or some such in regards to quotations. They might very well be fair use for all I know. Any help is appreciated. Here is a link to his request on my talk: User_talk:Sam_Spade#Dvaita_and_Visatadvaita. I will direct him here, and a couple other places (like the pump, and Boilerplate_request_for_permission). Cheers, Sam [ Spade] 18:00, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Is an image of a person considered fair use? AdamJacobMuller T@lk Sun Nov 14 20:15:28 GMT 2004
I don't know the legality of photographing/scanning Set cards: please see Talk:Set (game) for my question in detail, and please respond there. Thanks! — msh210 20:40, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)
In reference to my Solarquest page:
Nathanlarson32767 16:01, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I have included several press kit photos in the article Duran Duran, and tagged them as fair use for the moment, as I don't know what else might fit. These were included in press releases sent out to newspapers and magazines at various points in the band's career. I believe these are intentionally distributed without copyright so that media can reproduce them freely, but I don't have the fine print to examine myself. Does anyone know the legalities on these? GFDL pictures of bands are very hard to find -- I've been trying on this one for a couple of months, but pro photographers don't want to use free license, and I haven't found a reasonable fan pic that includes the entire band -- certainly not from the band's early history, where pics are most significant. The article is now a featured article candidate, so I wanted to clarify this issue as soon as I can. Thanks, [[User:CatherineMunro| Catherine\ talk]] 02:51, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Was there an answer on this? I'd like to know too. A couple bands without pictures on Wikipedia have Press Kits on their websites including photos. Andreac 17:05, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I've been working on fleshing out the article on the Samogitian language, and I would like to include a recorded example of the spoken language. I have some (copyrighted) folklore recordings of native speakers singing, telling stories, etc. If I take a short (~15 seconds) excerpt of one story and credit it appropriately, is this fair use? The key, I think, is that the content of the story is not important to the article. -- Theodore Kloba 17:40, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)
Would posting a small section of the Tube map for an article about the station it's centred on (just to show where it is in relation to other stations nearby) be covered under fair use? The current system of just writing what the next and last stations are is somewhat unsatisfying. Jisatsusha 03:24, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I'm still unclear on when I can claim "fair use" and put an image on Wikipedia, and when this would be a copyright violation. Would someone please tell me whether these examples would be "fair use" or copyright infringement?
- Brian Kendig 21:45, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
What constitutes low resolution? Should Wikipedia have a standard image size for such things?
Should there be a project to acquire these images?
Is it fair use to copy these images from Amazon?
BenFrantzDale 05:43, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I have a nice photo I personally took of the Buddy Holly statue in Lubbock, Texas. I would like to upload it for use in both of the above articles. According to this website [2], I believe it would qualify for fair use since it is for a non-commercial educational purpose. However, Holly's widow, Maria Elena, is well-known for strictly enforcing the copyright on Buddy's likeness and I don't want to even get close to the line on this one. Would appreciate any thoughts. H2O 05:43, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Can quoting one stanza out of a five-stanzas song be fair-use ? Another wikipedian claims it is the "heart of the song" and therefore fair-use cannot be applied. Note that the lyrics have political relevance to that article. Bogdan | Talk 12:36, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I was generally wondering whether I can assume I can use fair use on articles about contemporary artists to show a painting of the artist to complement the article and show an example of the artists work as illustration (its low resolution, only one image, etc). I'm interested in writing and expanding some articles on contemporary artists. I also want to see if I can use an image of a Thomas Kinkade painting to illustrate the article on kitsch. There are older paintings I could find maybe but I think his painting is really the best illustration to descbie what people talk about..
I have a picture of a chemistry reaction formula that i downloaded off some site. Its not a secret formula or anything. I think this should be useable...I'm using it for Hoffman elimination. If anyone knows anything more about this topic, mention it on the article's talk page. Thanks. Bubbachuck 04:46, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Reply from Xill: Well, technically they created the picture. If you redrew the picture, then the new one should fall under your own copyright. What might be wrong is if they actually patented the method, and you were giving the method away, but that's now that it sound's like your saying.
I've been asked to justify why I tagged this page {limitedgeographicscope}. It's simply because the page makes frequent reference to the US, without any indication that this guidance applies to non-American users, non-American pictures, or non-American readers. The page introduction states:
Also see Wikipedia talk:Fair use#National treatment above, and Wikipedia talk:Copyrights#US Government PD is not worldwide PD!, and many other points in the copyright spaghetti that indicate confusion over international applicability.
User:Morven told me that "US legal doctrine" is applicable to the project since the servers are in the US. If that's the case, that statement should be at the top of the page somewheres, and my tag can be deleted. I didn't know where the servers were located until he told me that. Please don't assume that you're talking to an American!-- Yannick 21:37, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)
67 machines in Florida, 5 in France, and 11 in the Netherlands, Ref. [3] -- Yannick 00:03, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I just discovered that some global satisfaction can be found at Fair dealing. Still doesn't tell you how to write an international encyclopedia, though. -- Yannick 00:12, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
If I gain a written (e-mailed) permission from a copyright holder to use an image as either GFDL or Fair Use, does Wiki need a copy of that permission? I am also asking this in the assumption that the original provider will not bother to reference to Wiki, or remove thier "Copyright" notices. If Wiki doesn't retain the permission, what happens if I lose it in some suicidal hard drive event?
Is quoting a definition from a dictionary fair use as long as the name of the dictionary is provided? Definitions of capitalism and Definitions of socialism were recently deleted by an administrator because he thought it was a copyright violation. It was a list of definitions with only one definition quoted from each dictionary. RJII 16:42, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I know covers of comic books are generally fair use when used to provide information about the character or title, but what about interior panels? Are scans of copyrighted comic book interior pages fair use? I'm inclined to think not, and yet a huge number of pictures on Wikipedia are copyrighted comic book interior page scans which the uploaders have marked as fair use. — Lowellian ( talk) July 1, 2005 10:27 (UTC)
The issues covered on this page appears only to apply to images, not to text, so I'd like to see if we could get some additional guidance here. We're currently having a discussion over at Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Full Plot Summary about how long a book summary can be before it no longer qualifies as fair use. Right now it's 8235 words, 50 kilobytes, which is arguably too long. Per this site, there are approximately 197,000 words in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, so the summary is roughly 4% as long as the original. Does anybody here have any suggestions? Clearly nobody has any issues with summaries that are up to a thousand words or so, so the question becomes where to draw the line. -- Arcadian 16:08, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
I think there is a mistake in the first sentence of this guideline. The sentence says that copyright law and fair use allow for considerable "uses" of copyrighted material, but isn't fair use actually a copying exception? Correct me if I am wrong, but does copyright law restrict the use of a legally obtained individual physical copy of a work or does it only come into play when copies or derivative works are distributed? There seems to be a lot of confusion over whether copyright law generally, and the word "use" in "fair use" specifically, applies to either: the fairness of and allowance for making copies, or, how the original legally obtained physical copy can be used. zen master T 20:59, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
How long can a fair use sound clip from a particular song be? Is one verse or refrain ok if it is made "to illustrate the point"? -- Salleman 11:50, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
Can images labeled as fair use be transfered to wikipedia commons to be used in other language wikis or does the US copyright law restrict this? -- 141.113.101.21 07:11, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
can sports cards be scanned and used as the picture on a sports player's page? Brun8 22:56, 4 August 2005 (UTC)
For those interested in fair use issues, and improving Wikipedia's implementation of fair use, I encourage you to visit the new Wikipedia:WikiProject Fair use. Thanks. -- Fastfission 19:39, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
I think the ten point system for determining fair Fair Use needs more explanation. How many yeses or nos are supposed to qualify an image for Fair Use? The system should also probably be in its own section, and I might take care of this. Theshibboleth 03:41, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
I hope someone who knows a bit more about copyright than I do can help me out with this. :) My question is the following: I'd like to upload an image of the Fuller brooch to the article. There is an image that's linked in the article (which originally comes from [4]); I'm wondering about whether one could claim fair use now or not, but what's more important, I wonder if the image is copyrightable at all. Considering that the brooch displayed is more than 1000 years old (and thus in the public domain itself, as far as copyright is concerned) and considering that the photograph is merely a photographic reproduction of the brooch, it seems that the reasoning behind Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. is applicable, but that ruling only applies to two-dimensional artwork (which the brooch isn't).
So, my questions are... would it be OK to upload the image? If yes, should it be tagged as fair use or as PD? If no, why not? Thanks. :) -- Schnee ( cheeks clone) 20:08, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
I have boldly updated this page in line with discussion on Wikipedia:WikiProject Fair use, the mailing list, and User talk:Jimbo Wales. In general, it is widely believed that we need a policy on what sort of fair use material we are willing to accept, and this is my attempt at that.
Please edit it to make it better.
The Uninvited Co., Inc. 15:59, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
All of these requirements are met or one? It should specify not imply. -- None-of-the-Above 04:24, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
Is AFP.com a fair use site. I would like to consider using this photo of President located at http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050901/photos_pl_afp/050901155931_hc7pmpn4_photo0 Kindly advise. Kyle Andrew Brown 20:02, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
Here are just a few problematic statements in the present version of the page:
To my knowledge, our use of publicity photos must be as "fair use", because we no longer allow the use of limited licenses.
What's the justification for saying "there is no fair use exemption for them"? I don't see why these are being treated different than any other copyrighted media. I do believe that there should be a special warning for using photographs whose copyrights are owned by companies who make their income exclusively off of photograph licenses (because the argument that we are defrauding them is a lot stronger), but there are many instances in which said use could still be "fair" in my mind. What's the rationale behind such strongly worded text?
Same question as the news photos. Obviously if it is feasible to take our own pictures of the thing in question (no need to "fair use" a photograph of a dog, for example, as there are many dogs), "fair use" wouldn't apply. But if it is something more specific, I don't see why it wouldn't qualify as "fair use" ("Bruno, the wild dog of the Pampas, known for eating cattle" or something like that).
I think this whole section should be deleted, personally (along with the similar tags). "Fair use" is a defensive claim because you don't have permission; a license is a form of permission — they should not be confused with one another. I think it also confuses the re-using issue. Images licensed only to Wikipedia are not allowed on Wikipedia. The only way to use a copyrighted image on Wikipedia which is not licensed for any use is to use it under a "fair use" claim, if one applies. -- Fastfission 19:06, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
Are all images of all visual art fair use? I know of a photo of King Tut's death mask that someone claims the copyright to. Can we use it here? Can we edit it and use it here? Jim Apple 05:17, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
If an institution such as a school puts an image of its building on the front page of its website, to describe and/or promote itself, it it fair use to copy that image and use it to describe that institution in an article about it? Kappa 00:31, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
For some time now I've been thinking about and discussing more potential policy changes and clarifications for fairuse images, but finding something which strikes a balance between our many needs and many perspectives is very difficult. Still, the existing system leaves a lot to be desired, and there is a lot of argument related to fair use images. Some users believe we are overusing fair use and reducing the freeness of Wikipedia, while others counter with the fact that fair use is essential to our goal of producing an encyclopedia. Virtually all who have evaluated the situation agree that there are a lot of incorrectly tagged images.
Recently, the new speedy delete criteria for unsourced images has caused a lot of additional discussion about all facets of image copyright handling on Wikipedia. After extensive consultation with quite a few Wikipedians I have decided that there is a lot more to gain by changing some details in our procedures rather than proposing a more comprehensive policy change. As a result I have created two new templates: {{ fairusenoalternative}} and {{ fairusereplace}}.
Both templates share a common characteristic: two variables. These allow (and encourage) the user of the template to provide both where the work is fair use, and why the work is fair use. This is necessary because all fair use is dependent on context and must always have a basis. I do not suggest we impose standards on what goes into the why field right away, but rather feel out what is most useful. The two templates differ from each other because they separate fairuse into two broad classes. In one class we have fair use where there can be no alternative to that work. For example, if we are writing about a copyrighted painting there is no freely available work which could act as a reasonable alternative to the use of an excerpt of the painting in that context. The other class is for works where, while our use would be considered fair use by law in the US, it is possible to create free works which would act as a good replacement. For example, we might currently be using a fair use photograph of Steve Jobs but anyone can take a picture of him, and many possible pictures would do as good or better of a job as the fair use image. Because Wikipedia is the free Encyclopedia, we prefer the freely licensed image when we have an option. It is possible for a work to have multiple instances of both tages, because the replaceability of the work and the rationale of the use may differ from linking article to linking article. However, I think situations requiring multiple tags will be rare.
After the tags are in wide use, the plan is to convert the existing {{ fairuse}} into a message requesting fairuse review and disambiguation. We also have some subject-area fair use tags which may benefit from being split and being provided with where and why fields. Enjoy!-- Gmaxwell 16:55, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
Apparently not everyone has the same idea as to whether a magazine cover may be used for the article of the person appearing on the front cover. See User talk:Evil Monkey#Playboy covers for a discussion about this. I think everyone should be agreed on this before a bunch of people remove cover photos and then a lot of other people see it the opposite way around. Thanks Dismas| (talk) 16:10, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
Example image Unless a city has a policy to put work generated by city employees as part of their job into the public domain, then that work is still protected by copyright. So, how does/should this apply to mugshots? The purpose of these images is somewhat similar to that of publicity shots in the entertainment industry with the major difference being the wishes of the subject. In that case, the images are copyrighted, yet the holder of that copyright let's them be used rather freely in order to drum up publicity. That makes it easier for us to make a fair use claim on those type of images. Does this also apply to mugshots? Is there even a market for mugshots that may be damaged by copyright infringement? What should our policy on mugshot use be? -- mav 04:17, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
Let's try to work out the chain which resulted in the photos being published worldwide: - 1. Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top are suspected of being terrorists and allegedly committed various acts of terrorism in Indonesia. 2. The Indonesian authorities do their best to find the latest photographs and descriptions of the alleged perps within their records, failing such, relays a request to the M'sian authorities for assistance. 3. The M'sian authorities in turn search their records, i.e. identity cards and passport registration records, failing such, resort to requisitioning the latest photos from their relatives, friends et cetera. Of course, their friends and relatives could always cite copyright issues...but they don't. 4. The photos are relayed to the Indonesian authorities for publication nationwide in order to assist with the arrest of the perps, if possible. At this point of time, the M'sian authorities or the owners of the photographs could again easily cite copyright issues...but they don't. 5. The perps are also enjoying international limelight and a lot of people are eager to know about these two previously obscure Malaysian terrorists. There will be demand for news...and photographs of them. At this point, we haven't even heard of the chicago(?) guy and the collector of little things citing copyright issues. 6. One of them is unceremoniously gunned down in Java, Indonesia for resisting arrest...generating a lot of goodwill for the Indons at the White House...and a lot of publicity for the dead perp. Most M'sian and Ind'sian papers and newsreports show Azahari Husin's photograph, the very same one appearing in Wikipedia later...yet, no complains so far (except maybe for the family). 7. As we are reaching the end, there is a realisation that no-one, and I mean NO-ONE has come forth to seek royalties for those photos or citing copyright issues. Furthermore, there are no alternative photos available for these two perps. Therefore, the photos currently available in public domain are what the authorities believe to be the latest images (in order to assist with identification) and the issue relating to the release of the photos are of public concern. N.B. Obviously the two perps would not have volunteered their mugshots. Oi. Babyrina2 01:46, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I think the tendency to call unlicensed images used under the term "fair use images" tends to mislead editors into assuming they can use an image when they can't. I, therefore, think we should avoid using that phrase and instead use the term "unlicensed images". Images being used under the fair use doctrine are not licensed; the fair use doctrine merely permits the use of the image without a license. We have to make it crystal clear to people that fair use is a per-instance doctrine that authorizes an image to be used only in a specific context and that the image itself remains unlicensed and is not available for general use outside that context. Kelly Martin 00:37, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
I'd like to use an image of an IBM 603 tube multiplier found here on the CPU page I'm rewriting. Of course the image is probably Copyright IBM, but in their "Terms and conditions" set forth for that portion of the site ( here), they explicity state "Fair educational use of the contents of this Web site is permitted." Does uploading this image to Wikipedia qualify as proper fair use under our rules? I find it very unlikely that IBM would agree to license the image under a Free license or release it to public domain, so I think application of fair use is the best way to go here. I'm pretty sure this is kosher, but wanted to be positive before I use the image. -- uberpenguin 20:43, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
Will do... The worst that can happen is the request is denied (or ignored... or sent in, sent back, sent here, sent there, lost then found again, then subject to public inquiry then finally buried under a pile of soft peat for 3 months then recycled as firestarters). Eh... I'll do it this weekend :) -- uberpenguin 22:18, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
Does fair use of an image require that we list the source of that image, legally or by our own policy? I've noticed quite a few images getting marked as fair use for reasonable fair use rationales but without their source being specified. -- fvw * 20:53, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
We legitimately use Image:Afis.jpg this image at Great Romania People's Party. We currently lack an image for Corneliu Vadim Tudor, head of that party, depicted on the poster. The template claims fair use justification for "identification and critical commentary on the poster itself or the political movement it represents". Do I correctly understand this to mean that we cannot use the poster in the article on Vadim Tudor? -- Jmabel | Talk 17:52, 30 September 2005 (UTC)
Does anyone have guidance on roughly how long a sample of a copyright sound recording may be and qualify as a "brief song clip"? -- Tabor 03:11, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
I wasn't sure if I should post this here or on the Help desk but I put it here for now.
There is some reverting going on on the Bob Dylan page right now regarding the use of lyrics in the article. About this edit [6] in particular. I was wondering if this classifies as fair use. Thanks Akamad 00:45, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
As I wrote on Talk:Bob Dylan, the use of six lines of lyrics from a historically significant Dylan song unquestionably falls under fair use. Whether or not we're writing a review is irrelevant. The law doesn't restrict fair use with such specifics. Rhobite 02:54, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
I have suggested at Template talk:Albumcover that the following two lines:
...should be stricken from the Policy section of this page. See, for example: Template:Album infobox 2 (and its being kept per consenus at Templates for deletion). However, this is not only the case with Album covers. See also Template:The Beatles, which also uses "Fair Use" images as decoration for a template. There are a number of other examples. I'd suggest that consensus seems to be that such use is desirable, so review of the policy appears necessary. If the policy should not be changed for some reason, I would suggest that nominating such Templates for deletion is unlikely to result in consensus to delete. Jkelly 18:32, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
Justinc, it is your opinion that the use of album covers (for Gettin' in Over My Head and What I Really Want for Christmas) at Smile (Brian Wilson album), a Featured Article, is consistent with the sentences "The material must contribute significantly to the article" and "They should never be used on templates (including stub templates and navigation boxes)", and that it meets the rationale given at Template:Albumcover, and so nothing needs changing? Jkelly 21:25, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
Okay, so I propose that the change should be as follows:
Does this match how you see the articles being used, and how you think policy should read? Rewording also needs to happen at Template:Albumcover, and I hope that you will contribute to that discussion as well! Jkelly 22:07, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
I'm not clear which images are you referring to, Kappa, of the ones I've brought up. In any case, I'm not really looking to be convinced that any particular use of any particular image is Fair Use. My goal with this (these?) conversations is to draw some attention to whether or not our policy (here) our rationale (at Template:Albumcover) matches our use of the images. Jkelly 01:25, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
Template:Album infobox 2 does not have any images in the template namespace. So discussing that template in relation to the second line named above is not relevant. I don't really see that the infoboxs use of images in the chronology section violates the first line either. In my view it is within the framework of regulations that we have; "... specifically illustrate relevant points or sections". -- Tokle 17:01, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
On a related note: I've come across a few musician articles in which someone changed the discography to a table, and then added an album cover image for each album. I am now removing these images whenever I come across them. The way that I read fair use, at least as it applies in the U.S., is that we could use an album cover in an article about the album itself. There is another issue here, too, concerning usability: clicking on the image brings the user to the "Image:" space, not the album article itself, which is potentially confusing. Both issues were brought up in the {{ Album infobox 2}} deletion debate. (Speaking of, someone had mentioned that the consensus was to keep that template; IIRC there was no consensus whether to keep or delete. FWIW.) I had already started to wonder about this when Miles Davis was the article of the day a few weeks ago, and the image was the Kind of Blue cover. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 00:09, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
I would appreciate comments on Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fair_use#Newspaper.2Fmagazine_tag_anomoly with reference to: Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fair_use#Images_from_agencies_i.e._wireimages_and_ap. Thanks Arniep 14:02, 27 October 2005 (UTC)
The phrase "(not for identification without critical commentary)" recently added to "cover art" is pretty cryptic. I imagine if I'd been following this talk page I'd know what was going on, but I haven't, and the project page should stand alone. Can someone reword more clearly to indicate what is and is not acceptable use? -- Jmabel | Talk 17:59, 17 November 2005 (UTC)
The article fair use is about the legal concept. This article is inaccurate in discussing the legal concept. I suggest this article be edited to refer to the article fair use for all uses of the legal aspect so we don't have the problems that go with keeping it accurate in two places, and I suggest this article be clear that it is solely about wikipedia guidance. The two uses of the phrase (fair use law versus fair use guidance) are not the same. WAS 4.250 14:05, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
The first inaccuracy is "The reproduction of any significant portion of a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder is copyright infringement, and is illegal." For example, Wikipedia is copyrighted and it is not illegal to reproduce significant parts of it. Oh, you say, the GFDL does give permission from the copyright holder. So it does; but people reading this page to get their legal understanding of the issue could easily misread it, while in the context of the article fair use "giving permission by for example the use of GFDL" is in keeping with the subject of the article, while in this article it is irrelevant (so says the deleter). "Entire works may be copied under fair use for personal uses and educational uses." is both as true and as false as "The reproduction of any significant portion of a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder is copyright infringement, and is illegal." It's simply not so cut and dried as either. But wikipedia guidance can be mostly cut and dried and simplified. Many more inaccuracies exist in the article and the quoted sentence is wrong for several reasons not simply the ones I just gave. I, again, insist it would be far far better to confine this article to guidance and let the fair use article deal with the legal aspect. WAS 4.250 19:39, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
The fair use doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law which contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. [7] WAS 4.250 23:43, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
[8] WAS 4.250 23:43, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
[9] WAS 4.250 23:43, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
"In a lawsuit commonly known as the Betamax case, the Supreme Court determined that the home videotaping of a television broadcast was a fair use. This was one of the few occasions when copying a complete work (for example, a complete episode of the "Kojak" television show) was accepted as a fair use. Evidence indicated that most viewers were "time-shifting" (taping in order to watch later) and not "library-building" (collecting the videos in order to build a video library). Important factors: The Supreme Court reasoned that the "delayed" system of viewing did not deprive the copyright owners of revenue. (Universal City Studios v. Sony Corp., 464 U.S. 417 (1984).)" [10] WAS 4.250 23:43, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
"In a 1979 case, a company copied two of Brilliant's phrases-'I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent' and 'I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy'-and altered a third phrase, all for sale on t-shirt transfers. The district court acknowledged that the phrases were distinguished by conciseness, cleverness, and a pointed observation, and ruled that they were protected by copyright." [11] WAS 4.250 00:39, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
I'm really not sure what you're proposing. First, the "Entire works may be copied under fair use" is completely irrelevant to Wikipedia, because the copied work is not being shared with the public. And university fair use policies are at best a weak model for Wikipedia because they don't have to deal with the problem of pass-through to commercial users. The UT example has the same problem, plus it rambles on about all sorts of stuff.
I think it's possible that if you took these sources and tried to distill them down with Wikipedia as your focus, you might get somewhere, but what you've got above, frankly, isn't much of a start. -- Mwanner | Talk 00:21, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
You deleted
with an edit summary of "delete an untruth ( a lie). there are 4 important factors in considering fair use. size is only one. in some cases 12 words can not be copied. in other cases the entire work can be copied."
You really need to learn to be more careful in your reading and use of language, especially if you are going to edit policy statements. "Any significant portion" means whatever portion the courts judge to be significant. In some cases, as in the instance you cite, they have judged that 12 words constitute a significant portion of a work. Note, too, that "significant" can refer to any number of different attributes of a portion of text, not just the size.
I have restored the deleted text. Henceforth, please propose changes here before making them in the article. -- Mwanner | Talk 20:50, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
If we want to rewrite it to be more generalizable, how about:
I don't think that is clearer but it doesn't hash out over what is fair use. In any event, it cannot go from "Under U.S. copyright law" to "This is a page for discussion of fair use" without explaining what fair use is and why we have a policy on it in the first place, which is the entire point of the introduction. -- Fastfission 23:34, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
The fair use doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law which contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. For more information about fair use see: [12] [13] [14] WAS 4.250 14:55, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
If you insist on something shorter maybe:
Fair use is roughly the right to use copyrighted work by others without their permission for parody, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. There are four factors determining fair use: purpose of use, nature of the copied work, how much was copied, and to what extent the copyright holder is deprived of potential markets for the work.
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. For more information about fair use law see: [15] [16] [17] Fair use or the Law section below. WAS 4.250 15:59, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
The US Copyright office says "Although fair use was not mentioned in the previous copyright law, the doctrine has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years. This doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law. ". [18] WAS 4.250 07:19, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
This seems pretty puerile considering that fair use itself is a grey area rather than a fine line, why superimpose a fine line here?
The only reason why anyone cares about copyright infringement is because someone is trying to make money off someone's intellectual property or someone is trying to misrepresent intellectual property in a way that would debase the value of said intellectual property. Most of the time here on Wikipedia, I don't think that's the case, particularly in one case recently I ran into with {{user Democrat}}, where someone used this page as an excuse to remove the Democratic Party's logo from a user box.
I've started a rfc on the subject above here.
Now let me ask you, what would the Democratic Party have to to gain from suing Wikipedia/the Wikimedia foundation (a non-profit entity which includes many of its own low-level members) other than bad publicity and perhaps some money that would more than likely be negated by legal costs?
If you'd like, I'm probably going to see the head of New Hampshire's state party tonight, I'll ask her if the DNC would mind at all in regards to "allowing" us to use the logo, but otherwise, I say to all of you -- don't let the fear of litigation quash you from expressing yourself. karmafist 21:34, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
—:IMHO the clear cut "house policy" of not having fair use outside the main namespace is good precicely because the legal aspects themselves is such a gray area. It leaves absolutely no room for misinterpretations. I agree that there are cases where it would probably be just fine to claim fair use outside of the main namespace, and that this rule can seem overly "totalitarian" in some cases, but IMHO turning it into a judgement call is just a too big can of worms to be worth opening. There are already enough problems with people inproperly tagging images, and claiming fair use left right and center in articles. Opening up for "some" fair use images on userpages and such will just result in people interpreting it as a "free for all". If the price for avoiding having to deal with that kind of problems on a regular basis (there are enough copyright and license issues to deal with in the ensyclopedia itself) is to not allow people to display logos of theyr political party, or the movie poster for theyr favourite movie or whatever on thyer userpage then IMHO that's a very very small price to pay. -- Sherool (talk) 23:41, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
Under U.S. copyright law, almost all work published after 1922 may have an active copyright (there are exceptions, however — see United States copyright law for details). The reproduction of any significant portion of a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder is copyright infringement, and is illegal. As such, on Wikipedia, which is hosted in the United States, we are normally only able to use material that is not under copyright or is available under a sufficiently free license.
An important exception to this rule exists, recognized in a clause in the copyright act that describes a limited right to use copyrighted material without permission of the copyright holder — what is known as fair use (or "fair dealing" in other countries, where standards may differ). This page is meant as a guideline for dealing with Fair Use materials on the English Wikipedia — it provides general guidance on what is or isn't likely to be fair use and how you can best assist editors when attempting to include material under fair use. However, it is not official policy. You, as the uploader, are legally responsible for determining whether your contributions are legal.
Under U.S. copyright law, almost all work published after 1922 may have an active copyright (there are exceptions, however — see United States copyright law for details). This page is meant as a guideline for dealing with fair use materials on the English Wikipedia — it provides general guidance on what is or isn't likely to be fair use and how you can best assist editors when attempting to include material under fair use. However, it is not official policy. You, as the uploader, are legally responsible for determining whether your contributions are legal.
According to the U.S Copyright Office, fair use is roughly the right to use copyrighted work by others without their permission for parody, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. There are four factors determining fair use: purpose of use, nature of the copied work, how much was copied, and to what extent the copyright holder is deprived of potential markets for the work. [21]
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. For more information about fair use law see the Law and External links sections below.
Maybe we've identified the core of our difference. You think there IS a "bright line" for wikipedia. I do not. There is no magic formula. We must not JUST tell them "10% or 30 sec whichever is less" but also WARN them that there is no magic formula, that the courts decide it case by case, that they are legally responsible, that they can not blindly rely on the simplistic semi-bright lines provided, that in the end the courts will weigh 4 important factors (and the first ammendment among other things). Just saying don't copy too much is very dangerous advice. Sometimes everything can be copied. Sometimes 12 words can not be copied. And the example I gave of everything being copied is the most famous case of everything being copied. The example of copying an entire poem exists too as I'm sure you know so I get the impression you are not arguing in good faith. Prove me wrong - show me you aren't just arguing for the sake of arguing.
WAS 4.250
14:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
I want to know some things, as I find the page Wikipedia:Fair use lacks information on this. Exactly how long is brief, I saw a discussion where it was said not more than 30 seconds or 10% of the original file. Does it mean 30 seconds is always the limit and if the file is not long (not qualified for 30 seconds sample) then I use the 10%, or is 10% usable for longer files which would give 60 seconds sample for 10 minutes surpassing the 30 seconds limit. Also, exactly how much samples should be the maximum for an album, not talking about singles but big enough album. If only there were numerical values like 10% of the number of tracks, more or less, it would help. At least something more appropriate than brief.-- DarkEvil 04:12, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
There is no magic formula. The fair use doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law which contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
All of these must be taken into consideration. There is no magic formula. For more information about fair use see: [22] [23] [24]
Seven notes copied and used in a song you sell MIGHT cost you money in a lawsuit. Copying AN ENTIRE SONG for personal use is GENERALLY fair use. There is no magic formula. WAS 4.250 04:29, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
[25] says:
4.2.1 Motion Media
Up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, in the aggregate of a copyrighted motion media work may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project created under Section 2 of these guidelines.
4.2.2 Text Material
Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less, in the aggregate of a copyrighted work consisting of text material may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project created under Section 2 of these guidelines. An entire poem of less than 250 words may be used, but no more than three poems by one poet, or five poems by different poets from any anthology may be used. For poems of greater length, 250 words may be used but no more than three excerpts by a poet, or five excerpts by different poets from a single anthology may be used.
4.2.3 Music, Lyrics, and Music Video
Up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work (or in the aggregate of extracts from an individual work), whether the musical work is embodied in copies, or audio or audiovisual works, may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as a part of a multimedia project created under Section 2. Any alterations to a musical work shall not change the basic melody or the fundamental character of the work. WAS 4.250 13:27, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
How does "in the aggregate" apply or not apply to Wikipedia? Section 1.3 says "These guidelines apply to the use, without permission, of portions of lawfully acquired copyrighted works in educational multimedia projects which are created by educators or students as part of a systematic learning activity by nonprint educational institutions." Is Wikipedia a "nonprint" enterprise? I have doubts about "30 sec or 10%" being applied to copying commercial music to an online encyclopedia (database???). But I'm no lawyer. WAS 4.250 13:35, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
[26] says:
[27] says these are NOT covered
Further the act only covers accredited, nonprofit educational institutions: "TEACH says it is not copyright infringement for teachers and students at an accredited, nonprofit educational institution to transmit performances and displays of copyrighted works as part of a course if certain conditions are met. If these conditions are not or cannot be met, use of the material will have to qualify as a fair use or permission from the copyright holder(s) must be obtained.". WAS 4.250 13:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
[28] says:
The bottom line is there is no magic formula. WAS 4.250 14:06, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
The site just cited describes the unsettled nature of current fair use law, including first ammendment defense and "transformative use". Raise your hand if YOU want to be a test case. WAS 4.250 14:15, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
So, I think the better is to not use fair use audio on Wikipedia, it does seem that any lenght would qualify as suable to me. Until the case is settled at least. Or if we had the advice from a lawyer that would be good.-- DarkEvil 17:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
What would be the process for including song or sound clips in Spoken Wikipedia? Can I not, then, GPL my piece? - WAZAAAA
This is DarkEvil once again, I just posted a question about audio which kind of made me more aware that fair use is a complicated matter and I wish for me as well as for wikipedia to not have trouble with the law. So, I'd like to know about something if someone takes a screenshot from a game using an emulator, which is illegal if you don't own the game. Then this person modifies this image by removing a black border around the image (crop). Then, the image appears to dark when it is reduced on Wikipedia so this person enhances the brightness/contrast of this image. I couldn't find information about slightly modyfing fair use images.-- DarkEvil 18:04, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Copyright protects creativity. If after your modification it is all about your creativity and not someone else's it is YOUR creation and YOU are the copyright holder to that new image. There is no magic formula for knowing exactly how many tweaks make it yours ... Hey I could write a song with that title! WAS 4.250 18:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Removing a border and altering contrast adds no creativity and removes none of their creativity. If the image has no creative content in the first place, it can not be copyrighted (people CLAIM copyright all the time on things they have no legal copyright on). An image of a generic arrow to the left (for example) can not be copyrighted. WAS 4.250 18:29, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
OK, thanks for the fast answer, this one really resolves my problem.-- DarkEvil 18:30, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
You're welcome. WAS 4.250 19:07, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Yeah, there's a lot of interesting angles on modification. I was trying to help this one specific case. Modifying a copyrighted image for critism or parody is allowed but is better thought of here at wikipedia as original research and we should limit ourselves to reporting such parody and critism by others. WAS 4.250 21:50, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
I uploaded this photo and got it from here. I think this would qualify as fair use under promotional material. Tell me if I am correct. -- MateoP 22:29, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
There picture of the 4 people found here and here would make a great image for a presidential election article. However I suspect that this probably can't fall under fair use. So what can I do? Can I email the web page and ask permission? Thanks for more information. -- MateoP 15:45, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
There's a nice new template, {{fairusereview}}, to request someone to review the fair use status of an image. But how does one actually encourage a review to happen? Does simply putting the template on mean that an expert is likely to look at it eventually? Or should I request a review here or on some other page? I'm not sure what effect {{fairusereview}} really has.
Thanks for any guidance, Stephen Turner ( Talk) 07:54, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
Would an image, in musical notation, of a transcription of a brief section of music be fair use? A brief sound clip is fair use, but a transcription would differ in that it is an image and not a direct reproduction of the sound or the score. When attributed to the copyright holder can this be fair use? Hyacinth 15:59, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
The Wikipedia article GFDL should answer your questions. Note that GFDL is a license placed on a creative work by the owner of the copyright of that creative work. WAS 4.250 21:53, 26 December 2005 (UTC)