Wikipedia:Media copyright questions/Archive/2011/July

In a Lonely Place (1950 film)

Resolved

 – – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 05:31, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

The images used in the article In a Lonely Place were taken from the trailer. But I recently noticed that the film itself didn't seem to have any copyright notice on it either. A check at the Library of Congress didn't seem to turn up any motion picture results, only soundtrack-related. Is this entire film in the public domain? More specifically, would I be able to upload images from the actual film, not the trailer? – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 12:48, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

A copyright notice may have appeared elsewhere on the film, eg the canister, so do not assume is is uncopyrighted because you saw no notice. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 12:31, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Great, thank you. I wasn't sure if my question was bordering on being a legal question or not. I'll avoid using image directly from the film. – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 05:31, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

creative commons 3.0 license

This, more than likely, is not a new topic but a problem I am having a hard time resolving. I am a new user of Wikipedia and I want to use it correctly. I am also writing a book and have found some pictures licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike 3.0 Unported License. It appears that I can use these photos if I properly attribute them and do not indicate in any way that the photographers approve of my material. It also appears that I can use them in a commercial enterprise (which I hope my book will be). However, I have several questions: 1. What is the exact way that these pictures should be attributed - by the Wiki user name or by the photographer's correct name, which is often given when I click on the user name? It would help to see a sample attribution for a photo under this license. 2. I am assuming that using the photos under this license means that I would have to allow readers to freely copy these photos from the book, as long as they credit the original photographer. However, this would not preclude my copyrighting my material within the book. Is this correct? 3. Under fair use, I am assuming that I would be expected to treat the photos essentially "with respect" and not abuse their use in any way. Is this correct? 4. Is there any reason I need to contact the photographers to request their use for commercial enterprises? I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thank you.Redheadsheb (talk) 23:51, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

1. Determine as best you can the name and credit wording that the author specified in connection with the photo. Sometimes he stated it explicitly in an "attribution" line in the information box and/or in an introduction line with the license tag. If not, and unless stated otherwise, you can often assume that he wants to be credited under the name he indicated in the "author" field or in any other way on the description page of the photo. You may also find useful the suggestions in the "How_do_I_properly_attribute" section of the Creative Commons abbreviated FAQ.

2. Yes.

3. Your use of the expression "under fair use" is somewhat ambiguous. I assume you're still talking about the CC license, not the fair use notion of the U.S. Copyright Act. If so, the answer to your question seems to be the terms of section 4d of the license.

4. No, not with the by-sa license if it doesn't have a "nc" clause. That is an important point of free licenses. You don't need to contact the author if you do what is allowed by the license. You would need to contact him only if you wanted a derogation to the license.

-- Asclepias (talk) 03:58, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Request for takedown

Several IP's have been removing a photo and adding a takedown notice on Central Pacific 173, not really sure how to deal with this one. Should I ask them to use WP:CONTACT, WP:OTRS, or is this not how it should be done? Apologies for this thread being slightly out of scope of this board, but I know the editors here will know what to do. Thanks, Acather96 (talk) 07:54, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

While this image is hosted on the commons, you may try asking for some help from User:Centpacrr, who has a connection with cprr.org (see his user page). I suspect this claim is copyfraud, i.e., claiming copyright over an image which is in the public domain. Even unpublished works are only copyright for 95 years from creation by anon authors or 120 years for known authors, per commons:COM:L#United States, so an 1864 image would have passed into the public domain in 1959 at earliest and 1984 at the latest. Some organisations don't understand some of the nuances of copyright law and make such copyright claims mainly based on ignorance rather than US copyright law. ww2censor (talk) 16:18, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Photos taken at a sports event

I want to upload one photo I took at Wimbledon 2011 and probably more if I find something else. The conditions of entry for the event state that audiovisual material recorded in the event may not be sold or used commercially unless authorized by the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, which organizes the event. However, Wikipedia requests that uploaded images should be free to use commercially, which would make the posting of ANY photo taken at Wimbledon a violation of Wikipedia policy. Please reply on which license should I select or if I should not upload the image at all, which I would understand as to most probably mean that every present and future photo in Wikipedia that has been taken in Wimbledon, and in many other sports events that have a similar policy, would have to be taken down. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Etrevino (talk • contribs) 19:58, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

It's your neck on the block: you are the one who has entered into a contract with the All England Club, nobody else. If you make your photo available without restricting it to be NC use only, as I understand it the All England Club has no recourse in law against anyone (including WP) who might use it; but they may have recourse against you, for breaking your contract with them.

Of course if you restrict it to be NC use only, Wikipedia won't accept it, and the upload page will ask you to select a less restrictive license. Jheald (talk) 22:19, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

That's correct, use of the photo is restricted to NC only except if authorized by AELTC, and Wikipedia won't want a photo with a NC license. The conditions of entry state "Still photographs, film, videotape or other audio-visual material recorded within the Grounds may not be sold or used commercially in any way whatsoever unless authorised by the AELTC". I believe this wording leaves the burden of getting authorization on the user of the photo; if I don't sell the photo and if I don't use it commercially I am complying with the conditions of entry.

The CC licenses state that "In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license: [...] Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights." Considering this provision which I hadn't read closely before, I believe it might be acceptable to upload the photo to Wikipedia with one of the allowed licenses like CC BY-SA but specify in the summary that the photo was taken under those conditions and so, besides the publicity rights of whoever is in the photo, the AELTC has rights on the photo as well. Therefore a potential user would be aware of the NC use restriction imposed by the AELTC, and that commercial use would require them to ask the AELTC for permission as well as the depicted persons who have personal publicity rights.Etrevino (talk) 01:07, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

Greater London Authority images

These two images are claimed to licensed under either GFDL or CC by their respective uploaders: Image:GLA Flag.png and File:Greater_London_Authority_logo.svg. They are logos of this administrative entity - Greater London Authority. The Terms and Conditions page here: [1] restricts usage without prior request. I made an SVG version of the first image, but am not sure about the licensing so have not uploaded yet. They are simple text only wordmarks - are they copyrightable anyway? vlad§inger ^tlk 03:06, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

I'm going to put my SVG under {{PD-textlogo}} for now. If there's a more suitable category, please put all of these images under the same license for consistency. vlad§inger ^tlk 03:13, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

Tag for personal photo?

Hello,

The photo I've uploaded is a personal one. Please let me know the appropriate Tag to be used in such cases.

Awaiting your earliest reply. Thanks & Regards, Prakash C.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Prax c (talk • contribs) 04:54, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

• Some of the best copyright tags that authors can use for their own work are {{PD-self}},{{attribution}} and the creative commons {{Cc-by-sa-3.0}}. Check them out and decide which one suits you best. ww2censor (talk) 05:21, 4 July 2011 (UTC)