On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:01:59 +0200, David Monniaux David.Monniaux@free.fr wrote:
There is a similar issue with the photographs produced by various organisations: these organisations would allow commercial use for e.g. informations, encyclopedias, education, but not for making advertisements.
In some instances, this is a case of protection of image: they don't want their image to be associated with products or political campaigns without their authorisation, and it's much easier for them to act on grounds of copyright infringement than on other grounds (especially since in some cases they cannot claim trademark protection).
This will probably have to be addressed in a satisfactory fashion. Currently, we deal with such images by allowing them on some Wikipedias (en: in particular) by claiming "fair use". However, many projects don't allow "fair use", though their communities would perhaps appreciate being able to use such images.
While such licences are free-ish I don't think they would fall fully within the definition of free content (thouh IANAL). Either way they would not be compatable with the GFDL licence, since it does not put any restrictions on who can use a work or for what purpose, and unless I'm mistaken GFDL compatability is the acid test for wether or not something is allowed on Commons.