Message: 2
Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2006 16:58:32 -0500
From: Fastfission <fastfission@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Commons-l] Commons-l Digest, Vol 17, Issue 14
To: "Wikimedia Commons Discussion List" < commons-l@wikimedia.org>
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        <98dd099a0610291358w27b32633kf10caee0a2b32e7d@mail.gmail.com>
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On 10/29/06, J JIH <jus168jih@gmail.com> wrote:
> Please explain how the template is probably misleading at best for most
> people. The content of [[s:en:Template:PD-UN]] has been based on USA
> copyright law and prolonged discussions at English Wikisource when so many
> UN Security Council Resolutions have arised the copyright concern. If you
> can think of better content, please be more specific. Users outside the USA
> must also be aware of the laws in their countries as countries that are
> party to Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention done at Paris on
> 24 July 1971 require copyright protection for works published for the first
> time by the United Nations.

I think most people who see something that is a PD-UN template will
assume that there is some special reason that the UN material is PD.
As the template explains in a round-about way, this isn't true. You
might as well not have a PD-UN template, or have it say very
explicitly "UN material is subject to US copyright. Please see
such-and-such a page about US copyright law to determine if this is in
the public domain."

Having PD templates seems to imply special PD categories -- 90% of
them say, "This work is PD because of this reason." It's better, in my
opinion, to not have PD templates which say, "This is PD because of
one of the four reasons, none of which have anything specifically to
do with the UN." It makes it hard for anyone else to know WHY it is
PD, for one thing (which reason is it?), and it is probably extra-hard
on people whose English isn't that great (since it is a rather
complicate way to explain, "UN material is the same as any other
copyrighted material in the US."

Just my take on it, but I'm not leading any campaign against it.

FF