On 20/08/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
I suppose you're free to challenge Nokia on the basis of your theory that their usage is purely decorative. I suppose though we could expand the notion of fair use to anything where starting an action would make the plaintiff look silly. :-P
That would fall under de minimis, not fair use. And, in this case, the violation probably is de minimis, that doesn't stop it being a violation, it just means it's not worth the court's time. But, as I've said before, this isn't really a discussion about a Nokia box, it's about the principles behind it.
In this case, I suggest the principle of "what would be good for the project?" Ask Nokia nicely to acknowledge the usage, even if they could get away with not doing so, and they get niceness and we get niceness.
And, importantly it sets the tone for others. Note the press tone from Wikimedia about the WikiScanner - we don't make suggestions that companies be burned in effigy, we just suggest ways to set the record straight without an apparent conflict of interest. One thing company PR people have just learnt is that "conflict of interest" is public perception, not just words on a Wikipedia policy page.
There's considerable public good will to be gained from being seen to play nice with Wikipedia, and - as the frankly quite boggling wave of press coverage of the WikiScanner has just demonstrated - considerable public oppobrium to be gained from being seen not to. We don't even have to mention sticks, just carrots ;-)
- d.