On 8/22/07, Benjamin Esham bdesham@gmail.com wrote:
Hello all,
I recently sent an e-mail to the Livingston County (New York) government, inquiring about the possible misuse of one of my Commons images, a picture of the Livingston County seal [1]. They use a very similar image on their website, but it was scaled down too small for me to tell whether or not it was my image. If it was my image they were using, then they would be in violation of the cc-by-sa license on the image.
I received this reply:
| Dear Mr. Esham: | | Your email to Livingston County has been referred to me for response. I | would refer you to section 30-e of the Judiciary Law of the State of New | York. The use of Livingston County's seal or any replica or simulation | thereof, in form or substance, by any unauthorized person, is prohibited. | A violation of this prohibition constitutes a misdemeanor and is | punishable as such. Since you are not authorized to use our seal, I would | suggest you remove it at once. | | David J. Morris | Livingston County Attorney
I managed to track down the relevant law [2], and it states, in part,
| 3. Such seal shall be used and affixed only: (a) by the county clerk of | Livingston county or by any deputy or clerk duly authorized by him; and | (b) by any justice of the supreme court resident in Livingston county, | or by any clerk or officer duly authorized by said justice. | | 4. The use of said seal or of any replica or simulation thereof, in | form or substance, by any unauthorized person or for any wrongful | purpose, is prohibited. Any violation of this prohibition shall | be deemed to be a misdemeanor and punishable as such.
I know that U.S. seals are considered to be covered by some sort of fair use for our purposes, but can I get a quasi-professional opinion on this? I live in Livingston County, so this isn't necessarily an empty threat to me.
[1] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Seal_of_Livingston_County%2C_New_Yor... [2] http://preview.tinyurl.com/2hja24
Is this particular image even eligible to be copyrighted, since it is just a photo of another work? Unless the seal was created prior to the advent of copyright, if I'm not mistaken, it would be covered by copyright laws and thus the county would have a valid claim - we would only be allowed to use images of the seal under a claim of fair use.
If the seal is in the public domain, then this is of course a moot question, since the county cannot copyright the seal.
But having said all that, you seem to have been referred to a law that has nothing to do with copyright - I'm not sure whether it applies to the Wikimedia Foundation or to other editors, since the servers and the legal entity are in Florida. Maybe we could circumvent this whole problem by deleting the image and having some editor who does not live in Livingston reupload it. :p (Assuming, of course, there are no copyright issues.)
Johnleemk