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SlimVirgin wrote:
On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 10:59, Cary Bass cary@wikimedia.org wrote:
I'd like to point out that in fact, these images would be accepted on to Commons, because Commons respects the country of origin rule rather than the PD-US rule that more often applies on the English Wikipedia.
Hi Cary, most of the image people I've checked with say that images on the Commons are supposed to be PD in their country of origin *and* in the U.S. Although there are images on the Commons that are PD in their country of origin but *not* in the U.S., they usually carry a tag that places the PD status in doubt and may be proposed for deletion. This means we can't use them on WP.
Look at this image for example. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Refugees_from_Lydda.jpg
Palestinian refugees in the British Mandate of Palestine during the exodus from their homes after Israeli troops moved in, July 1948, photographer unknown, believed to be from, or working on behalf of, the British War Office. First publication date not known, but I do know it had been published by 1957. It's PD in Israel, which now governs part of that land. It's PD in Jordan, which governs the other part. 99.9 percent certain it's PD in the UK, which governed the land at the time. But not clearly PD in the U.S. It has therefore been proposed for deletion from the Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Refugees_from_Lydda.jpg
Yes, of course I didn't make an exception to my comment, regarding whether or not an image was first published in the United States. :-) Foolish me for not pointing out the exceptions; however... this image was published in 1957 without a copyright notice, making it public domain in the US. I've noted that in the deletion discussion on Commons.
- -- Cary Bass Volunteer Coordinator, Wikimedia Foundation
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