The principle of fair use - WikiEN-l

27 May 2003

Jens said:

But I can't understand why this
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image%3A843-870_Europe.jpg
is fair use. The map has been created for an encyclopedia
or an history textbook. If this is fair use, is there any
picture we may not use?

I reply -- 

This is actually interesting -- when DW (or Elliot) put this up many
months ago, I asked for a reference.  I claimed then that this map was
likely not in fair use.  My reasoning was as follows:  When I was
finishing my thesis in 2000, I was desperate for maps.  I found this
map, along with a couple others that this person put up, at the UW
library.  I didn't have time to write for permission, and checked the
copyright with the librarians, who said I could only use it under fair
use if I altered the image dramatically, because it was still under
copyright.  Unfortunately, I can't tell you the source -- I had a couple
maps copied, traced the parts I needed (the coastlines and rivers) by
hand, scanned them, and labeled them as necessary.  Anyway, I think we
shouldn't use any images unless we can definitively say where they're
from -- from what the librarian at my present college says, one still
has to credit image sources for fair use, or it isn't fair use.

Julie