Today we received some bad news in Sweden. The Swedish Patent and Market
Court ruled against Wikimedia Sverige in a lawsuit filed by Visual
Copyright Society in Sweden <http://bus.se/en> (BUS). The case concerns
images of public art online, more specifically in the case of our website
Offentligkonst.se <http://offentligkonst.se/>, a service created by
Wikimedia Sverige using images from Wikimedia Commons.
The ruling means that Freedom of Panorama is eroded and the public space is
diminished. It is a detrimental loss for our projects. Next we will talk to
our lawyers and WMF legal team to see what our remaining legal options are.
Our lawyers however believe that success is not very likely if we would
decide to move forward.
Intensive efforts to advocate for our elected officials to change the
outdated and problematic clauses in Swedish copyright law will be initiated
during the year.
We have also started a crowdfunding campaign to cover some of the cost of
the legal expenses and fines of about 750,000 SEK stated in the verdict
(around 89,000 USD) and for future national and international lobbying
efforts. Please consider making a donation at
http://wikimedia.se/en/donera,
<http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>ev <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>en
<http://wikimedia.se/en/donera> i <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>f
<http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>it <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera> i
<http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>s <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>a
<http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>sy <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>mb
<http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>ol <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>ic
<http://wikimedia.se/en/donera> s <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>um
<http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>. Simply add “BUS” in the comment, and all
the money will be used for these costs.
Some useful links (in Swedish):
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The legal argumentation from the court:
<http://www.hogstadomstolen.se/Domstolar/hogstadomstolen/Avgoranden/2016/2016-04-04%20%C3%96%20849-15%20Beslut.pdf>
http://www.bildupphovsratt.se/sites/default/files/upload/
stockholms_tr_pmt_8448-14_dom_2017-07-06.pdf
<http://www.bildupphovsratt.se/sites/default/files/upload/stockholms_tr_pmt_8448-14_dom_2017-07-06.pdf>
<http://www.hogstadomstolen.se/Domstolar/hogstadomstolen/Avgoranden/2016/2016-04-04%20%C3%96%20849-15%20Beslut.pdf>
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Our press release:
<http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressreleases/hoegsta-domstolen-vaeljer-att-krympa-det-offentliga-rummet-istaellet-foer-att-gaa-paa-wikimedia-sveriges-linje-1360834>
https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/wikimedia-sverige/
pressreleases/domslut-krymper-det-offentliga-rummet-i-sverige-2054679
<https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/wikimedia-sverige/pressreleases/domslut-krymper-det-offentliga-rummet-i-sverige-2054679>
<http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressreleases/hoegsta-domstolen-vaeljer-att-krympa-det-offentliga-rummet-istaellet-foer-att-gaa-paa-wikimedia-sveriges-linje-1360834>
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A timeline of what has happened:
https://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/
Offentligkonst.se/Stämning
Best,
John
- - - -
John Andersson
Executive Director
Wikimedia Sverige
Phone: +46(0)73-3965189 <073-396%2051%2089>
Email: john.andersson(a)wikimedia.se
Skype: johnandersson86