Hello,
I originally posted this to the commons-l list ( http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/commons-l/2006-June/000277.html ) to little response. So let's see if I can do any better with a wider audience.
Here are some recent issues that I would like resolved: * To what extent are we bound by local laws and to what extent are we bound by Florida's laws (as the home of our servers). Country copyrights vary considerably with regards to duration of copyright, "freedom of panorama" (Panoramafreiheit) /whether public objects such as statues and even buildings can be freely photographed and there is a lot of confusion about this. Should we respect local law always or interpret in terms of US law? (Big discussion about a photo of the interior of a German railway station: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/Archives11#Image... )
* There was recently a discussion about the "Against DRM" license ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:ADRM & http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Licensing/ADRM ).
* Logos. This has still not been sufficiently resolved, in that there is not a clear enough solution that everyone is aware of. Do we consider copyright independently of trademark status? Is that even possible? ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/Archives11#Image... )
* "Agencia Brasil" license ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Ag%C3%AAncia_Brasil ) also has been debated several times. Related to the wider issue of, "if a website says "these images can be used freely, can we interpret that as allowing commercial use and derivative works, and thus Commons-compliant? Or do we need to check each time whether they intend to allow these specific rights?"
* Photographs of commercial products such as: Pokemon/Star Wars/Simpsons toys, box of Pringles, also people in dress-up outfits of characters such as Lara Croft/Chewbacca. Eloquence has raised this before ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/Archives10#Vario... ) but I doubt even he would think this has been satisfactorily resolved.
* US presidential portraits ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Licensing#Portraits_with_uncl... kind of got split up and was carried over from a debate on en.wp anyway).
* Photographs of art - if the artwork itself is old enough to be PD, is it true that any photograph of the art itself is also PD, but any photograph of the art in its frame or on a wall is not? (Because it is 3-D, not 2-D anymore)
* Personality rights. What permission is required of people photographed, if any? (eg "Can I take your picture"/"Can I publish your picture on a public database that allows commercial use?") Is this a copyright concern or a "other law" concern that we don't need to worry about? What if the people aren't recognisable (and how can you decide that anyway?)? ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Deletion_requests#Image:Kind_in_N... is a current one, also some of the "visible thong" pictures on http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/G-string have been nominated before)
* Stock xchange images (current: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/COM:SXC villy also wrote http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Aurevilly/sxc.hu_%282%29 but it seems to have stalled). What should be done with the existing images (which are intentionally not categorised in any way as such, so they might be hard to find), what do we have to do (if anything) in order to use current images?
* Flickr allows users to change the licenses on their images with no external notice. So CC-BY or CC-BY-SA images uploaded to Commons might later appear to be CC-BY-NC-ND or even "all rights reserved". This is an increasing problem. Obviously Flickr needs a "history" tab, but until then...? (current discussion at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump#Flickr_allows_license... )
* Flag copyright - originality - again which laws to apply? (eg. http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/commons-l/2006-June/000385.html , is it true?)
I really feel distaste at the idea that the Foundation would avoid involving itself in such questions in order to avoid legal culpability.
Help, please?
Brianna commons, meta, en.wp:User:pfctdayelise