On 10/01/11 5:36 AM, Anthony wrote:
On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 6:44 AM, Elias Gabriel Amaral da Silva tolkiendili@gmail.com wrote:
In practical terms, what they can do? Wikipedia is hosted in US. Therefore, for a successful takedown, the museum must sue in US.
Well, for one thing, they could sue reusers.
WMF using the work is one thing. WMF telling the rest of the world that the work is public domain and anyone can use it for any purpose without permission, is another.
The people who really feel offended by the Israel Museum's claim would do best to accept responsibility for their claims. Given the nature of the work there is perhaps a little more skill to these scans than was the case for NPG portraits. I don't know how a court decision would turn out. I am certainly not confident enough to pursue this myself, nor would I want to do it for material I don't understand.
Anyone who simply feels that these scans should be freely available can simply put them up on his own site in whatever country he wants, and wait for the lawsuit to happen or not happen. There are some areas where I feel that Wikimedia policies about copyright are wrong, and even paranoid, but I would be wrong to insist that any WMF project host them unless I am ready to defend a legal action against a site that I fully own and control. That's what being responsible is about.
Ray