Wikimedia's logos are copyrighted and trademarked. Notwithstanding this, the logos have been placed on a large number of pages under circumstances where other copyrighted works would never be used. Often this is done simply for identification (e.g. this page is about Wikipedia, so it has the Wikipedia logo), and other times it is done for what might be called promotional reasons. Most such uses undoubtedly occur without any direct input from the Foundation.
For examples, see the links on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wikipedia-logo-en.png http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wikipedia-logo.png
In addition, any image that incorporates a Wikimedia logo has generally been marked "Copyright by Wikimedia", regardless of the image's immediate author:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CopyrightByWikimedia
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CopyrightByWikimedia
Some of these have apparently been created by Wikipedians specifically to promote Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Banners_and_buttons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_promotion
Recently, one of these promotional banners(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:NotSuckBanner.jpg) was deleted (and now temporarily undeleted, subject to deletion review) essentially for violating Wikipedia's rules on the use of copyrighted works. (Or in other words, because it was a copyrighted image not being used in an article.)
Now many of us believe that there could reasonably be an exception to Wikipedia's copyright rules when it comes to images owned by Wikimedia itself, especially if they serve a useful purpose like promoting Wikipedia. However, because of the unique role that the logos play in the visual identity of Wikipedia, I wanted to come here and get guidance from the Foundation about what constitutes acceptable use. I would appreciate it if people would review the materials on the pages linked above and give some direction on when logos can be incorporated in other images and what kinds of pages they might reasonably be used on. In particular, are promotional tools like banners and the like acceptable?
-Robert Rohde aka Dragons_flight on EN
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