On 11/27/05, Pawe³ Dembowski fallout@lexx.eu.org wrote:
It's somewhat odd that the different languages have different policies on fair use. From a legal standpoint, it really shouldn't matter what language the article is written in. I suppose it's enough to stay under the radar this way, though.
If about 99% editors and readers of Polish Wikipedia live in Poland, do you think that they couldn't be sued for infringing copyright only because they do it on an American server?
-- Ausir Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia http://pl.wikipedia.org
Again, from a legal standpoint, I don't think it should matter whether 99% of editors and readers live in Poland or 5% do. So if someone *could* sue Wikipedia for an image in the Polish Wikipedia, then they probably *could* sue Wikipedia for an image in the English Wikipedia.
Maybe the likelihood that someone *would* sue Wikipedia changes. But that, at least for images whose copyright is held by American companies, brings back the question of whether or not an American company is likely to sue an American non-profit organization for violating Polish copyright law (regardless of where the servers are located).
And, by the way, many of the servers aren't in the United States anyway.
Anthony