Hello list,
This chap David Goldman has a website called copyrightexpired.com, where he has some old images that he has scanned. I'm forwarding our correspondence to the list, just to clutter it up and annoy everyone. *cough* I mean, because I'm not sure about copyright laws, and would like to get the opinions of people here just to make sure his pictures are all right to release under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Oliver
+-------------------------------------------+ | Oliver Pereira | | Dept. of Electronics and Computer Science | | University of Southampton | | omp199@ecs.soton.ac.uk | +-------------------------------------------+
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 13:40:21 -0400 From: David Goldman dgoldma2@twcny.rr.com To: Oliver Pereira omp199@ecs.soton.ac.uk Subject: Re: copyrightexpired.com
That would all be fine. Let me know if you need exact publication dates for any certain image. They are all published before 1922. The only ones that I don't have documentation on are the Tiere der Urwelt cards from Germany (some of the color images). There appearance suggests pre WWI but no date has been confirmed. David
----- Original Message ----- From: "Oliver Pereira" omp199@ecs.soton.ac.uk To: "David Goldman" dgoldma2@twcny.rr.com Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 1:03 PM Subject: Re: copyrightexpired.com
Dear David,
Thank you for replying to my question about your website, copyrightexpired.com. I'm sorry that I've taken so long to reply. I was wondering, since neither of us is a lawyer, would it be all right for me to quote your message on the Wikipedia mailing list, so that someone there with more legal expertise can check if our using your images in the Wikipedia would be all right? There are some complications in the GNU Free Documentation License which I don't fully understand, so I'd feel more comfortable if we could get another opinion.
If we did use your images, we would credit you in the associated image information page, and put a link back to your website there. We don't generally put credits in the article pages themselves, where the images are shown, for space reasons. However, clicking on an image takes you to the associated image information page, where the credit would be given. Does that sound all right to you?
Thanks again,
Oliver Pereira
On Thu, 6 Mar 2003, David Goldman wrote:
Hi, the images at that web site are found in books and magazines old
enough
to be considered in the public domain. But it is merely my understanding
and
not based on any formal legal research. I like the idea of the Wikipedia
and
welcome you to use any of the images on my site that you find useful.
Since
I have other sites that show pictures belonging to practicing artists,
I
thought it prudent to try and have people contact me before using any
images
in general. I would appreciate a reference back to my website on any of
the
illustrations that you use. Best regards, David Goldman
----- Original Message ----- From: "Oliver Pereira" omp199@ecs.soton.ac.uk To: "David Goldman" dgoldma2@twcny.rr.com Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2003 10:06 PM Subject: copyrightexpired.com
Dear Mr. Goldman,
I have just discovered your website, copyrightexpired.com, and have
some
questions about it. You say on your main page that the site contains a "sampling of my collection of Prehistoric Animal images published
prior to
1923", and the domain name suggests that the images are no longer copyrighted. However, you then go on to state conditions under which
users
may or may not use the images. Presumably you would only be able to do this if you owned the copyrights. Is this the case?
I would be interested in using the images in an online collaborative encyclopaedia, called the "Wikipedia". Ideally, images included in the Wikipedia should be released under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation
License by the copyright holder, if there is one. If you are the
copyright
holder, would you consent to do this?
Thank you for your help in answering my questions,
Oliver Pereira
--
See:-
copyrightexpired.com:
Wikipedia:
+-------------------------------------------+ | Oliver Pereira | | Dept. of Electronics and Computer Science | | University of Southampton | | omp199@ecs.soton.ac.uk | +-------------------------------------------+
+-------------------------------------------+ | Oliver Pereira | | Dept. of Electronics and Computer Science | | University of Southampton | | omp199@ecs.soton.ac.uk | +-------------------------------------------+
(Oliver Pereira omp199@ecs.soton.ac.uk): Hello list,
This chap David Goldman has a website called copyrightexpired.com, where he has some old images that he has scanned. I'm forwarding our correspondence to the list, just to clutter it up and annoy everyone. *cough* I mean, because I'm not sure about copyright laws, and would like to get the opinions of people here just to make sure his pictures are all right to release under the GNU Free Documentation License.
If they are, as he claims, all published before 1922, then they are in the public domain.
It looks pretty neat. I wish his website did not say this:
They cannot be used for any commercial purpose without my prior consent.
If they really are 'copyright expired', then he can't make that kind of claim. Presumably, with a domain like that, he's interested in tending to the "intellectual commons", and ought not to make such claims.
--Jimbo
wikipedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org