Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
On Tue, Jan 23, 2007 at 04:03:55PM +1100, Stephen Bain wrote:
When you start mixing stuff you complicate things. If I were to take a screenshot of a page on Wikipedia, for example, the text of the page would be GFDL (unless there are some quotes or something in the text, which would be fair use), the MediaWiki elements would be GPL, the browser window could be anything (if you're in Firefox, for example, then the picture of the browser interface is under the Mozilla Public Licence). The skins that come with MediaWiki are GPL just like the rest of MediaWiki.
So unfortunately you can't get PD screenshots of MediaWiki. The best you can do is GPL screenshots, but only if you show only GPL content in it and either cut out the browser interface or use a GPL browser.
Someone vastly misunderstands the nature of copyright law, I think.
(Though, admittedly, IANAL, either. I just play on on the net.)
If I create a screenshot of a browser page on my computer displaying wikipedia, there is *one* copyright involved: *mine*. The image is not a derivative work of the browser, the OS, or the website. Therefore, none of those people's copyrights apply, and therefore by induction, no licenses are necessary. I created an image, and I own its copyright.
Really? So, you can override any and all copyrights of anything, just by taking your own picture of it? I find your ideas intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.