[Commons-l] Need Advice on Image Permissions

[Bryan Tong Minh]

First of all, there is
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reuse>. If you still have
any questions, feel free to let us know! We are always happy to help,
and it will also help us improving the reuse page.

Bryan

On 8/19/07, David Blomstrom <webmaster at geobop.org> wrote:
> Can someone help me understand the rules regarding the use of articles
> obtained from Wikipedia on commercial sites?
>
> First, my websites are "nominally commercial." That is, they're
> educational websites that have been monetized, primarily by adding
> Google AdSense.
>
> I've used many images with the permission of the owners or creators. I'm
> also familiar with the rules of public domain - no permission needed.
> But it appears that there are at least three other classes of images I
> need to understand:
>
> 1) Wikimedia Commons
> 2) Creative Commons
> 3) GNU License
>
> My first question regards the effect of each of these on my overall
> website. I've been warned that if I use images from one or more of these
> categories on my websites, it may compromise my entire website. In other
> words, if I use an image protected by the GNU License, then the entire
> page on which that image appears may lose its copyright status, instead
> falling under the provisions of GNU?
>
> Is this true? If so, then this post ends here, because I can't afford to
> compromise my site in that manner.
>
> If, on the other hand, it is safe to use such images without
> surrendering ownership of an article, page or website, then exactly how
> do I cite an image's credit? Consider the photo of a mourning dove near
> the top right corner of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_dove No
> sources, credits or permissions are listed at all. Only by clicking the
> image is a visitor directed to a page that lists all that information.
>
> Can I do the same thing - place an image on my website and simply link
> it to a page with all the legalese? If so, I would probably create a
> separate web page that includes the following text associated with
> another image from that same page and link to it:
>
> /Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
> <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Zenaida_macroura2.jpg>
> under the terms of the *GNU Free Documentation License
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License>*, Version
> 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Foundation>; with no
> Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A
> copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
> Documentation License
> <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License>".
>
> /Furthermore, I assume I could leave the links intact. In other words, I
> could simply link "GNU Free Documentation License" to
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License - right?
>
> I've read the rules regarding use of such images, but it's confusing. I
> need some advice and specific examples to avoid doing anything that's
> going to get me in trouble.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
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