[Commons-l] Query on suitable text for Wikimedia Commons reuse FAQ

[David Gerard]

I'm working on the page at:

    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reuse

- which is how to reuse content from Wikimedia sites, including text and images.

We want the *simplest possible* page on how to easily reuse material
and comply with licence obligations. My audience is the people who
phone me doing clearances, when I explain to them they don't need
case-by-case clearance if they follow the licence terms. (I'm a UK
press contact for Wikimedia.)

The simplest possible wording is absolutely necessary - the very
concept of free content, where you don't need to ask first, explodes
their heads. (Though they like the idea when they do get it. Usually
after five to fifteen minutes' repetition.)

1. Could you please check what is written there about the GFDL, the
GPL and the LGPL? (There are some images on Commons that are GPL/LGPL,
e.g. screen shots and icons from programs.)

2. "When using a GFDL photo as part of a larger work, the larger work
must be GFDLed. (someone please fill in this bit with precisely how
this works both per the FSF and in actual case law - whole book?
chapter? section?)" - the question here is how much counts to make the
larger work a derivative of the GFDL image, and how much of the work
is a derivative and how much is an aggregation. I realise this is
vexed enough in the case of GPL software ... Do you have any simple
guidance to give people interested in reusing GFDL images? (I've seen
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/2007-05-08-fdl-scope .) Has there
been any case law at all on the GFDL?

Any guidance you can provide would be most welcomed!


- thanks, David.


(cc'd to Wikimedia Commons mailing list)