[Foundation-l] Use of logos within Wikimedia sites

[DF]

On 2/6/07, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 2/6/07, Andre Engels <andreengels at gmail.com>
wrote:
> > In other words, no, we may not use the logo on
Wikipedia.
> >
> 
> On en it would be allowed in [[wikipedia]] and 
> perhaps [[wikimedia foundation]].

Geni,

I must say, I admire your intellectual consistency, if
nothing else.  By extension, all Wikimedia logos
should also be deleted from Commons since they are
unfree.  If the community decided to rebel and delete
all of WMF's dreadfully unfree logos, I'm sure it
would make for some entertaining wikidrama and would
certainly address the immediate problem.

However, since the logos exist to help foster brand
identity and benefit the project, I think a better
solution is to set appropriate usage guidelines and
allow them to be used by users within the various
Wikimedia sites.  I don't think it is either hard or
burdensome to regard "Copyright by Wikimedia" as an
exception to Wikipedia's fair use criteria, and for
the most part that has been the going practice since
forever.

Unfortunately, since the WMF does own the logos, a
certain amount of asking permission does seem to make
sense, but this thread seems to reveal that the
boundaries for what is or is not permitted are largely
unresolved at this time.

-Robert Rohde



 
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