[Foundation-l] Clearing up Wikimedia's media licensing policies

[Ray Saintonge]

David Strauss wrote:

>There's a big difference between the en-wp rationale for fair use and 
>the policy for whether an image can be used on Wikipedia under fair use.
>
>The fair-use *rationale* has a goal of emphasizing Wikipedia's 
>characteristics to strengthen its legal claim to fair use. This is 
>Wikipedia claiming maximal rights.
>
>The fair-use *policy* has a goal of restricting fair use to a safe 
>subset of what Wikipedia may legally use. This is Wikipedia exercising 
>minimal rights.
>
There will always be a flexiblew grey area between these two views.  We 
need to allow for unforseen circumstances that may be unique to one 
subject area, but the person wanting to expand free use beyond the 
minimal position needs to make a convincing argument.

>>And what about ND images? If there is an image that is fair use on a page,
>>and the rationale is strong enough to allow me to use it, then surely I
>>would be allowed to use an ND image at the same place.
>>    
>>
>Yes, because fair use is tangential to licensing. If you have a good 
>fair-use rationale for an image, then you may use it under fair use. 
>Having the additional option of a no-derivatives license does not 
>infringe on that right.
>
Yes, and this is why it's so important to resist the temptation to 
muddle the two together.

Ec