[Foundation-l] Fair Use (again)

[Ray Saintonge]

Gerard Meijssen wrote:

>Andrew Gray schreef:
>  
>
>>On 30/01/07, teun spaans <teun.spaans at gmail.com> wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Does this imply that an Italian chapter could be sued for fair use images on
>>>the english wiki?
>>>      
>>>
>>It has been an absolute principle that Chapters Are Not Responsible In
>>any Way For The Projects. They're associated bodies, but there should
>>never be any implication they're publishers.
>>    
>>
>Hoi,
>It is OUR principle that this is the case. It does not mean that a judge 
>will see it that way. In Germany we have already had the German chapter 
>in court because of content on the German language Wikipedia.
>
That had nothing to do with copyright, and we won anyways. 

>>I mean, anyone can be sued for anything by anyone, but hopefully it
>>would be a pretty fast dismissal and order to pay costs for a
>>frivolous suit as soon as a court looked at the actual facts :-)
>>
Nothing stops anybody from suing anybody else about anything.  Avoiding 
all law suits is a form of paranoia.  Naturally when this happens we 
want to be the winners, and even winning lawsuits need to be looked at 
in terms of cost-benefit analysis.

>>>Does this mean that the english wiki could potentially be blocked in Italy
>>>if "fair use" images are of italian origin?
>>>      
>>>
>>Depends; are the Italian courts in favour of issuing gagging orders
>>for something as relatively trivial as copyright? I find it very
>>implausible...
>>    
>>
>Again, it is for the judge to decide. What is "relatively trivial" is 
>not necessarily seen in the same light by a judge.
>
Anything's possible.

Ec