[Foundation-l] Public domain Mickey Mouse. At last.

[Anthony]

>> ...a deletion discussion among
>> non-professionals is not the proper way to determine the law.
>
> Neither is the opinion of a legal expert: That's the job of the courts.

Courts are the proper way to determine the law after the fact.  But
this is a question of determining the law before the fact.  Except in
very limited situations, courts don't do that.

> Commons editors are only trying to weed out copyright infringements without
> falling for copyfraud.

That is absolutely not true.  The deletion policy is much more nuanced
than "only trying to weed out copyright infringements".

> If non-professional Commons editors shouldn't be deciding which images are
> PD, then they shouldn't be deciding which images are copyrighted either, and
> not one image should be deleted whatever evidence of its copyrighted status
> comes up. I don't think that's acceptable to anyone here.

You've made quite a few incorrect assumptions there.

Of course Commons editors should be deciding which images are PD.  But
when there is a dispute, it makes no sense for people who don't even
know what a derivative work and an underlying work are, to be
discussing the applicable law.

Anyway, the deletion process obviously doesn't work.  File:"Appreciate
America. Come On Gang. All Out for Uncle Sam" (Mickey Mouse)" - NARA -
513869.tif is clearly not public domain.  And File:"Appreciate
America. Come On Gang. All Out for Uncle Sam" (Mickey Mouse)" - NARA -
513869 - cropped and tidied.png is probably a copyvio.  Yet both
remain, despite deletion discussions, marked as public domain.  (The
deletion discussion over the latter is especially humorous.)