[WikiEN-l] Google Earth copyright (now that you bring it up)

[Haukur Þorgeirsson]

> So how do people sell books in such countries, given that the text,
> illustrations, design, font and so on must all revert to the creator
> within X years?

Presumably you contact the respective copyright holders again if you want
to republish the works. But I'm not a lawyer and I don't really know what
I'm talking about. Here's one interesting clause from the Icelandic code.
This has to do with performing rights:

"If permission is granted for an indefinite period of time, regardless of
whether it confers exclusive right or not, this shall be considered valid
for a period of no more than three years."

Or take such a byzantine clause as this:

"If a literary or artistic work has not been published within two years
or, in the case of a musical work, within four years of the time the
author submits to the publisher the final manuscript thereof or another
copy to be used for reproduction purposes, the author may, unless a longer
time limit has been agreed upon for publication, cancel the publishing
contract, whether or not the conditions for cancelling a contract under
general rules of law have been fulfilled."

I submitted some articles to Wikipedia back in 2003 and they still haven't
published them so I can cancel the "publishing contract". No, probably
not, but this exemplifies how badly a law designed around traditional
publishing handles the free-content-on-the-web world.

It's not all bad, here's a helpful "fair use" provision, for example:

"Pictures or drawings of presented works of art may be presented in
newspapers and periodicals, on television and in cinematographic works in
connection with the reporting of current events. This shall not, however,
apply to works which were intended for presentation in the foregoing
manner."

Here's the thing I was referring to regarding the sculptures:

"Photographs may be taken and presented of buildings, as well as works of
art, which have been situated permanently out-of-doors in a public
location. Should a building, which enjoys protection under the rules
concerning works of architecture, or a work of art as previously referred
to, comprise the principal motif in a photograph which is exploited for
marketing purposes, the author shall be entitled to remuneration, unless
the pictures are intended for use by a newspaper or in television
broadcasting."

The law is full of special provisions and exceptions like that and I have
no idea how many of them would apply to a project like Wikipedia.

Read it here: http://eng.menntamalaraduneyti.is/Acts/nr/2428

I imagine that the difficulties involved in creating free content that
does not run foul of some special provision in the copyright laws of some
country are considerable.

Regards,
Haukur