[WikiEN-l] Pattern copyvios involving comic book characters

[Alphax (Wikipedia email)]

Justin Cormack wrote:
> The Uninvited Co., Inc wrote:
> 
<sni>
>> Their site content is making its way to Wikipedia.  There are three
>> problems:
>> a) Cut and paste copying of text
>> b) Paraphrasing of text
>> c) Unattributed copying of images the site has scanned from comic books
>>
>> (a) and (b) are copyright violations.  The problem goes back at least
>> six months and is ongoing.
>>
>> (c) while not strictly speaking a copyvio since marvunapp.com is merely
>> making scans of flat art, is upsetting the site operators due to the
>> volume of material involved and the lack of attribution.  If left
>> unaddressed (c) is likely to make them more pedantic about their rights
>> regarding (a) and (b).  So far they've been pretty understanding and
>> supportive, considering.
>>  
>>
> Just for clarification:
> (c) is a copyvio too. "flat art" is under copyright too. Their site 
> presumably has no permission to host these pictures either though? 
> Unless they are claiming fair use?
> (b) on the other hand is not a copyvio in general, unless it is really (a).
> 

I'll bite.

a) is an infringement of the copyright of the site's authors and is rude.
b) is plagiarism and is rude.
c) is plagiarism *and* copyright infringement of the comic book
authors/artists, the latter of which we believe is justifiable under the
mysterious "fair use" and "fair dealing" clauses present in many
English-speaking countries (especially the US). It's also rude.

In short:

1. DON'T INFRINGE ON COPYRIGHT. "Fair use" images should be the
exception to the rule and should NOT be used when a Free alternative is
available.
2. Don't use a source without attribution. If we can do it for NASA and
the US Government who so graciously put their works into the Public
Domain, we can at least acknowledge the hard work of people who have
carefully scanned (often rare) comic books and made those images
available online, and researched and written detailed summaries on said
comics.

-- 
Alphax - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Alphax
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