[WikiEN-l] State seals and fair use

[SPUI]

daniwo59 at aol.com wrote:
> There is a lot of talk about getting free alternatives to restricted Fair  
> Use images, and how this is actually a priority of the Wikimedia Foundation. 
>  
> That said, I want to point out one specific area where the Foundation is  
> failing. The United States consists of 50 states, each of which has a state  
> seal, but to date, only twenty of the state seal images are free, i.e., 60  
> percent are fair use images, when a free alternative should be easily available.  In 
> fact, what possible justification is there for using a fair use  image?
>  

Am I missing something here? Redrawing a copyrighted image does not make 
it free, and works of states are copyrighted by default. How are we 
supposed to get a free image? It's like getting a free image of Mickey 
Mouse.