[WikiEN-l] Is this valid on an userpage? is this other on articles?

[Bryan Derksen]

Ray Saintonge wrote:
> Bryan Derksen wrote:
>> To be valid fair use the article should be about that specific image in
>> some significant way. If there was a paragraph or section of the article
>> addressing it, perhaps - though in that case it would make more sense to
>> have the image presented individually in that paragraph or section. I'd
>> say it's best to assume not when the case is in doubt.
>>
> This, of course, reflects the English Wikipedia subset of fair use rules.

This thread is on WikiEN-l so that should be assumed by default.

>> Some editors are hypersensitive about this sort of thing. I still can't
>> figure out why the original image of the O RLY? owl isn't fair use in
>> the article [[O RLY?]], but endless battle isn't worth it.
>>
> This photo may be in the public domain by abandonment.  This would 
> happen when an otherwise copyright item has been widely re-distributed 
> for a long time, and the copyright owner does nothing about it.  This 
> photo was taken by a professional wildlife photographer who should have 
> a basic understanding of the rules.  He uploaded the photo himself.  Is 
> there any record of his complaining about its general use?

I'm told he complained about it in some manner, though I never got to
see the the actual complaint. Some of the gory details can be found at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_talk:Orly.jpg> and
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Deletion_review&oldid=50533958#Image:O_RLY.jpg>,
though unfortunately not the specific reasons why the image was
ultimately kept deleted.

Whether the copyright holder objects to fair usage or not shouldn't
actually make a difference, as far as I understand the law; the whole
point of fair use is that under those circumstances we don't _need_
permission. I wish this case had been handled more transparently.