[WikiEN-l] More fair use image overreaching

[geni]

On 02/03/2008, WJhonson at aol.com <WJhonson at aol.com> wrote:
>
>  In a message dated 3/1/2008 5:39:30 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>
> geniice at gmail.com writes:
>
>  The  author is free to release the image under a free license should
>  they wish  to do so.>>
>
>
>  --
>
> Or since we have 200K non-free images, they are also free to cite a  fair-use
>  critieria.

Fair use doesn't work like that (okey I admit I'm not totaly certain
what would happen since no one is yet to take such a monumentally
stupid case to court). You appear to think that fair use is some magic
incarnation that can make all your copyright issues go away it does
not. If fact it makes them worse. Fair use is hard. It is case law
rather than statute law driven. That means that not only are their
vast grey areas but there are random islands of black and white in the
greyness that you are unlikely to know about. On top of that rather a
lot of it is subject to change without warning.

Now it is possible to cope with all this but so far you have failed to
demonstrate the level of knowledge that suggests you could do so.

Now thats fine. Wikipedia accepts that most people don't know that
much about copyright law so we work around it. We try and create a
system people can follow which is where the bureaucracy comes from.

Claiming fair use on your own work makes no friggin sense (unless you
no longer hold the copyright) no matter how you try and dodge around
the point thus we are not going to change policy to white list those
who try.


-- 
geni