[WikiEN-l] "Permission required" on copyright expired images...

[Sarah Ewart]

Steve, that image is now PD in Australia. In Australia, the copyright of
photographs taken prior to 1 January 1955 has expired and they are now in
the public domain. The template for using PD Australian images on Wikipedia
is here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-Australia and Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-Australia.

There's some old discussion about the Australian libraries claiming
permission requirements for reuse under the first section on the talk page
of the template on Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:PD-Australia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:PD-Australia>).
It seems to be pretty much standard now for the Australian libraries (and
other cultural institutions) to have similar permission notes on their
websites, but sometimes their permission requirements are just ensuring they
get credit for where the image came from and backlinks to their site.



On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 1:48 PM, Steve Bennett <stevagewp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Question for the copyright experts. See this image:
> http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/01000/B838.htm
>
> It's over 100 years old, and there is no clear copyright statement
> (ie, the photographer isn't listed). Yet they say "Any other use
> requires permission from the State Library of South Australia."
>
> 1) On what basis can they demand that users ask permission?
> 2) In what circumstances can Commons or Wikipedia ignore such a
> demand, and assert that the image is public domain or copyright
> expired?
> 3) What is the status of an image which is probably copyright, but no
> one knows who owns the copyright?
>
> I realise that this case might be a bit borderline, so if you prefer,
> imagine that the image was old enough that we could reasonably assume
> the photographer has been dead more than 70 years.
>
> Steve
>
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