[Foundation-l] RfC: A Free Content and Expression Definition

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 5/2/06, Birgitte SB <birgitte_sb at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Couldn't someone just take a photograph of a sign
> outside a company's headquarters?  I don't see why we
> have to show the exact graphic of the logo, when we
> can show it used in context and under GFDL.  I have
> not followed this issue before so forgive me if this
> has already been throughly discussed.

This is what is done on Dewiki.

It sounds good at first blush, but it's somewhat bogus from a legal
perspective... Just like bringing a camcorder into a movie theater
doesn't create a free movie, nor does aiming a still camera at a
copyrighted graphic create a truly free illustration.

The same argument can be applied many of the 'free' illustrations in
dewiki which are fair use in enwiki, from microsoft logos to pokemon
dolls. Jamesday made this argument to me about a year ago, and it is
what convinced me that fair use images have place in a free
encyclopedia. ... or rather, that we have no choice but to include at
least some legally complex material if we wish to be complete.

Not that the dewiki approach doesn't have any merit: a copyright
holder would look rather foolish in court trying to control your
distribution of a photograph an editor took from public property of a
sign outside their facilities...  And in parts of the world without
the equivalent of fair use, this might be the only defense you have
for using their copyrighted artwork.