[Foundation-l] Wikiquote

[Mike Godwin]

Klaus Graf writes:

> Here is an interesting Quote (with educational value):
>
> "A company published a book of trivia questions about the events and
> characters of the "Seinfeld" television series. The book included
> questions based upon events and characters in 84 "Seinfeld" episodes
> and used actual dialogue from the show in 41 of the book's questions.
> Important factors: As in the "Twin Peaks" case, the book affected the
> owner's right to make derivative "Seinfeld" works such as trivia
> books. ( Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publ. Group, 150
> F.3d 132 (2d Cir. 1998).)"
>
> I would like to ask WMF board and its lawyer to give legal advice to
> the en WQ project.

I can't speak for the Board, but I don't see in this case a compelling  
argument for Wikiquote to change its current practice.

Copyright law cases typically involve multifactorial analyses and lots  
of nuance. I would not assume that a commercial book publisher's use  
of "Seinfeld" quotes necessarily tells us anything about a non- 
commercial reference's use of quotations.

Many people believe that copyright jurisprudence gives clear and  
obvious guidance about how one should use copyrighted materials in  
future cases. My experience has been, however, that this belief is  
mistaken.

If we were contacted by a copyright holder with a complaint about  
Wikiquote, of course, we would attempt to respond within reason to  
resolve the complaint without anyone's having to resort to  
litigation.  The Digital Millennium Copyright Act actually provides  
for services like Wikiquote a way of resolving copyright complaints  
without serious risk of litigation through its notice-and-takedown  
procedures. I'm not aware of any DMCA notices regarding Seinfeld  
quotations on Wikiquote.


--Mike