Copyright question (was: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Re: [Intlwiki-l] LA2)

[Jimmy Wales]

> Q. Who owns Wikipedia? 
> 
> A. Well, that's an interesting question. The owner of the server, the 
> domain name, and the ultimate copyright of Wikipedia materials is 
> [Bomis], Inc. But the articles are released under the GNU Free 
> Documentation License, so the articles are open content. So it is a bit 
> misleading to say that the owner of Wikipedia articles is Bomis; Bomis 
> doesn't own them in any traditional sense of ownership. (Bomis CEO and 
> President Jimbo Wales might want to elaborate this reply.) 

I think this is a very unclear explanation.  I didn't write it.  I
suppose Larry did.  There is really nothing at all non-traditional
about copyright ownership under a free license.  I mean, free
licensing is merely one very generous way to exercise one's rights
under copyright law.

Where is this likely to come up?  I can think of a few types of
disputes that might arise...

1.  Someone gets mad at the community and demands to take all their
    own work out of the wikipedia.  This seems impossible for them to
    justify, given the fact that they acknowledge release under the
    FDL upon input into the site in the first place.

2.  Bomis (meaning me) decides to publish the work in a proprietary
    manner, i.e. publish a modified version while forbidding others to
    copy and further modify it.  If Bomis owns the content, Bomis
    could do this.  If individuals own the content, then Bomis can't
    do this.  As a practical matter, it would be stupid for us to do
    this -- there doesn't seem to be any financial advantage to it
    that I can think of.

3.  Microsoft (for example) decides to publish the work in a
    proprietary manner, i.e. publish a modified version while
    forbidding others to copy and further modify it.  If Bomis owns
    the content, then Bomis has clear standing to sue them.  If
    individuals own the content, then they have clear standing to sue
    them.  In either case, if monetary damages look likely, financing
    a suit will not be difficult.

-----------

I think that the main thing we want to preserve is the simple
operation of the community, and the ethos against authorship.

--Jimbo





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