[Wikipedia-l] some questions concerning copyright

[Ray Saintonge]

elian wrote:

>Maybe someone can answer these questions which came up on the German
>wikipedia recently.
>
>Someone wanted to place the emblem (coat of arms or whatever the correct
>english term is) of a city to the article about it and was unsure if this
>is legal. In Germany there are laws about "Hoheitszeichen" like flags,
>emblems, which restrict the right to use them.
>
Are these German restrictions really a question of copyright, or is it 
about preventing people from using them in inappropriate ways?

>How is the legal situation? I suppose wikipedia is in the sphere of
>american law. If it's legal, do we have to redraw the emblems ourselves or
>can we take the "official" images?
>
Simply redrawing the emblems is not likely to solve anything.  If it's 
too similar it would continue to violate the laws you're trying to 
circumvent; if it's too different it would lose its encyclopaedic merit.

>Next question: what's the exact date before which works are copyright
>free in the U.S.? Does US-law apply for German books, scanned in Germany
>and put on a server in the US or do we have to ensure that they are
>copyright free in both countries? German law is "70 years after the death
>of the author".  
>
This stuff can get terribly complicated, and even though there is a 
simple US answer of 95 years for works published after 1923, there are 
numerous exceptions that may apply to earlier works from this time span.
A mirror server in Germany would be clearly subject to German law.  A 
mirror server here in Canada would follow the Canadian rule of author's 
life plus 50 years.  One E-book site has an associated site based in 
Australia, where the rule is similar to Canada's.  It warns its American 
users that it may be illegal fro them to look at these works.

>I heard something about a lawsuit Eldrigde vs. Ashcroft at the
>Supreme Court - will Mickey Mouse law finally be abolished?
>
I understand that the open court arguments in the US Supreme Court were 
just made yesterday.  It will understandably take some time for the 
judges to consider their opinion.  It's impossible to guess how judges 
will rule on anything.  

Eclecticology