[Wikipedia-l] Re: Fair use

[Toby Bartels]

[Note: This is crossposted to <wikitech-l> and <wikipedia-l> for continuity.
Replies should go to <wikipedia-l>, since it's a policy discussion.]

Axel Boldt wrote on <wikitech-l>:

>Erik Moeller wrote:

>>I have not seen your response to my
>>analysis that conluded that quotations are more problematic
>>than images.

>If I understood correctly, you argue that quotes are embedded in the
>text while images are kept in separate files, thus GFDL is not
>inherited by the photo but is inherited by the quotes. This is
>incorrect. Derivative work are required to be under GFDL; what
>constitutes a derivative work is defined by copyright law. The
>technical detail that text and images are typically kept in separate
>files is irrelevant; illustrating an article by adding a picture is a
>classical case of a derivative work. Moving quotes out of the main text
>and then "including" them somehow is a technical gimmick that doesn't
>change anything: adding a quote also creates a derivative work.

Including quotations would indeed be a technical gimmick,
and our server would provide a single HTML file, a derivative work.
That images are separate, however, is more than a technical detail;
it's an important feature of HTTP that's used in other ways.
Our copyright notice at the bottom of the page even refers only to "text";
a result of this feature is that the text is easily separated.


-- Toby