Jesus-Wiki Media:Licensing

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Copyright information

On the Jesus-Wiki Media Licensing page some Jesus-Wiki Media licensing basics are explained. It attempts to give an overview over complicated copyright laws. It aims to help decide if one is allowed to upload a certain image or other media file within Jesus-Wiki Media. In general Jesus-Wiki Media has the same licensing policy as Wikimedia Commons. Some differences may exist.

You can see the copyright tags used on Jesus-Wiki Media here.

Contents

[edit] What is accepted at Jesus-Wiki Media

Jesus-Wiki Media only accepts free content, that is, images and other media files that can be used by anyone, for any purpose.

All material on Jesus-Wiki Media must be licensed under a free license that allows anyone to use the material for any purpose. This may be regulated by geographical, trademark, or other laws unrelated to copyrights, which Jesus-Wiki Media can not account for. Jesus-Wiki Media tries to ensure that any such restrictions are mentioned on the image description page, but it is the responsibility of the user to ensure that the use of the media does not violate any applicable law. In particular, copyrights of certain material may have expired in one country, while still being applicable in another country. Furthermore, many Jesus-Wiki Media licences, such as GFDL and Creative Commons Share-Alike, require that any derivatory work must be released under the same license conditions. In particular, the license must meet the following conditions:

  • Republication and distribution must be allowed
  • Publication of derivative work must be allowed
  • Commercial use of the work must be allowed
  • Acknowledgement of all authors/contributors of a work may be required.
  • Publication of derivative work under the same license may be required.
  • Use of open file formats free of digital restrictions management may be required.

The details are explained below. Jesus-Wiki Media does not accept fair use; see below for the reasons. Jesus-Wiki Media also does not accept noncommercial-only content.

The license that applies to an image or media file must be indicated clearly on the image description page using a copyright tag. All information required by that license must be given on the description page. The information given on the description page should be sufficient to allow others to verify the license status. It would be best to do this immediately in the summary field on the upload form.

If you request permission from a copyright holder please use only the Email template to do so.

[edit] License Information

All description pages on the Jesus-Wiki Media must indicate clearly under which license the materials were published, and must contain the information required by the license (author, etc) and should also contain information sufficient for others to verify the license status (source link).

Specifically, the following information should always be given on the description page, regardless if the license required this or not:

  • The description of the content of the image or media file. Description of your image, where, what, who? This is important so that everyone knows what you really can see/hear. Especially important for scientific data as e.g. pictures in false color.
  • The Author/Creator of the image or media file. For media that are considered to be in the public domain because the copyright has expired, the date of death of the author may also be crucial (see the section about public domain material below)
  • The Source of the material, preferably a web link or a citation. This obviously does not apply if the material is first published on Jesus-Wiki Media and the uploader is the author of the material. This should be stated explicitly.

Of less importance, but should be provided if available:

  • The Date and place of creation. For media that are considered to be in the public domain because the copyright has expired, the date of creation may be crucial (see the section about public domain material below).

[edit] Scope of Licensing

Note that in some cases, a document (media file) may have multiple aspects that can and have to be licensed: Every person that contributed a critical part of the work has rights to the results, and all have to make their contribution available under a free license. The distinctions are however not very clear and may differ from country to country. Here are a few examples to clarify:

  • For a recording of a song, the following aspects must be taken into account, each must be under a free license (or in the public domain):
    • The score of the music (rights by the composer)
    • The lyrics of the song (rights by the writer)
    • The performance (rights by the musicians, singers, etc)
    • The recording (rights by the technical personel / recording company)
  • For a picture of artwork (also book covers and the like), it is similar:
    • The creator of the original artwork has rights to the results.
    • The photographer has rights to the image.
  • For a picture of the interior of a building, note that the architect may hold some rights if distinct architectural features are shown (this is true at least in Germany).
  • For a picture of the exterior of a building, note that the architect may hold some rights; in some countries, this only applies if the picture was taken from a non-public place (Germany, Austria), but in some others this applies wherever the picture was taken from (France).

This is often problematic, if the artwork is not the primary content of the image or is not clearly recognizable: In that case, usually only the creator of the resulting picture (recording, etc) holds a copyright. For instance, when taking a photograph of a group of people in a museum, the photo may also show some painting on the walls. In that case the copyright of those painting does not have to be taken into account. The distinction however is not very clear.

Note that the License for all aspects has to be determined and mentioned explicitly.

Also note that reproductions are usually not eligible to copyright: The creator of a scan of a picture owns no copyright to the resulting digital image, the scan needs no license. The only license important in that case is the one of the original picture. This also applies to screenshots, see the section about screenshots below.

[edit] Well-known licenses

The following well-known licenses are preferred for materials on Jesus-Wiki Media:

See Jesus-Wiki Media:Copyright tags visual for more licenses.

Note: The GFDL is rather impractical for images and short text, especially for print media, because it requires the full text of the GFDL to be printed along with the picture or text. Dual licensing with a license which allows the image or text to be used more easily, like a Creative Commons license, is thus preferred. Also, if you can avoid it, do not use GPL or LGPL as the only license for media you create.

The following licenses are wide-spread, but explicitly not allowed (unless, of course, the file is also under a free licence):

  • Creative Commons Non-Commercial Only (-NC) licenses
  • Creative Commons No-Derivatives (-ND) licenses
  • Material usable under the fair use clause or a similar law (see below for the reasons).

[edit] Multi-licensing

You can offer as many licenses for a file as you want as long as at least one of them meets the criteria above.

[edit] Material in the public domain

Jesus-Wiki Media accept material that is in the public domain, that is, documents that are not eligible to copyright or for which the copyright has expired. A general thumb is that material enters the public domain after the creator of the work has been dead for more than 70 - or in the US, 95 - years. If a non-American author died before 1938, their work can safely be assumed to be in the public domain. If the work is anonymous or a collaborate work (e.g. an encyclopaedia), it is, according to the Berne convention, in the public domain 70 years after the date of publication.

However, the year and location of publication is essential. In several countries, material published before a certain year is in the public domain. In the U.S. this date is January 1, 1923; in the former Soviet Union, before May 27, 1973. Furthermore, in some countries all material published by the government is public domain, while others claim some copyrights, yet others are very restrictive.

In general, if something was created and first published in one country, that country's laws probably apply. But the details of copyright law are further complicated because international laws and treaties have to be taken into account, and in some well-known cases, material is in the public domain in one country, yet claimed copyright of in another.

In some jurisdictions (like the United States), you can also explicitly donate work you have created yourself to the public domain. In other places (like the European Union) this is technically not possible, but you can grant an unlimited license instead.

[edit] Screenshots

Screenshots are copyrighted if the displayed program or operating system is copyrighted. For a detailed discussion see here. Thus, screenshots can not be used on Jesus-Wiki Media unless all components, programs and data shown in them are under some free license. As an example, Microsoft's guidelines do not allow derivatives (see here). This means that the use of screenshots of Microsoft products would go against Jesus-Wiki Media policy.

Note that the screenshot may be published under this free license only if all the images used for the program GUI have a free license. If, for example, all of them are in the public domain then the screenshot must be public domain too because the creative work of creating a screenshot is zero. If the screenshot contains icons or content of nonfree sites, the screenshot is not free.

Thus, if the programmers do not agree to publish the program under a free license, and they do not explicitly license the screenshot (or all screenshots) under a free license, the screenshot is not free. This may not be true in all jurisdictions, but holds at least in the U.S., in Germany, and probably all other countries of the European Union.

In some cases the program itself is a work of art. Screenshots of such works are free if the program itself is free.

There may be exceptions to this if the screenshot shows only a work that was created using some program, not the program itself. This is especially true for fonts, which in some cases are considered programs.

To create a free screenshot:

  1. Use a free program with a completely free skin. (A KDE Program using crystal images is an example)
  2. Cut away all possibly copyrighted stuff. Just show the content.
  3. The content of the screenshot must be free too. Make sure the screenshot does not contain trademarks, unfree text or images, or anything else that the general public does not have permission to make free use of.

Please tag screenshots that shown only free content with {{free screenshot}} in addition to an appropriate copyright tag. You should also indicate under what free license the program is.

[edit] What is not accepted on Jesus-Wiki Media

The following restrictions must not apply to the image or other media file:

  • Use by Jesus-Wiki only
  • Noncommercial/Educational use only
  • Use under fair use restrictions
  • Notification of the creator required, rather than requested, for all or for some uses

Specifically, the following are generally not allowed:

  • Screenshots of software that is itself not under a free license. Screenshots of software under the GPL or a similar free software license are generally considered to be OK.
  • TV Screenshots (programs and commercials).
  • Scans or reproductive photographs of copyrighted artwork, especially book covers, album/CD covers, etc
  • Copyrighted symbols, logos, etc
  • Models, masks, toys, and other objects which represent a copyrighted work, such as a cartoon or movie character (rather than just a particular actor, regardless of a specific role)

Jesus-Wiki Media obviously also allows all works that are not applicable to copyright (i.e. in the public domain). It is however unclear how material is to be handled that is in the public domain in some countries, but not in others. Please read the section about public domain above.

[edit] Material under the fair use clause

Jesus-Wiki Media does not accept fair use content, because fair use laws vary from country to country - thus, content deemed acceptable under, for instance, US fair use concepts (which are very broad) is not usable in the majority of other countries.

Also, fair use depends on the context the image (or other media) is used in. That is, something that can be used on one page as fair use would be a copyright violation on another page. Especially, fair use does not allow collecting and distributing the images in a media database such as Jesus-Wiki Media. This means that fair use simply does not apply to Jesus-Wiki Media.

Both issues are against the Jesus-Wiki Media policy to provide images that can be used by anyone anywhere for any purpose.

[edit] Derivative Works

You want a picture of Mickey Mouse, but of course you can't just scan it in. Why not take a picture of a little action figure and then upload it? Don't. The reason why you can't upload photographs of such figures is that they are considered as derivative works. Such works can't be published without permission of the original creator.

The US Copyright Act of 1976, Section 101, says: "A derivative work is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”." A photograph of a copyrighted item is considered a derivative work in US jurisdiction. US Copyright Act of 1976, Section 106: "(...) (T)he owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: (...) (2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;"

Therefore, "unauthorized" derivative works like pictures of action figures, toys etc. must be deleted.

[edit] Checklist

Let's assume you took a picture with your camera, or you've scanned it from somewhere, or you've downloaded it off a web server - and want to upload it to Jesus-Wiki Media. How do you know what's OK and what's not? Here's a simple chart that helps you decide. In cases of doubt, read the further advice for your country first.

Definitely OK:

Own photos of:

  • Nature (forest, sky, etc.)
  • Animals (cats, dogs, etc.)
  • Insects (ants, beetles, etc.)
  • People who have given their consent
  • Yourself (as long as you don't use this as your private webspace)
  • Objects that are PD by age both in the United States and your jurisdiction:
    • Buildings built by an architect who died 70+ (preferably 100+) years ago
    • Works of art created by an artist who died 70+ (preferably 100+) years ago
    • Books by authors who died 70+ (preferably 100+) years ago

Own scans of:

  • Material where copyright has expired in your jurisdiction and the United States.

Material from web servers:

  • Material where copyright has expired in your jurisdiction, the United States and the jurisdiction of the web server.

Questionable, may or may not be OK:

All kinds of copyrighted material:

  • Logos (only very simple designs are OK)
  • Cars
  • Products of daily use (simple designs are OK)
  • Book covers (only very simple designs are OK)
  • Album / CD covers
  • Buildings built by an architect who died less than 70 years ago (or is still alive)
  • Permanently installed works of art in a public place, created by an artist who died less than 70 years ago (or is still alive)
  • Interiors of private houses, homes, museums
  • Screenshots (see Screenshots)
  • Celebrities

Definitely not OK

  • Fair use images
  • Fan art that closely resembles copyrighted material
  • Photographs of normal people who have not given their consent to being photographed
  • Photographs, drawings, scans and other reproductions of objects that are copyrighted by someone other than yourself like the following:
    • Works that are not permanently installed, created by an artist who died less than 70 years ago (or is still alive)
    • Action figures, statuettes, costumes and other copyrighted material (see Derivative Works)

[edit] International law

[edit] Interaction of United States Copyright Law and Foreign Copyright Law

It is important to remember when uploading a material from a country outside the United States that the copyright laws of both that country and the United States apply to the upload. Beyond that if material that has been saved from a third party website is uploaded to Jesus-Wiki Media then the copyright laws of the United States, the country of residence of the uploader and the country of location of the webservers of the website apply. Consequently any licence to use the material should apply in all jurisdictions relevant and if the material is in the public domain in order for it to be allowable on Jesus-Wiki Media it must be in the public domain in all jurisdictions relevant.

For example, if a person in the United Kingdom uploads a picture that has been saved off a French website to the Jesus-Wiki Media server the upload is covered by UK, French and US copyright law. In order for a photograph to be acceptable for upload to Jesus-Wiki Media it must be public domain in France, the United Kingdom and the United States, or there must be an acceptable copyright licence for the photograph which covers the UK, US and France.

[edit] Berne Convention

Almost all countries in the world are party to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (see here for the text). Following this convention, countries enforce copyrights from other countries, according to certain rules. One consequence of these rules is that we should always care about the laws of the country of origin of the work.

Most important is article 7, which sets the term of duration of the protections granted by the Convention. The Convention sets a minimal term of 50 years after the life of the authors (subject to some exceptions). However, each country is free to set longer terms.

In any case, the term shall be governed by the legislation of the country where protection is claimed; however, unless the legislation of that country otherwise provides, the term shall not exceed the term fixed in the country of origin of the work.

[edit] European copyright law

The European Union has issued directives harmonizing copyright rules in the European Union (see Copyright law of the European Union). Note, however, that directives, unlike European regulations, do not apply uniformly. They have to be transposed into national law by each country's legislature, and they often offer significant leeway in doing so. This is, for instance, the case for the legal exemptions of copyright (equivalent of "fair use"), which are allowed to differ within certain limits.

The most important, for our purposes, is the Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection (text). This directive sets the duration of copyright to 70 years following the death of the author (for multiple authors, of the last author; for collective, pseudonymous or anonymous works, following the date of publication).

However, this directive does not shorten already running extended copyright terms in countries that apply them. This means, for instance, that the copyright extensions that France granted to compensate wars still apply.

[edit] Country-specific laws

Laws about copyright differ from country to country. Images uploaded to Jesus-Wiki Media, unless uploaded from the United States, involve the interaction of two or more copyright jurisdictions. Generally, the policy applied on Jesus-Wiki Media is to only allows images that can be used in all (or at least most) countries. The laws of individual countries differ especially in the following points:

  • The time for which a copyright applies. In most countries, copyright expires no later than 70 years after the death of the author.
  • Status of works of the government. In many (but not all) countries, documents published by the government for official use are in the public domain.
  • Material applicable for copyright. In some jurisdictions, pictures of artistic work like architecture, sculpures, clothing etc. can not be used freely without the consent of the creator of the original artwork.

The safest way to apply international copyright law is to consider the laws of all the relevant jurisdictions and then use the most restrictive combination of laws to determine whether something is copyrighted or not. The jurisdictions that might need to be considered are:

  • The place where the work was created;
  • The place where the work is being uploaded from;
  • The place that any web server the work has been downloaded from physically is;
  • The United States.

A work is only allowed on Jesus-Wiki Media if it is either public domain in all relevant jurisdictions or if there is a free licence which applies to the work in all relevant jurisdictions.

In the case of a painting published in France please do apply US-American copyright laws as those copyright laws apply to the servers of Jesus-Wiki Media. Also apply the copyright laws of the country you are in and the copyright laws of any web server you got the work off. In the case of a French painting uploaded to Jesus-Wiki Media from a French web server by someone living in the UK three copyright jurisdictions would apply: France, UK and US. US law would mean that if the painting had not been published before 1923 it would be in copyright. British law would mean that if the painting was by an artist who had been dead for less than 70 years it would be in copyright. French law would mean that if the painting was by an artist who died for France it would be in copyright for even longer than under British law. In this case the most restrictive combination of jurisdictions would be French and US. Only if the painting was legally in the public domain in both France and the United States could it be uploaded from a French web server to Jesus-Wiki Media.

Relevant country-specific differences in the duration of copyright (from 70 years pma) and exceptions of the application of copyright are discussed on Wikimedia Commons. At the moment Jesus-Wiki Media doesn't have the time and ressources keep the necessary information up to date.


[edit] See also

[edit] Weblinks


Page source:

The contents of this page are based on the Wikimedia Commons Licensing page.

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