Commons:Village pump/Copyright

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Arch Linux logo[edit]

The Arch Linux logo's license has not been stated. However the Arch Linux website's github repository, which has the Arch Linux logo is licensed as GPL-2 (repo here -> https://github.com/archlinux/archweb). Would this mean the logo are GPL-2. Please remember thats this is the official Arch Linux website's github repository, and the Github repository is not made by a third party. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Matr4x-404 (talk • contribs) 21:32, 9 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

File:Manipulator_reconstruction_2022.png[edit]

Moved from en:Wikipedia:Media_copyright_questions. This is image I uploaded from this paper.[1] The figure originally consisted of this illustration and two photographs. Original description is this, "Figure 13. (A) Ethological reconstruction of Manipulator modificaputis, drawn by Mr Jie Sun. (B,C) Zaprochilus australis, shared by Reiner Richter © CC BY-NC-SA 3.0" This means that two photos are CC-BY-NC-SA, however is that safe to upload other illustration? Paper itself is CC-BY-4.0. If that is not clear, I'd send it to quick deletion. Ta-tea-two-te-to (talk) 03:45, 15 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

If Jie Sun were a coauthor of the paper, then the images would be under the CC-BY-4.0. However he is only acknowledged and therefore the images' status is unclear. Ruslik (talk) 20:32, 15 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

His name is in Acknowledgments. "We thank the reviewers for their useful and informative comments. Jie Sun drew the ethological reconstruction. The micro-CT operation was undertaken by Su-Ping Wu at NIGP." Ta-tea-two-te-to (talk) 03:35, 16 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

You could trying contacting the authors of the paper and asking them to clarify the status of image. If the copyright holder sends a COM:CONSENT email to COM:VRT, then it would make it clear that it's OK for Commons. Whether it actually gets used in a Wikipedia article is another question altogether since that's not really a concern of Commons, but from a copyright standpoint it wouldn't end up being deleted from Commons. -- Marchjuly (talk) 11:40, 16 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Ok, now I sent e-mail to author, and will wait for reply and hopefully they will send COM:CONSENT. Ta-tea-two-te-to (talk) 12:25, 16 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

After consulting with User:Hemiauchenia, I came to the conclusion that this image is probably fine. Because the two photos in the description of Figure 13 clearly show the NC license on the website, it's almost obvious that the NC license applies only to photos. Most certainly, the use of NC images in a CC-BY-4.0 licensed paper caused some confusion. I haven't received a reply to the email from the author yet, but it would be better if they noticed it and made it clear. Ta-tea-two-te-to (talk) 17:14, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Yvette Vickers publicity photos copyright[edit]

Would this 1950s-1960s photo of Yvette Vickers be considered public domain? An ebay listing shows nothing printed on the back of the photo, and the original prints also show nothing on the front. This is a photo that Yvette Vickers autographed and sold at conventions, as seen here

Alternatively, this photo would be ideal, but I haven't found a picture of the back. It appears there is no copyright on the front. [2][3] Kolya Butternut (talk) 03:18, 17 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I'd say this qualifies for {{PD-US-no notice}}. De728631 (talk) 11:05, 17 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Both photos? Kolya Butternut (talk) 15:32, 17 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Pinging @De728631. — Jeff G. ツ_{please ping or talk to me} 22:57, 17 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Since we can't see the backside of the second photo, I'd rather only go with this one. In general though, such publicity photos were rarely copyrighted in the US. De728631 (talk) 14:01, 18 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Photo of Alfred Krupa: 'public domain'?[edit]

I like to use a photo of Alfred Krupa in an article about trolley suitcases (nl:Rolkoffer). This photo can be found on several places on the internet (amongst them here and here), and there I read "Krupa family archive/Public Domain" and simply "Public Domain". But is that indeed true? Can anyone tell me if I can legally upload this image to Commons? The image seems to be made in 1954 in Croatia. Erik Wannee (talk) 14:25, 18 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Photos form 1952 and later may not be in public domain. Ruslik (talk) 20:27, 19 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

It's possible, but only in very rare circumstances in Europe. Italy for example would have a shorter term for snapshot photos, maybe a couple other countries. But in most of Europe, it would be under copyright for a minimum of 70 years. And if this was a family photograph just recently made available to the public, it's probably not OK even in those countries. If it was authored by a family member, and they gave it a public domain license on Unsplash or something like it a few years ago which that first link hints at, that may also work. The question is where did the public domain status come from, though. There is a link here which gives a credit of "Krupa family archive/public domain/ Kevin Baquerizo on Unsplash" . There is a Kevin Baquerizo user on Unsplash, who gives his location as Barcelona, but this photo no longer appears among his uploads. One does wonder if he uploaded a copy to Unsplash with a public domain license once upon a time, but did not have the rights to do so (see Commons:License laundering), and it has since been taken down -- but maybe some other news sites used it under that probably-incorrect license. Or maybe the user saw "public domain" somewhere else, and thought they could upload it. So, this maybe be pretty hard without finding out exactly where the Krupa family actually made this public domain. If they did not, then there is almost no way it could be PD yet. Carl Lindberg (talk) 21:58, 19 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

OK, thanks for your comment. I think it is best not to upload the photo. The reader of the article may find the (could-be illegal) photo via the external link in the references. Erik Wannee (talk) 10:55, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Use it freely. It is from the family archive, an unknown author (family member). It has been published in many, many places now. You can contact me directly if you need formal permission (mladen.krupa@gmail.com). Gabackokorabac (talk) 05:32, 21 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Gabackokorabac: If you want to send an email directly using the COM:VRT process (they have email templates there further down the page), that might help. Carl Lindberg (talk) 01:13, 23 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

If there is a legal permission, I would be thankful and then I can add the photo to the article Rolkoffer to give the inventor some honor that he did not get during his life. Perhaps it will also be added to en:Alfred Krupa and other language versions. Erik Wannee (talk) 07:22, 23 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

You have the permission. If you wish me to write it in another form, please let me know. Gabackokorabac (talk) 07:35, 23 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

findagrave.com images[edit]

The photographer gives permission in the text of his personal webpage on the findagrave.com website. Two source links are here: File:McNaughtan Grave.jpg. I added the source that was more specific about using the photographers own images.

However, I could not find a clear statement from the findagrave.com website about license(s) for use of images found on its website, related to its many thousands of contributors/ photographers. There could be many useful images here, but what is the best way to find an appropriate license for use on Commons? Ooligan (talk) 18:16, 18 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

"Any of my photos can be copied and used by anyone." is not a valid licence. Findagrave.com licence does not appears to be compatible with Commons license. Contents on the site are subject to copyright protection with all rights reserved.T Cells^Talk 20:05, 18 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The statement "Any of my photos can be copied and used by anyone" is indeed a little too vague as it is silent on any conditions (a slight rephrasing of "Any of my photos can be copied and used by anyone for any purpose" would probably have been acceptable). However, the Findagrave.com licence is not relevant here. According to their terms of service, "3.1 Ancestry does not claim any ownership rights to Your Content, control how you choose to share Your Content within the Services, or limit how you share Your Content outside of Ancestry’s Services."[4] The point here is solely whether we think the single sentence in the user profile on findagrave is sufficient to cover our needs. From Hill To Shore (talk) 23:55, 18 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Determining if a photo of art is public domain if the artwork is public domain?[edit]

I had always understood that a simple photo reproduction of 2-D artwork (like a photo) cannot have a separate copyright from the 2-D artwork itself. But looking into this, it seems slightly more nuanced: if given special lighting or just a part of it, it seems that a photo might have a separate copyright. Is there a guide to this somewhere in Wikimedia? I have seen a bunch of 2-D pieces of art where the photographer lists it as some form of CC (or even GNU) license, but I suspect they are in the public domain as simply a reproduction of public domain 2-D art. I don't want to be changing these pages to public domain unless I check so I'm sure they are so. (If I do know for sure, I think I'd be changing a lot of images to state they are in the public domain, as I'm often going through these images to add to my slides as a professor, and can easily spent 90 seconds making an image indicate that it is public domain below it when I see it if I know the rules.) Can someone please help clarify this?

I posted on main village pump [5] and someone said I should post here. The person there noted Wikimedia generally considers it the same copyright as the work if nothing but the 2-d art, thus public domain for old art (I'm often dealing with stuff made in the 1700s or earlier so past all countries copyright limits), but some countries like the UK sometimes seem to allow "sweat of the brow" claims. I would assume there is a guide somewhere, but I don't know where. MPSchneiderLC (talk) 15:36, 19 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

On Commons we don't care what other countries than the USA claim about copyright when it comes to PD-art, see Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag. So you can upload regardless of source and it won't be deleted. The caveat is that the uploading user might be liable. If you are based in a country does grant new copyright to reproductions and you upload these to Commons, you might be breaking copyright in your country. Multichill (talk) 16:32, 19 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I would also recommend keeping any licence added by the uploader, for uses in countries where "sweat of brow" or similar claims may be relevant. A reuser can then choose whether to use the file as PD or using the licence, in the same way that one can choose between GFDL and CC-BY-SA for many files. –LPfi (talk) 09:01, 21 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

On the same note, a variant of the question at Category talk:Hagia Sophia (Istanbul) - Komnenos mosaics. -- Asclepias (talk) 12:32, 21 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

bank logo[edit]

Can I upload logo for a bank on Commons?Ziad ^{Message Me} 22:27, 19 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@زياد محمد: Hi, and welcome. Where did you find the logo? — Jeff G. ツ_{please ping or talk to me} 02:40, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Jeff G.: I find it from the bank's official website. Ziad ^{Message Me} 17:05, 20 September 2022 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ziad Mohamed (talk • contribs) 17:05, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Ziad Mohamed: Where exactly? Also, please fix your signature. — Jeff G. ツ_{please ping or talk to me} 18:22, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Copyright issue[edit]

Which is the right forum to raise copyright issues. For example, File:Fortification_of_Guwahti_during_the_wars_with_Mughal.png is tagged as own work, even as it is clear it is a scanned image from https://ir.nbu.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/1594/19/241008.pdf (p637), a PhD thesis. Chaipau (talk) 01:33, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Chaipau: Please see COM:DP in general, and in this case use {{Copyvio}}. — Jeff G. ツ_{please ping or talk to me} 02:41, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Jeff G.: thank you. The user has uploaded the image again File:Fortification of Guwahti in 1670.png. I am unsure though if it is actually licensed CC as the uploader claims. Indian PhD theses are "encouraged" to be released under a CC license (https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/, way down at the bottom). Is there a convention in commons which is followed as regards these sources? Chaipau (talk) 15:32, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Chaipau: You're welcome. Pinging @Túrelio as the deleting Admin for File:Fortification of Guwahti during the wars with Mughal.png. — Jeff G. ツ_{please ping or talk to me} 16:27, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

"Shodhganga encourages the submission of content under Creative Commons Licence Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International". Even if the author of this thesis followed the advice and he had the rights on the image, this CC license would be incompatible with Commons.--Pere prlpz (talk) 12:08, 21 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Logo review - Semantic Scholar[edit]

Does this logo meet the criteria of {{PD-Shape}}, making it eligible for hosting in Wikimedia Commons?

en:File:Semantic Scholar logo.svg

This is a trademarked logo of Semantic Scholar (Q22908627). It has been in English Wikipedia under a fair use rationale since 2021. Thanks for anyone who can review. Blue Rasberry (talk) 19:13, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

In USA it is probably below the ToO. Ruslik (talk) 20:07, 20 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Syndicated articles[edit]

Who owns the copyright on a syndicated article? Is it the first newspaper to publish the article (despite the fact they didn't write it), or the organization that wrote the syndicated article (despite the fact that they didn't publish it)? Zoozaz1 (talk) 19:51, 21 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Syndicate owns all copyright of course, which they then license to republishers. Ruslik (talk) 20:42, 21 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Ruslik0, so I would calculate copyright length for the US by the year of first publication of the article (even if it is through being licensed to a newspaper), but for renewals the syndicate itself would have to renew the work? Zoozaz1 (talk) 21:14, 21 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The copyright owner is responsible for renewals. Ruslik (talk) 20:42, 22 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Permission to upload an audio file[edit]

I wanted to upload an audio file of a historical speech of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1948 but I didn’t know that uploading audio file was restricted. Can I get the permission to upload the file. I believe it is under public domain of Pakistan and 74 years already passed after the speech. I collected the audio from a website that uploaded by a person who collected the audio from Radio Pakistan. Here is the audio file: link — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mehediabedin (talk • contribs) 02:29, 22 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

It may be in public domain in Pakistan, but still not in USA (due to the URAA restoration). Ruslik (talk) 20:47, 22 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Same file, same source and author, different release rights - which rights take precedence?[edit]

The following image, 38GpPO-OFFICIAL-20200714-0125-684.jpg, was released to Defence Imagery in two different iterations:

"RAF REGIMENT CONDUCT SPECIALIST PROTECTION TRAINING", released under the MOD News Licence which is incompatible with this site
"Best of Defence Imagery 2020", released under the Open Government Licence (OGL) which is compatible with this site

As far as I can tell, the images are otherwise identical and even share the same filename as indicated above. The question I have is which licence takes precedence, particularly since this seems to be the only such dual-licenced image I've found on Defence Imagery? Dvaderv2 (talk) 18:43, 22 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The MODNL copy has a publication date of 2021, the OGL copy has a publication date of 2022. I suppose they first published the photo under the MODNL only, and later they released it more freely under the OGL. It should be good with the OGL. -- Asclepias (talk) 20:11, 22 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thanks! Dvaderv2 (talk) 00:03, 23 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Both licenses apply -- it's an example of multi-licensing. Commons would use it via the OGL license only, of course. If the MOD license version has a higher resolution, I would only use the resolution licensed under the OGL. Carl Lindberg (talk) 01:09, 23 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Zimbabwean banknotes[edit]

According to the text of template:PD-ZW-currency and Commons:Copyright_rules_by_territory/Zimbabwe#Currency, demonetized Zimbabwean currency is public domain. However, this text relies on the 1967 Copyright Act (Section:22:1), which has been taken out of force by Article 136 of the 2004 Copyright Act (Section 22:5). I was unable to find an equivalent clause there. So while the old rules are helpful in establishing US public domain for Rhodesian currency, I am not sure they cover their current use here for the currency of post-1980 Zimbabwe. Does anyone here have any thoughts or insight on this? Felix QW (talk) 17:38, 23 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Glass sculpture in the United States[edit]

Hello,

What about File:Las Vegas, 2016 Dale Chihuly Sculpture en verre du Bellagio_(1).jpg? It is a glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly, installed on the ceiling of the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

FoP United States#Artworks and sculptures states "For artworks, even if permanently installed in public places, the U.S. copyright law has no similar exception, and any publication of an image of a copyrighted artwork thus is subject to the approval of the copyright holder of the artwork." and we have a template {{NoFoP-US}}.

It was recently nominated at FPC, and now again, so potentially future candidate for POTY or a POTD -- Basile Morin (talk) 03:44, 24 September 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]