Wikipedia:Media copyright questions

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Blurred Lines (talk | contribs) at 05:12, 26 January 2014 (transferring the message to Non-free content review.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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    Media copyright questions
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    Welcome to the Media Copyright Questions page, a place for help with image copyrights, tagging, non-free content, and related questions. For all other questions please see Wikipedia:Questions.

    How to add a copyright tag to an existing image
    1. On the description page of the image (the one whose name starts File:), click Edit this page.
    2. From the page Wikipedia:File copyright tags, choose the appropriate tag:
      • For work you created yourself, use one of the ones listed under the heading "For image creators".
      • For a work downloaded from the internet, please understand that the vast majority of images from the internet are not appropriate for use on Wikipedia. Exceptions include images from flickr that have an acceptable license, images that are in the public domain because of their age or because they were created by the United States federal government, or images used under a claim of fair use. If you do not know what you are doing, please post a link to the image here and ask BEFORE uploading it.
      • For an image created by someone else who has licensed their image under an acceptable Creative Commons or other free license, or has released their image into the public domain, this permission must be documented. Please see Requesting copyright permission for more information.
    3. Type the name of the tag (e.g.; {{Cc-by-4.0}}), not forgetting {{ before and }} after, in the edit box on the image's description page.
    4. Remove any existing tag complaining that the image has no tag (for example, {{untagged}})
    5. Hit Publish changes.
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    Photographs digitised from paper copies of uncertain origin

    My problem arises from the following: the group to which I belong, the South Wales Geologists' Association has a number of paper photographs in its possession, the origin as well the copyright (if any exists) of which is often unclear. Some of these photographs have subsequently been digitised, e.g. in the list of group chairmen 1959-1992, p.24 of the publication GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION, SOUTH WALES GROUP - A GEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 1960-1992.

    What is the copyright situation of this type of picture ? For all intents and purposes I would consider them the property of the person who is in possession of the paper copy as long as there are no competing claims, and as such if this person then digitised the paper copy he or she would become the copyright owner of the digitised picture, or could then claim copyright in the name of the South Wales Geologists' Association.

    What I would like to know is the following : what is the stance of Wikipedia for publication of this type of image in Wikimedia Commons ? MarnixR (talk) 20:13, 12 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Digitising the copies doesn't create a new copyright, with all of these images the copyright will rest with the original photographer and if this booklet was the first publication of them then they will be in copyright until either 70 years after the death of the copyright holder or 2088 if author not known (publication plus 95 years). This is the situation under US copyright law which governs uploads to Commons. Under UK law then assuming continued lack of ownership then they will be copyright until 2063 (publication plus 70 years). Nthep (talk) 20:28, 12 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Further question: what if the paper photograph was just taken without publication in mind (e.g. from a private family photo album) ? Is it then still subject to copyright ?
    And if the original copyright holder has died, do his/her descendants have the right to relinquish the copyright to the public domain in the name of the deceased ?
    It seems rather strange that something is assumed to be under copyright for an inordinately long period (well beyond my own expected lifespan) when there's no-one alive to enforce or release the perceived copyright. MarnixR (talk) 20:55, 15 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Copyright is created at the moment of creation of the image regardless of any intention to publish or not, it's just that under US law first publication date is prime in determining how long that copyright lasts (there is a special case for unpublished images). Heirs can release items into the public domain before the expiry of the copyright. Nthep (talk) 21:13, 15 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Do these restrictions hold for all of Wikipedia, or just for Wikimedia Commons ? MarnixR (talk) 19:50, 17 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    They're copyright rules so they apply to all WMF sites. Nthep (talk) 22:01, 18 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Advice on scanned and modified map of Gottingen Cemetery

    Dear All, When I visited the town cemetery in Gottingen, Germany (the most Nobel laureates buried in one place), I picked up a free paper brochure with a map that shows the grave locations of the Nobel laureates.

    I've scanned this map and I've extensively modified the scanned image by adding the grave locations of other significant scientists who were not awarded Nobels, an index listing the scientists' names and connecting them with the numbers marking the graves, and some directions orienting the map to Gottingen town center.

    This map image will be useful for visitors to locate graves in this large cemetery. Is this image usable in Wikipedia?

    Thanks for advice, TBond (talk) 1:00, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

    The map is most likely copy-written by the town, the cemetery, or another party, so would not be usable especially if you've made derivative work of it. --AdmrBoltz 01:10, 20 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    If you draw a completely new map with the added details, not just a derivative map, then you can release that under a free licence. Or you could ask for some help from the Wikipedia:Graphics Lab/Map workshop. ww2censor (talk) 12:08, 20 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Vatican works

    While I was in Rome a while back, I went to the Vatican Museums, which has a nice exhibit (among many other things of far greater artistic worth) of the plaster models for coinage designs. Naturally, I took photographs, which I am thinking of uploading here or at Commons. I couldn't find anything specific on the copyright, though, and I saw nothing obvious here or on Commons. Vatican euro coins has had its images deleted, but that seems to be as some greater purge of euro coin images. Thoughts?--Wehwalt (talk) 22:27, 20 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    1. About the copyright situation. The original work, i.e. the design embodied into the plaster, is not free. Your own added photographic work can be free, assuming you offer it as such. The resulting image is not free, because it incorporates the non-free original work of design with your free work of photography. Some such non-free images may be used in Wikipedia, if they meet all the requirements of Wikimedia's and Wikipedia's non-free content policies. If you upload such an image, make sure you specify the informations about the original work and about its author and you clearly distinguish and specify the respective copyright statuses A) of the original design and B) of your photographic work. For those purposes, a comprehensive template such as Commons' Template:Art Photo could be useful but I don't find an equivalent template on Wikipedia. Anyway, you can aim for a similar result, for example with a combined use of the Template:Information, plus the Template:Non-free 3D art, plus a non-free use rationale for the non-free design, plus the template for the free license of your photographic work. Or any other form of explanation and combination of relevant templates, as long as the result is clear.
    2. About the non-free content policies. Yes, the non-free images of Vatican coins were removed and deleted circa May 2011 as part of broader discussions/applications of the non-free content policies on Wikipedia as applied in particular to images related to numismatics. You can see for example this edit and similar edits removing images on other pages, with, for what it's worth, the rationale "overuse of non-free content", and after being removed from the articles, the images were deleted, as in this example. Images of euro coins that currently subsist on Wikipedia are listed at Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Non-free_currency-EU_coin_national (there may also be a few more files if they do not have that template). The difficulty is determining what might be the proper number of non-free images that might constitute an acceptable sample to illustrate non-free works. You can get an idea of the discussions on this issue at this discussion from mid-2011: Wikipedia talk:Non-free content/Archive 52#RfC: Did recent currency image deletions go beyond the proper aims and objectives of the NFC image policy?. I don't know if there were substantial more recent discussions. Perhaps you could search about it.
    Concretely, about your photos of the plasters, IMO, it would be interesting to have at least one of them on Wikipedia. Make sure you find a proper context for it in an article, with text about that work and/or about the artist(s) (designer, engraver). How many of those photos might be acceptable on Wikipedia? You can try to make your own idea from the previous discussions and/or from the suggestions you will get here in this thread.
    -- Asclepias (talk) 18:48, 21 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    How do you know they are copyrighted? Apparently the Vatican Copyright law says that except if contradicted by various things, they follow Italian law, and at least some Italian government works are PD.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:23, 24 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    commons:Freedom_of_panorama#Vatican_City_.28Holy_See.29 - does follow Italian Law - so 70 years post death of creator becomes copyright free.  Ronhjones  (Talk) 00:38, 26 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Image of Living Person from Website

    I would like to use this imageof Mark C. Zauderer on his Wiki page. I've been contact with Mr. Zauderer and he says the photo was taken a long time ago and he has no way of contacting the photographer. He said he paid to have the photograph taken and he's used it for other publications and he considers himself the owner of the photo. What do I need to do at this point to get this photo accepted on his page? Would an e-mail from him suffice? Stellany (talk) 20:41, 21 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Work for hire can be a problem area unless it is clear that the ownership of the copyright by the photographer was included in the contract. Mere ownership of a photo does not confer any rights to the person possessing the photo. Mr. Zauderer could follow the procedure found at WP:CONSENT and the OTRS team may well accept his confirmation. Without knowledge as to who actually owns the copyright, which Mr. Zauderer may be able to confirm, right now we cannot be sure. It may be Mr. Zauderer, the non-contactable photographer or the heirs of the photographer if he is deceased. Good luck ww2censor (talk) 22:30, 21 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    I will relay this information to him, thanks for info.Stellany (talk) 23:38, 21 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Panoramio photos

    I want to upload a panoramio photo onto a wikipedia page. It says '© All Rights Reserved' on the photo details. Am I allowed to do it? It seems like a minefield in the world of copyright!

    Richadlam (talk) 21:17, 21 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    © All rights reserved means exactly that. The copyright owner has not given away any of his copyright so we cannot use it. We require that images are freely licenced and you can see the list of acceptable free licences here. All other licences have some restrictions we don't accept. You may also find it useful to read my image copyright information page. You could try asking the panoramio uploader if they are prepared to release the image under a licence we accept; sometime that works. Good luck. ww2censor (talk) 22:15, 21 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    2 photos in the Karen Olson article

    Both of these photographs were taken years ago by private individuals for Karen Olson, Founder of Family Promise. They were not commercial in nature--these were supporters of Family Promise who accompanied Karen to these two events and took pictures of her, for her. The photographer who took the black and white photo of Olson in NYC died 6 years ago. I believe the person who photographed Olson when she was receiving her Points of Light Award was a friend of Karen's. Karen has been in possession of these 2 photos for many years. Is it going to be possible to keep them in the article? Cakaul (talk) 21:37, 21 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Copyright belongs to the photographer or their heirs. So the permissions to be freely released has to come from them, not their subject. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 20:53, 22 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Accidentally uploaded a non-free image -- can it be deleted?

    I had an image deleted from a page by an admin with the rationale that a non-free image wasn't justified, so went looking for a free version of the same subject. I searched Google Images with the 'commercial use' filter on as instructed, and uploaded what I thought was a free image as a result: Horrible Histories cast at the 2010 British Comedy Awards.jpg .
    Unfortunately, it was only after I'd done so that I saw the metadata and realised that I'd actually uploaded a pointedly and thoroughly copyrighted image. Basically, I've accidentally stuck the project with an image that can't be used and am really sorry for the mistake, could it be speedily deleted please and thanks? Shoebox2 talk 13:30, 22 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    I assume it is File:Horrible Histories cast at the 2010 British Comedy Awards.jpg? --AdmrBoltz 13:36, 22 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    That's the one (couldn't figure out how to format a link, sorry). Thanks much for the quick response. Shoebox2 talk 13:38, 22 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    (edit conflict) I've deleted it. January (talk) 13:40, 22 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Album covers

    [1] [2] Do these U.S. covers exceed the threshold of originality? --ɴõɴəχүsƚ 12:20, 24 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    IMHO the first one does, but the second one does not. --AdmrBoltz 14:34, 24 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    File:Normandy Invasion, June 1944.jpg

    Can I use this picture for my article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.95.120.241 (talk) 12:39, 24 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes, the photo is free of copyright restrictions. --ɴõɴəχүsƚ 13:23, 24 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    From the information about this photo at the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/94505434/), it is a photo from the U.S. Maritime Commission. Therefore there are no copyright restrictions if you want to publish it inside the United States. But it is different if you want to publish it in another country. So, it depends where you want to publish your article. If you mean an article published in Wikipedia or elsewhere in the United States, it's ok. If you want to publish it outside Wikipedia in a country other than the United States, the official position of the U.S. government, which you can read at http://www.usa.gov/copyright.shtml, is that "the work may be protected under the copyright laws of other jurisdictions when used in these jurisdictions. The U.S. government may assert copyright outside of the United States for U.S. government works." -- Asclepias (talk) 14:37, 24 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Tank man Picture

    Some people says the famous Tank man picture could not be used on Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 with "An image to illustrate an article passage about the image, if the image has its own article (in which case the image may be described and a link provided to the article about the image)" or "A photo from a press or photo agency (e.g., AP, Corbis or Getty Images), unless the photo itself is the subject of sourced commentary in the article." But like File:Soldiers Western Wall 1967.jpg could be use on Western Wall, David Rubinger and Six-Day War. So Tank man Picture could be used on Tiananmen Square protests of 1989? (I am sorry for my poor English)--KOKUYO (talk) 01:06, 26 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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