Wikipedia:Media copyright questions

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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:Image 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 the GFDL, an acceptable Creative Commons 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.; {{GFDL-self}}), 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 Save page.
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Note for those replying to posted questions

If a question clearly does not belong on this page, reply to it using the template {{mcq-wrong}} and, if possible, leave a note on the poster's talk page. For copyright issues relevant to Commons where questions arising cannot be answered locally, questions may be directed to Commons:Commons:Village pump/Copyright.



File:Godhra Train Burning Image.jpg[edit]

The image is taken from a committee report placed before a state legislature which would typically make it PD. However, the report itself sources the image to a person -- Minaxi Devi and in addition, the report uses images and clippings from newspapers too. Given the circumstances, would this image be considered PD as the tag suggests? —SpacemanSpiff 08:50, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

I think you will find that the images used in the report are used under the fair-use principle. We have a non-free policy which is much stricter than the legal understanding of fair-use. You cannot assume that just because an image was used in a regional government report that is is in the public domain nor can you asume that the Indian government copyright act you quote from applies in this case because I doubt this regional report was laid in from of the Indian Parliament as quoted. Do you have some verification of that? However more importantly, as you even state, on page 135 of the report they attribute the photographs to Witness Minaxidevi (W-1008), so she owns the copyright and we need her permission to use them; the local government does not own the copyright and is not the author of the image. It might be possible to use it as a non-free image if no other image is available and if it is invaluable to the reader's understand of the article, but it must then comply with all 10 non-free media policy guidelines. For each such use it must have a fully completed fair-use rationale. The image File:Inside view of S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express which was burnt at Godhra on 27 February 2002.jpg may have the same problem but we don't even know who took those photos. ww2censor (talk) 22:41, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
Well, I took the current tag at face value reg the report being in PD as I was more focused on the image itself as it's unlikely that the copyright of the various images used transferred to the creators of the report. I'll alert someone from that image use area to this discussion to see if they want to add a FUR. —SpacemanSpiff 13:03, 8 September 2015 (UTC)

Public domain? Fair use? Or forget it?[edit]

I'm writing an article about a newspaper that was published in the 1940s. It was originally a POW paper, published under the direction and control of the US military and distributed to German prisoners in POW camps in the U.S. It was a propaganda tool to re-educate the prisoners and encourage them to adopt democratic ideals. After the war it continued to be published in Germany for a brief time.

I would expect that the issues published in the U.S. during the war would be in the public domain as works of the U.S. Government. Archives of them are apparently held in the National Archives. this website has uploaded a scan of one issue. My inclination is that I should be ok uploading that to Commons as pd-us and using it in the article.

The German Wikipedia article on the same newspaper has an image of the masthead of the post-war version of the paper. It is tagged there as being public domain because of not being creative enough to be copyrighted. However, there's a big scary box saying not to upload it to Commons. They seem to have nabbed the image from this website. My inclination here is agree with them and transfer it to Commons and use it in the article as well.

Another thing about the post-war one; I believe (but my sources aren't entierly clear) that the US military continued to exercise some control over even the post-war version of the paper. They seem to have fired Andersch. So perhaps even the post war version would be PD-US? I'm not sure.

That said, I'd be far more comfortable if they were older and I could use a pd-old reasoning. I'd like to get a second opinion. Am I ok using these two images as public domain images in that article? If not, I'm pretty sure I can craft a fair use argument for one, but it probably wouldn't fly to use both. What do other people who are more well-versed in copyright think? ~ ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving 17:49, 4 September 2015 (UTC)

Anyone? ~ ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving 16:40, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
I'll check this one shortly. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 17:06, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
OK. PD-US on Commons does not apply; these images and works are too recent. PD-USGov would presumably apply if Andersch was a government employee and not a contractor. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 18:41, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
Ooops, I meant PD-USGov. Prisoners were paid for their work in POW camps, including on the paper, but I'm not sure one would consider them either an employee or a contractor. Like I said, the post-war situation is a little more murky. At any rate, thank you for the feedback, I'll go ahead and upload them as PD-USGov. ~ ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving 19:26, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
1. About the scan of the page at smallstatebighistory, the catalog entry of the National Archives for this publication does not help, as it merely has what looks like a boilerplate warning that researchers should evaluate the copyright situation themselves. The paper says that it is edited and prepared by German prisoners of war. It would seem difficult to say that Germans soldiers during World War II were regular employees of the government of the United States. Or that their presence in the prisoners camps was the result of a freely consented contractual arrangement. There might be the possibility of C:Template:PD-US-no notice, if you have a way of checking the whole issue and looking if it had a copyright notice.
2. The warning box with de:Datei:DerRuf Titelkopf.JPG does not forbid upload to commons. It is a reminder to review the file individually to determine if it can be uploaded to Commons. That file is the sort of image that would normally be accepted on Commons with the tag C:Template:PD-text or the tag C:Template:PD-ineligible. You can compare with some images in the C:Category:Newspaper logos. For more details, you can see also C:Commons:Threshold of originality.
For more opinions, you can also ask at C:Commons:Village pump/Copyright‎. -- Asclepias (talk) 20:35, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
I should probably add a caveat that I was operating under the assumption that Andersch would be the copyright holder. If the prisoners would hold it, my previous analysis is only half true.Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 21:42, 9 September 2015 (UTC)

Remove this Tag?[edit]

"Remove this tag when you provide the information"

What does this mean? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Larryesbee (talkcontribs) 14:12, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

I assume you are referring to File:BackAnd logo 0824.tiff. Well you are required to provide the source and author information by adding a fully completed {{information}} template. as well as a copyright tag. Being a simple text logo for a US company you can add the tag {{PD-textlogo}}. Click on the template links to get information on how to fill them out. If you do that you can remove all the other prose and warnings but please make sure to provide ALL the fields for the template. Also please sign your posts by adding four tildes ~~~~ like this to your talk page and user talk page posts. ww2censor (talk) 14:46, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

Photo of Sylvia Sayer[edit]

Sylvia Sayer died in 2000. A photo in her biography article would be useful, but I can't find a free one. User:RoadRunnerCwll has sourced a photo that may be eligible, but in the discussion on his talk page we can't decide whether it would be usable or not (and if so under what licence). Could an expert please have a look at the discussion and provide some wise advice? (The "DPA" that we refer to is the Dartmoor Preservation Association of which Sayer was chairman/patron until her death, and RoadRunnerCwll has admitted his connection, here.) Thanks,  —SMALLJIM  21:14, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

I recommend that you upload a low resolution version of the photo here on Wikipedia under the terms of WP:NFCI #10. Provide as much information as you can about the origins of the photo. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 21:30, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
I've commented on the talk page linked above as well.Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 21:34, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
Thanks to both of you for those quick (and consistent) opinions! I did search the web for any other freely available photos, and looked in a few books and DPA publications too, to no avail. I'll upload a low-res copy here soon.  —SMALLJIM  21:58, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Chesham Town Crest[edit]

Hi, I took this photograph File:Chesham Town Crest 01.jpg five years ago which appears on public display on the wall of the Town Hall building. It has just been tagged for copyrigyht infringement. Whilst if I had redrawn this crest from scratch I cold understand the potential for infringing copyright but in the United Kingdom it is permitted to take photographs of the outside of public (and private) buildings. Please couls someone explain the copyright infringement in this situation, and how I can address it. Many thanks. Tmol42 (talk) 23:07, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

While your photo is freely licenced, it is a photo of a copyrighted artwork and therefore is a derivative work which needs the permission of the copyright holder of that work who, in this case, is likely the town of Chesham. Unless you can prove the crest itself is in the public domain due to age, which in the Uk would be 70+ years pma. Do you know long has the town been using this crest? Hope that help you understand why you photo has been tagged. The freedom of panorama in the UK allows photos of buildings, sculptures, monuments and other similar such 3D items but not graphic works, such as this crest. ww2censor (talk) 23:39, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
Thanks Ww2censor for the clarification. The crest was established in 1961 as a revision to a long standing earlier crest so not long enough. May I trouble you further just to test something out with you? This crest is on the front wall of a largish building. Presumably an image of the whole building showing the crest as a small feature is OK. If one gradually focusses in at some point the crest becomes the main feature of the image which I guess is where the problem of copyright kicks in. So would it be OK to have an image where the crest forms only a subsiduary part of the image which displays the major part of the building? Tmol42 (talk) 01:25, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
Yeah, 1961 is too short. You are referring to the de minimis use which is rather subjective but a ballpark figure in my thinking would be less then about 20% of the entire image. Others might consider this too much. Obviously an image showing the building or a substantial part of it and not just a wall with the crest as a small proportion. ww2censor (talk) 10:28, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
It is also a function of how prominent the copyrighted part is in the image. A photo of a road with a copyrighted street sign at the edge of the photo may be de minimis while one with the sign in the centre of the image may not be. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 10:43, 9 September 2015 (UTC)

Ageing Potion Picture[edit]

Is the picture of the ageing potion posted by hunnie bunn copyrighted? I would like to use this image. -swelsh10 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.91.5.53 (talk) 21:05, 8 September 2015 (UTC)

Please provide a link to the image in question otherwise we can't help you. ww2censor (talk) 10:30, 9 September 2015 (UTC)

Moving pictures to Commons[edit]

How can I get the following pictures, that have been tagged for such, moved to Commons ( Category:Shelby Gem Factory ). Thanks. --Doug Coldwell (talk) 10:31, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Just follow the links as displayed in the commons move notice for instructions. The most useful way being to use the Commons helper tool but before you do that those images require a fully completed {{information}} template (click on the link to see how t use it) listing all the details otherwise they may be deleted over there for lack of detail. ww2censor (talk) 10:54, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Will this image be deleted?[edit]

Will this image of Nic Naitanui found at http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/player-profile/nic-naitanui be deleted? Catmando999 Check out his talk page! 10:26, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

  • Is it copyrighted? Yes. It is under a free license? No, the site's terms of use forbid redistribution. Could it be fair use? No, he's alive so a free photo of him could be made. Is it therefore allowed on Wikipedia? No. Will it therefore be deleted? Yes. BethNaught (talk) 10:34, 11 September 2015 (UTC)