Commons talk:Licensing

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For discussions of specific copyright questions, please go to Commons:Village pump/Copyright. Discussions that do not relate to changes to the page Commons:Licensing may be moved, with participants notified with the template {{subst:moved to VPC|Commons talk:Licensing}}.

For old discussions, see the Archives. Recent sections with no replies for 14 days may be archived.

Other archives

Seven 2006/2007 discussions organized as subpages, ignoringincl. comments added in 2014:

• ADRM
• Review of license templates
• U.S. patents
• Ecoport copyleft
• Museums Bilder (in German)
• Explaining why Derivative Work and Commercial Use must be allowed
• Which countries' copyright laws determine copyright status?

Picture from German Postcard of 1917

I'm owning a lot of german postcards issued & published before WW1. The photographer or artist of the picture is always not noted on the card. The companies, which issued the card are mostly not existant any more. So I know the date of publication (always before the postal stamps date) but have no chance to get to the name of the author. Is it possible to upload those pictures, each self scanned. What license applies? AHE (talk) 15:26, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

If the photographer is not mentioned on the postcard (check also on the back), then the picture is anonymous, and they can be uploaded to Commons with {{PD-EU-no author disclosure}} + {{PD-US-expired}}. Yann (talk) 15:31, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

Old maps from the Japanese Imperial Land Survey

Please see Category:Maps from the Japanese Imperial Land Survey. Old topographic maps from the former Japanese Imperial Land Survey（陸地測量部） (predecessors of the current Geospatial Information Authority of Japan（国土地理院, GSI）) have already been uploaded. According to Commons:Copyright_rules_by_territory/Japan, maps before 1967 have expired copyright protection in Japan.

However, "the Survey Act"（測量法） in Japan stipulates restrictions on the use of survey result maps. On GSI website Approval Q&A Q1-11 (in Japanese), it is stated that "Providing maps on the Internet requires approval of "duplication of survey results".". Furthermore, Survey Act does not stipulate duration of survey results protection and the regulations requiring approval for maps apply to those after the enforcement (March 26, 1890) of its predecessor, "the Ordinance on Land Survey Marks"（陸地測量標条例）. -- see Approval Q&A Q1-18 (in Japanese).

I suspect these maps are not free and not available on Commons. --Peka (talk) 16:13, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

• He concerns on the article 29 of the Survey Act of Japan (in English, PDF). Uploading these maps is obvious offence on this law, but I have no idea whether we should count it, for it might fall in Commons:Non-copyright restrictions.--Kareha (枯葉) (talk) 18:17, 10 July 2023 (UTC)

Open Government Licence?

I recently uploaded File:Peter II death letter.jpg, which was tagged as having insufficient information as to copyright. The image is covered by the Open Government Licence (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/), which as far as I can tell meets all of our requirements. How do I proceed here? RoySmith (talk) 14:23, 23 July 2023 (UTC)

 Done License was fixed by AntiCompositeNumber. Yann (talk) 11:24, 8 August 2023 (UTC)

PD-simple but probably not OK

I have uploaded two logos of Premio Campiello; they are extremely simple SVG squares but the Logo Premio Campiello.png (with text logo) is considered not free. Should I delete them?

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-- Carnby (talk) 11:19, 8 August 2023 (UTC)

Old orphan works

The recently added section Commons:Licensing#Old orphan works fails to define "orphan works," nor does it link to any such definition. Pinging @Yann. - Jmabel ! talk 14:40, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

I don't know where discussion should be centalized, but I chose to post a comment in response to notice at Commons:Village_pump/Copyright#Old_orphan_works —RP88 (talk) 14:46, 22 August 2023 (UTC).

I just came here to write that too. I've continued at COM:VPC. --Rosenzweig τ 17:36, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

Orphan work is very well defined in Wikipedia. I added a link. Yann (talk) 19:26, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

See the COM:VPC discussion for why I think this does goes against Wikimedia Commons' principle of only accepting free content. --Rosenzweig τ 19:58, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

There is no need to duplicate the discussion, so I answered on COM:VPC. Yann (talk) 21:07, 22 August 2023 (UTC)