Wikipedia:Media copyright questions

Media copyright questions

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.
6. If you still have questions, go on to "How to ask a question" below.

How to ask a question

1. To ask a new question hit the "Click here to start a new discussion" link below.
2. Please sign your question by typing ~~~~ at the end.
3. Check this page for updates, or request to be notified on your talk page.
4. Don't include your email address, for your own privacy. We will respond here and cannot respond by email.

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.

Click here to start a new discussion

(For help, see Wikipedia:Purge)

rights-managed license from Getty Images Entertainment

Hi- I want to upload an image of Alex Shapiro that's been licensed from Getty Images Entertainment and didn't know how to do so since it's not through Creative Commons or in the public domain. Photographer is Tommaso Boddi. Llk.grab.bag (talk) 18:06, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

Llk.grab.bag: Sorry to not have better news but it looks like Tommaso Boddi is still alive so his work is copyright until 70 after his death. He would have to release the image under a free licence we accept for us to use such a photo. Besides which Alex Shapiro is also still alive, so a freely licenced image can be made by someone for our use. ww2censor (talk) 18:19, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

Hi Llk.grab.bag. In addition to what Ww2censor posted above, images from Getty and other commercial image rights agencies are petty much never allowed to be uploaded and used as non-free content per speedy deletion criterion F7 and item 7 of examples of unacceptable non-free image use because such a use is considered to almost always fail non-free content use criterion #2 unless the image itself (not the subject of the image) is the subject of sourced critical commentary in reliable sources. Given that Shapiro is living, any type of non-free image of them isn't, in principle, going to be allowed since it's reasonable to expect that someone could take their photo and release it under one of the free licenses OK for Wikipedia's purposes. Such a person could even be Shapiro themselves if they were to take a selfie or owns the rights to any other images taken of them by others. The person who takes a photo is pretty much considered to be the copyright holder of the photo; so, anyone who takes a photo of Shapiro is going to be considered its copyright holder unless they've transferred copyright ownerships to Shapiro. Given what's written about Shapiro in "Alex Shapiro", they probably have a pretty good understanding of image and media copyright, and might respond favorably if you were to try to contact them as explained in Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission to a request for a freely licensed image. -- Marchjuly (talk) 20:35, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for all of this guidance! I actually have purchased a license from Getty-- does that change things? If it's still not possible to use, that's fine. Llk.grab.bag (talk) 15:46, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

No, it doesn't. A license from Getty is the opposite of what we need, which is clearly-stated permission for the use and re-use of that image (including commercial exploitation, modification, etc.) under one of the Creative Commons or analogous open-source licenses which permit such use. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:10, 16 December 2024 (UTC)

Is this a sculpture or a rocket on a stand?

File:JFKRocket.JPG On that page the uploader says they took the photo and release all rights to it. But the question now is whether this is a sculpture or just a "rocket on a stand." Would freedom of panorama apply here? I know nothing about this beyond what is on the image's page. Oona Wikiwalker (talk) 21:08, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Or is it a logo?[1] This version File:JFKRocketa.png also exists. Per https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Copyright_rules_by_territory/United_States#Freedom_of_panorama I'm leaning that we can't have it. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 21:35, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

if one fails FOP, they both fail FOP. Nthep (talk) 22:59, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Yup. For context, it's from John F. Kennedy High School (Texas). Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 04:18, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Does anyone have any idea when the rocket/sculpture was put up? Felix QW (talk) 08:21, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

1963 or later. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:30, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

If it was erected before 1978 and does not bear a copyright notice, chances are it lost its copyright protection per c:Commons:Public art and copyright in the US. Felix QW (talk) 09:18, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

If this [2] has any authority, before 1978 seems unlikely. 1988 at the earliest. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 09:31, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

If this was a working rocket put on a stand, there shouldn't be any copyright. The fact that the rocket is not used anymore should not change its copyright status. Now if it is copy, it might be different, although the difference between a real and a dummy one might be too low to cross the threshold of originality. Usually small scale models have a copyright. Yann (talk) 10:04, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Discussion stalled. I moved this file to Commons. Yann (talk) 12:29, 15 December 2024 (UTC)

File:Bleach Box Set 1.png

File:Bleach Box Set 1.png was tagged for deletion due to WP:FREER (3D part). If I am not mistaken, the problem is because it is the photo of a box set (3D image) instead of being directly the cover of the box set (2D image), isn't it? That being the case, what is the difference between this and the images of music artists box sets such as File:Genesis83-98boxset.jpg, File:Genesis76-82boxset.jpg, File:The Beatles Box Set.jpg, File:RadioheadBoxSet.jpg, File:Peel.Slowly.and.See.albumcover.jpg, or File:5albumstudioset.jpg? Or is there another issue? Xexerss (talk) 04:35, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

In the case of box set art, usually the company publishing the set is the one that designed the set, and while they may be using additional copyrighted art, they still have licensing and a vested interest in the copyright of the art on the box. Even if an editor took a photo of the box and made that photo free, it would stil be a derivative work of the box art and be copyright burdened. As such, this is basically saying the box art copyright and the promotional photograph are essentially the same copyright, and thus theres no FREER option. — Masem (t) 13:08, 16 December 2024 (UTC)

@Masem: I see. Well, the box set images I uploaded were already deleted anyway, but @Iruka13 indicated to me at my talk page that they were not allowed. I decided to heed it, but now that I read this it means that there was no problem with them, right? edit: reading the user's talk page, it seems that several editors have questioned their interpretation of image usage guidelines and policies. The Bleach box set image was obtained from here. Xexerss (talk) 07:09, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

The problem with that photo is that there are essentially two copyrights involved with it: one for the box set cover art and one for the photo. This means that that it would technically be more non-free (if that makes sense) than a straight-on photo/scan of one side of the box. This might not be a big deal if the copyright holder of the box set cover art and the photo are the same, but someone could, in principle, take a similar photo and release it in under a license free enough to satisfy Wikipedia's general licensing. Even in that case, the entire file would still need to be treated as non-free since it's a photograph of someone else's copyrighted work, but the photo itself would actually be freer since it's released under a copyright license that's less encumbered by copyirght restrictions than a photo licensed as "all right reserved". This is one of the reasons that slavish-reproductions (simple/mechanical/true recreations of someone else's copyrighted work) tend to be preferred for cover art because simple 2D photos, scans or other reproductionss are typically not considered to involve enough creative input to establish a new copyright for the photo that's separate from the copyright of what's being photographed under US copyright law. I can't speak for Iruka13, but I think this is what they might've been getting at regarding with this particular photo and with the ones of the bibles discussed in the thread below.

It might help if you think of it this way: you go to the library, take a book off the shelf and photocopy one if it's pages; you might've have created something tangible, but there's pretty much no creative input involve, which means there's no copyright established for the physical photocopy you made even though whatever you photocopied could still be under its own copyright protection. If, however, you took whatever was on that page and incorporated someway into some other work in which you provided a significant degree of creative input (i.e. a WP:Derivative work), then a new copyright separate from the copyright of the original work is going to be created for your "new" work. In principle, the act of taking a photo, especially of anything with some 3D aspects to it, is considered to involve enough creativity to warrant copyright protection for the photo itself separate of whatever is being photographed. From a WP:NFCC#1, WP:NFCC#3 and WP:NFCC#8 standpoint, the typical reader of the article probably doesn't gain a significant improvement in encyclopedic understanding from seeing a 3D image of the box set compared with seeing just a 2D image of the box set's primary face to justify using the 3D photo, and any information lost from not seeing the 3D image is unlikely going to significantly affect the said reader's understanding of what's written about the box set in the article. A 3D image, even one showing the contents of the set, might look good on a website trying to sell the box set, but that's not really what Wikipedia is about or what it needs. -- Marchjuly (talk) 07:57, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

@Marchjuly I understand better now. Thank you for the thorough explanation. Xexerss (talk) 09:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Revised New Jerusalem Bible image question

Hi,

I uploaded an image to serve as the image for the Revised New Jerusalem Bible article (with the understanding that the predecessor be automatically deleted after some time for being orphaned). Soon after my uploading it and adding it, it was tagged, disputing the non-free use rationale. WP:FREER was linked to and the '3D part' was mentioned in brackets as the concern.

The text mentions that 'a photograph of a copyrighted 3D work of art will also carry the copyright of the photographer in addition to the copyright of the artist that created the work', but it links to 3D computer graphics. I assume it also applies to photographs of books (which are 3D), though.

Why are New King James Version⁽¹⁾, English Standard Version⁽²⁾, New International Version⁽³⁾ and Christian Standard Bible⁽⁴⁾ allowed photographs of their bible covers (from the publishers), but in this case it is up for deletion?

1, 2, 3, 4.

Bojo Skankins (talk) 21:04, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

@Bojo Skankins, I've removed the notice which was put on by a user who didn't seem to understand non-free use. The rationale seems fine to me. StarryGrandma (talk) 03:13, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. Bojo Skankins (talk) 12:06, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

@StarryGrandma: I find Iruka13, who tagged the file for speedy deletion, to be pretty experienced when it comes to file licensing so I don't see how their tagging of this file was being disruptive; in fact, the reason they did so does (in my opinion) have some merit and probably would've been something worth discussing at WP:FFD instead. Non-free book cover art is allowed per Wikipedia's non-free content use policy, and generally straight-on photographs of book cover are no problem because the photo itself isn't something considered to be separately eligible for copyright protection per c:COM:2D copying. The reasons straight-on photos tend to be preferred is because a photo with 3D elements adds another degree of non-freeness to the overall image due to the non-free nature of the photo since the photo is considered a WP:Derivative work, whereas with a straight-on photo avoids such concerns. There's also very little encyclopedic value added from showing the spine of the book to readers since pretty much all they need to know can be found on the cover. In this case, if the bible's publisher also took the photo uploaded by the OP, it could perhaps be argued that it's OK since the copyright holder of the photo and book cover are the same, but someone (including the uploader Bojo Skankins) could've just as easily uploaded a straight-on shot of the photo to use instead, and that's why I think Iruka13 tagged the file for speedy deletion. As for the other photos mentioned above by the OP, the fact they they exist doesn't mean they should exist, and there could be WP:FREER issues associated with them for very reason that the photos themselves are non-free. If the book covers are too simple to be eligible for copyright protection, which might be the case, than a non-free photo of them wouldn't meet FREER because anyone could take a straight-on photo that also wouldn't be eligible for copyright protection. This is one of the reasons by arguing WP:OTHERIMAGE, like the OP seems to be doing, is often not a good thing because there can be subtle differences between images that's aren't immediately apparent. So, if the reason, you blocked Iruka13 was blocked is solely based on the above and some of the other images they recently tagged for speedy deletion, then I think the block was a mistake. -- Marchjuly (talk) 18:20, 14 December 2024 (UTC)