Hi Mark,

This is NOT legal advice...

You're referring to what is called the "public domain". The GNU license is specifically for software and documentation and usually not applied to other intellectual property such as photos though I suppose you could. Photos are intellectual property and are automatically protected under US Copyright Law http://www.copyright.gov/title17/ as is any other intellectual property or "work" created by an author within the US or by an American citizen. Other countries have their own laws that govern copyright. This is the long answer to your question, but relevant...

Royalty free is not free... You must pay for the use of the work. This means you pay a place like Corbis, istockphoto, or Getty Images for the use of a photo. They own the rights to the images and you do not have to pay an artist a royalty from any profits you make from your use of the images. This is the meaning behind the phrase "royalty free". It's basically a flat rate image rental service.

You're asking for creators, authors and artists to donate their work to the public domain. Your term "completely free use" means "Public Domain" and the author would retain no rights to the work whatsoever. Most people are not this generous with there creations because their creations are usually worth money and it would not make practical business sense to give away money for free. However many people do release a lot of their work into the public domain, and don't mind dedicating their work to the public domain.

There are many other licenses available to protect a work, besides the GNU, and the GNU Free Documentation license. A few years back the Creative Commons was created. They have 6 licenses available and they cover most every type of sharing of intellectual property rights covering just about any kind of work from Songs, Movies, Books, Photos, Software etc... You can view their licenses here: http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses

So, it's up to you.. If you have a lot of meteorite images you'd like to donate then by all means got for it. I have a few hundred I could probably donate, or release into the public domain as well. I'd be willing to make a large portion of images of the meteorites I've photographed available in an online gallery on the Meteorite Wiki website, or even on Meteorites USA.

In fact, I'll probably do that... Anyone that would like to donate images to this gallery contact me, I'd be happy to host them on the site and provide the server space and bandwidth for the gallery.

What a great idea! Thanks Mark!

Regards,
Eric






Mark Ford wrote:
Talking of websites:

I've always thought a library of royalty free (that is completely free
use) meteorite images would be good, often when giving a talk or writing
an article I often find I just cannot find decent photos that are truly
'free to use', you usually end up taking a pic yourself, or if it's for
a lecture just 'borrowing' the image of the net. Wouldn't it be great if
there was a legit way of using meteorite images anywhere without anyone
suing or complaining?

So those of you that have websites with nice images on them,  if any of
you don't mind anyone else using some/all your pics for any purpose, why
don't we come up with a special logo or wording phrase that can go on
your website that means 'my images are free for use'. I know there are
GNU, and other free use standards out there, but many state free for
non-commercial use with 3 page conditions etc, I'm talking about
condtion free images.

Just a thought, but whilst many images are commercially valuable which
is fine, some must surley come under the category ' I don't care who
uses them' so why not make them publically available by stating so, when
they are put online?.

Just a thought..

Mark





-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Meteorites USA
Sent: 26 November 2009 18:04
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] POLL: What Do You Want In A Meteorite
Site?UPDATE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!

Thank you all for the votes, Keep them coming everyone!

Think we can go for 100 votes so we can get a good idea of the general populaces opinion? Come on guys, you guys are meteorite junkies... Prove

it by voting. ;)

Tally so far: Total Voters: 22
---------------------------------------------
QUESTION:
What Do You Want In A Meteorite Website?
Vote Link: www.meteoriteblog.com
(Poll is located in right sidebar menu)

More Meteorite Info: General (73%, 16 Votes)
More Meteorite Photos (73%, 16 Votes)
College & University Participation (64%, 14 Votes)
More Education Related To Meteorites (59%, 13 Votes)
More Educational Outreach (50%, 11 Votes)
More Meteorite Data: Meteorite classification data (45%, 10 Votes)
More Sharing of Information (45%, 10 Votes)
More Instructional Information (45%, 10 Votes)
More Meteorite Collecting Info: i.e. How To's & DIY (41%, 9 Votes)
More Meteorite Hunting Info: i.e. How To Find Meteorites (36%, 8 Votes)
Less Commercial & More Informational (36%, 8 Votes)
Would Volunteer To Help: Time (32%, 7 Votes)
Would Volunteer: PR & Advertising (32%, 7 Votes)
Orgainzational Participation (27%, 6 Votes)
More Public Awareness (27%, 6 Votes)
More User Participation: i.e. Forums Personal Messaging (18%, 4 Votes)
More Meteorite Videos (18%, 4 Votes)
Would Volunteer To Help: Monetary Contributions (14%, 3 Votes)
Less Public Awareness (5%, 1 Votes)
More Commercial & Less Informational (0%, 0 Votes)
---------------------------------------------

This is really very helpful and this information is vital to the increase of knowledge of meteorites online.

Your participation is greatly appreciated and it only takes a minute.

Thanks guys, let's keep this going!!!

Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorite Wiki



Meteorites USA wrote:
Hi Listees & Meteorite People,

I've created a poll for gathering some very important information. This information is vital in determining the course of action and direction the Meteorite Wiki website will take. The Poll is located on

the meteorite blog website but is strictly for gathering information on the Meteorite Wiki.

What Do You Want In A Meteorite Website?
Go here to Vote: www.meteoriteblog.com
Poll is located in the sidebar of the site

1 Question, 20 Answers and percentage based results. You are more than

welcome to choose more than one answer and in fact are encouraged to do so. Choose the answers that best fit what YOU would like to see in a meteorite website.

If you have something to add please feel free to send me an email with

suggestions, opinions, gripes, or rants. ;) Questions are encouraged!

Please take part in the poll, the more information we compile the better the data will be!

Thanks in advance for your participation.

Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorite Wiki
904-236-5394
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