Thanks for the update Jacob, it's appreciated! Lodewijk
2016-06-20 22:48 GMT+02:00 Jacob Rogers <[email protected]>: > Dear all, > > Unfortunately, we have some bad news to share. The Landgericht Berlin, the > German trial court in the Reiss-Engelhorn Museum (REM) of the City of > Mannheim v. Wikimedia Foundation case, has ruled in favor of REM. The > case involved a request to take down several pictures hosted on Commons as > public domain (most famously the portrait of Richard Wagner) that had > been taken by a photographer employed by the museum. The museum claimed > that the photographs taken by their photographer were copyrighted even > though they were faithful reproductions of public domain works. We argued > that the works contained no originality and not enough effort to justify > even a limited German copyright, and further that the Museum’s rules > prohibiting photography while claiming copyright on their pictures was > effectively an attempt to create new copyright in works that belong to the > public. The court held that the photos taken by the museum’s photographer > are subject to German copyright protection, similar to any mobile phone > snapshot regardless of the subject, and, therefore, are not in the public > domain in Germany. > > We think that the court reached the wrong conclusion and did not properly > consider the harm of this holding on the public domain in a world where > people experience and discover their culture online. Therefore, we plan to > appeal the case to the Kammergericht Berlin, the next - but not yet final - > level of appellate court above the Landgericht. The final level of appeal > could then be the so called “revision” at the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH), > Germany’s Supreme Court - if the Kammergericht or BGH actually allow this > kind of appeal. > > However, there is some good news as well. The case against Wikimedia > Deutschland, which was sued as part of the same case as the WMF, has been > dismissed with the court properly understanding that it cannot force WMDE > or its members to make changes to Wikimedia Commons. > > With regard to the images themselves, the WMF continues to be of the > opinion that we have the legal right to host the images on Commons for two > reasons. First, we respectfully believe that the German court erred in its > reasoning, which is why we’re appealing. And second, even if the pictures > are considered to be copyrighted in Germany, the WMF continues to stand by > our legal position that they are in the public domain in the United States, > as explained on the PD-Art page > <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:When_to_use_the_PD-Art_tag#The_U.S._case_of_Bridgeman_v._Corel_.281999.29>. > As such, we believe that the decision whether to keep the images in > question remains with the community in light of this ruling. We will > continue to support that decision, regardless of what the community chooses > to do. > > However, we would like to note that the community may want to update the > tags used on the pages for the REM images, so that users in Germany have > some warning that the trial court has ruled that they do not have > permission to use the pictures there. > > For more on this, please see the discussion on Commons > <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump/Copyright#Info_about_Reiss-Engelhorn_Museum_.28REM.29_of_the_City_of_Mannheim_v._Wikimedia_Foundation> > as well. > > Best, > Jacob > -- > > Jacob Rogers > Legal Counsel > Wikimedia Foundation > > NOTICE: This message might have confidential or legally privileged > information in it. If you have received this message by accident, please > delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the > Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal advice > to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff > members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see > our legal disclaimer > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>. > > > _______________________________________________ > Publicpolicy mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy > >
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