Hello Keegan Thanks for the reply. Good to hear from you. I can’t speak for the CapeTown Heritage Foundation, but I popped into visit Dianne Steele from Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. She’s also a Wikipedian and she confirmed that the JHF are very happy with the plaques appearing on commons. She worked with @BobbyShabangu, who has also uploaded many of these images for Joburgbedia. She completed the form for three files (that I uploaded) indicating they are released.
The text in from the form itself is not perfect. But it should be clear enough I agree to publish the above-mentioned work under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International. I acknowledge that by doing so I grant anyone the right to use the work, even in a commercial product or otherwise, and to modify it according to their needs, provided that they abide by the terms of the license and any other applicable laws. I am aware that this agreement is not limited to Wikipedia or related sites. I am aware that the copyright holder always retains ownership of the copyright as well as the right to be attributed in accordance with the license chosen. Modifications others make to the work will not be claimed to have been made by the copyright holder. I acknowledge that I cannot withdraw this agreement, and that the content may or may not be kept permanently on a Wikimedia project. There are a number of comments on the page itself. (I sound rather shrill). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/Files_in_Category:Blue_plaques_in_Cape_Town?markasread=76881144&markasreadwiki=commonswiki#Files_in_Category:Blue_plaques_in_Cape_Town Be great to have your voice heard.. Best Derek On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 at 16:24, Keegan Leech <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for raising this Derek. > > A quick question on copyright. Does anyone know what the Johannesburg/Cape > Town Heritage Foundations would have to do to allow for pictures of the > plaques to be used on Wikimedia? Is it possible for them to release some > statement allowing for the use of these images without releasing their > copyright over the text on the plaques? I'm sure it would be relatively > easy to contact the J/CTHF and request a declaration from them. Something > posted on their websites would be fine. > > Additionally, it seems as though not all of the plaques were erected by > these two foundations, and so there may be more copyright holders here. > (E.g. this plaque seems to have been posted by the Geological Society of > South Africa > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GSSA_W4A_Siltstone.jpg > ) Can anyone can confirm who the copyright owners are? > > Unfortunately, I do believe that the text of these plaques would be > protected by copyright as artistic works (see copyright act: > https://www.saflii.org/za/legis/consol_act/ca1978133/ ). Just being > informational does not exempt them any more than it would exempt, say, a > history book. However, there are cases in which copyrighted works or > excerpts thereof, may appear on Wikipedia. So these images could > theoretically be uploaded to individual Wikipedia pages, if clearly > labelled as including copyrighted material. They should probably not be on > Commons under creative commons licenses (as many of them are) unless the > JHF or whoever the copyright holders may be have released them from > copyright. > > Regards, > Keegan > > On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 at 09:58, Derek Moore <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Dear fellow Wikipedians. > > > > This is an odd issue, and I would appreciate your advice and support. > > Blue Plaques are a wonderful way to remember South African Heritage. Now > > for some reason, a Wikipedian in Canada (I think) has initiated a big > > deletion request of Blue plaques both in Cape Town and Johannesburg. See > > > > > > > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/Files_in_Category:Blue_plaques_in_Johannesburg > > > > > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/Files_in_Category:Blue_plaques_in_Cape_Town > > > > It would be good if you could make your voices heard in the discussion > and > > contest the deletion > > > > Thanks > > > > Kind Regards > > Derek > > > > *Derek Moore* (He/Him) | Lead Consultant for Weblearning > > > > *a: *Weblearning | 21 Kew Road, Richmond, 2092 | South Africa > > *w:* www.weblearning.co.za <http://www.weblearning.co.za/> *m:* + 27 72 > > 776 > > 1001 > > *h: Mon, Thu, Fri: *8:30-5:00 (GMT+2) *Tue, Wed:* 9:00-5:00 (GMT) > > > > You may get emails from me outside of normal working hours. Please do not > > feel any pressure to respond outside of your own working pattern. > > _______________________________________________ > > WikimediaZA mailing list -- [email protected] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe, send an email to %(real_name)s-unsubscribe@%(host_name)s > > > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaZA mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe, send an email to %(real_name)s-unsubscribe@%(host_name)s > _______________________________________________ WikimediaZA mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to %(real_name)s-unsubscribe@%(host_name)s
