User talk:Jacklee/sandbox
- See also en:Wikipedia:Copyright on emblems.
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of devising, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. To most people, though, heraldry is the practice of designing, displaying, describing, and recording coats of arms and heraldic badges.
The definition and the representation are two different things, in heraldry, and the copy rights must be differenciated. (see en:Heraldry for more information).
Heraldry is a 800-years old discipline, and has a long history of legal cases.
The short version is: don't upload on commons CoA from international civic heraldry (or from any site, most of the time). The explanation is ... somehow longer, sorry:
So, CoA found on Commons may be (1) reproductions of PD-old artworks, (2) recent artwork with a clear "free" licence, (3) self-made reproductions. The rest should be deleted (and eventually will be). Now, if you hurry to make a .svg version inspired of a to-be-deleted CoA, it's OK: there is no "derivative rights" involved with coats of arms, this is what is meant by "CoA are public domain": the blazoning (description) is PD, indeed, but not a specific drawn representation.
- Coats of arms may (afaik) be uploaded on en:, under the fair use clause. But this is commons, not en:, and fair use is not accepted on commons.
Definition and representation[edit]
Strictly speaking, a coat of arms is a distinctive design painted on a shield. However, the term is also broadly applied to the heraldic achievement which consists of the shield together with certain accessories. Such displays are also commonly called armorial bearings, armorial devices, heraldic devices, or simply arms. The design of a coat of arms is unique to a person, family, corporation, or state.
Two very different things are involved in a coat of arms:
- Blazon: The blazon of a coat of arms is a formal definition or description of it, from which a reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. For example, the blazon of the royal coat of arms of England shown on the right is "Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or armed and langued Azure".
- Representation: The representation of a coat of arms is a picture of it, such as the one on the right. In heraldics, there is no such thing as an "official" representation of a coat of arms. Any drawing that corresponds to the blazon is an accurate representation of the arms, as long as an officer of arms can recognize it.
Copyright status of a blazon[edit]
The blazon of a coat of arms will not be copyrighted if one or more of the following applies:
- Concepts, ideas and procedures not copyrightable. A blazon may amount to nothing more than a concept, idea or procedure for creating a visual device. The laws of many countries do not confer copyright protection to such things. Under US law, for example, copyright protection does not extend to "any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery".[1] Similarly, article 2 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty states that "[c]opyright protection extends to expressions and not to ideas, procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts as such".[2]
- Copyright has expired. Many coats of arms date back centuries, and therefore their blazons are very old. Therefore, even if the blazons were copyrightable in the first place, the copyrights in them have expired.
- Government works are in the public domain. The blazons of coats of arms are sometimes set out in official government publications. In some countries, works created by or at the direction of the government are in the public domain. Thus, blazons appearing in government publications of such countries will be in the public domain. The US Copyright Office applies such a rule to "[e]dicts of government, such as judicial opinions, administrative rulings, legislative enactments, public ordinances, and similar official legal documents ... whether they are Federal, State, or local as well as ... those of foreign governments".[3] Furthermore, the copyright laws of some countries specifically exempt national emblems from copyright. This is the case, for instance, in the successor countries of the USSR.[4]
If one or more of the foregoing situations applies to a particular blazon, its wording may be reproduced in full in the Wikimedia Commons. In addition, an artist who creates a visual representation of a coat of arms from a blazon does not breach any copyright in the blazon. The artist holds the copyright to his or her representation of the coat of arms, and may freely license it to the Commons.
Country-specific laws[edit]
Germany[edit]
The Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act) of Germany, §5(1), exempts laws, edicts, and similar official publications from copyright. Therefore, blazons and pictorial representations of coats of arms that appear in such official publications are not copyrighted and may be freely reproduced.
On the other hand, emblems of official bodies or sub-national entities not defined in such official publications may be copyrighted. They do not fall under article 5(2) of the Urheberrechtsgesetz as "other governmental publications" exempted from copyright.[5] However, the official coats of arms of corporations governed by public law such as states and municipalities are required to be published in an Amtsblatt, which is an official publication. Once this is done, they become free of copyright under §5(1). This is the legal basis for the template {{PD-Coa-Germany}}.
Copyright status of a representation[edit]
Saying that the CoA definition is public domain does not mean that a given representation is, nor that derivative works are not possible. Generally speaking, the author's right on a CoA is attached to the artist that draws a given representation, not to the CoA definition (the blazoning). Therefore, a CoA can be freely drawn after a model (without involving derivative rights), but a given picture "found on the internet" cannot be uploaded: it must be redrawn.
Indeed, if someone makes a .svg translation of a .jpg original drawing, it is a copyvio - but not a "derivative work", since there has been no artistic creativity.
The main problem with CoA is not to upload private (copyrighted) images "found on the net", but CoA drawn afresh are OK. As soon as the change in the drawing is substantial enough, so that the original picture can't be identified, it is a derivative of the "Per fess argent and vert, a dragon passant gules" PD-definition, not of the CC-Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg representation.
- The coats of arms on international civic heraldry (like most other sites) cannot be used on commons, because the drawings are (most of the time) made by a recent artist who owns the copyright on that specific picture.
- The only "public domain" CoA in such database would be those who are obviously scanned from very old publications - that is almost impossible to identify (but if you find such CoA, go ahead and upload it under a {{PD-old}} template).
- Images from International Civic Heraldry (http://www.ngw.nl/) fall into two categories:
- Those images drawn by the webmaster himself. These can be uploaded here using the {{Ngw}} template. Note: These are only Dutch coat of arms.
- Those images which come from other sources. These are only ok to upload if they are free for some other reason such as PD-old (see above) or due to local legislation (e.g. PD-Coa-Germany). If free these can be uploaded here using the appropriate licence and the {{Ngw2}} template (see Commons:Deletion requests/Template:Ngw2 for developments).
Non-copyright legal restrictions[edit]
Like a trademark, a coat of arms represents its owner and cannot be used for any purpose:
- It cannot be appropriated by someone else.
- Its use in a defamative context may cause a prejudice to its owner, who can ask for reparation.
The respect of such legal restrictions is under the responsibility of the picture's user.
The existence of such legal restriction is not considered as a restriction on the licence terms, since the licence itself is "as free as possible", and whatever the licence terms, it cannot be interpreted as allowing an illegal or prejudicial usage. Such legal restriction is therefore admitted on Commons.
Notes[edit]
- ↑ 17 U.S.C. 102(b). According to the United States Copyright Office's Compendium of Office Practices II: "Copyright protection does not extend to ideas, processes, or systems. ... The following are not protectible by copyright and do not offer a basis for copyright registration: 1) ideas or procedures for doing, making, or building things ... or 5) any other concept, process, method of operation, or plan of action.": section 510.03 of the (1984–) Compendium II: Compendium of Copyright Office Practices: Under the Copyright Law which became Fully Effective on January 1, 1978, including Title 17 of the United States Code and Amendments thereto, Washington, D.C.: Copyright Office, Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. OCLC: 22556448.
- ↑ WIPO Copyright Treaty, article 2.
- ↑ Section 206.01 of the (1984–) Compendium II: Compendium of Copyright Office Practices: Under the Copyright Law which became Fully Effective on January 1, 1978, including Title 17 of the United States Code and Amendments thereto, Washington, D.C.: Copyright Office, Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. OCLC: 22556448.
- ↑ See, e.g., the copyright law of Russia (2004), article 8; and the copyright law of Lithuania (2003), article 5 (accessed 26 June 2006).
- ↑ {{cite book|author=Thomas Dreier|coauthors=Gernot Schulze|title=Urheberrechtsgesetz: Urheberrechtswahrnehmungsgesetz, Kunsturhebergesetz: Kommentar [Copyright Act: Copyright Administration Act, Art Copyright Act: Commentary]|location=Munich|publisher=C.H. Beck|year=2004|page=132|isbn=9783406512605|language=German.