[WikiEN-l] Getting rid of bad fair use
Ray Saintonge
saintonge at telus.net
Sat May 20 05:09:08 UTC 2006
Justin Cormack wrote:
>If the copyright holder objects then they might sue. Whether we win
>or not, its not worth our while wasting money on cases like this. We
>are trying to make a free encyclopaedia, so paying lawyers to defend
>our right to use non free stuff is against the aims of the Foundation.
>
Anybody might sue anybody else about anything; paranoia thrives by
ignoring remote possibilities. Before there is a legal suit there would
be a DMCA takedown order. There are technical requirements about what
such an order MUST contain. As long as Wikimedia is only an ISP it must
take down the specified material, AND notify the person who uploaded
it. Until that point there are no legal expenses. That's what a safe
harbour is all about. If the uploader objects he then has an
opportunity to object to the takedown, and go to court at his own
expense if he so desires. The Foundation is not liable as long as it
acts within the safe harbour.
There _may_ be other ways in which an offended party could begin a
lawsuit, but none of them are realistic. Maybe you should make an
effort to understand what you are talking about before dreaming up any
more uninformed nightmare scenarios.
>Dont get attached to fair use. Its not part of our mission. It will all
>be gone in a few years at the latest. Dont bother defending it.
>
The wonderful thing about the mailing list is that such wild
pronouncements are not subject to our Verifiability rules.
Ec
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