Ozchief
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Hello, Ozchief, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:
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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! Snottygobble 04:12, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
You need to put a copyright tag on Image:Johnhoward.jpg or it will soon be deleted. For information see Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. Once the image has an appropriate free use tag on it, I doubt anyone will have any objection to using it in article John Howard. Snottygobble 04:12, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
{{helpme} The picture that I uploaded of John Howard is from http://www.pm.gov.au It is his official portrait which I resized slightly, how do I add this image properly in terms of copyright?????
- If you took the image from the website without permission, then the copyright is almost certainly owned by the Government of Australia, so Wikipedia can't legally use it. We'll have to stay with the previous image, which doesn't look quite as good, but can be freely used because it is in the public domain.
- Your "helpme" request above didn't work because you need to put "}}" on the end; that is, two brackets instead of one. If you need any more help, you can use {{helpme}}, or if you prefer just drop me a message on my talk page. Snottygobble 04:33, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
helpme
editSnottygobble, does it help at all that the portrait is encouraged to be downloaded? How about the pictures of members and senators from the parliament site (www.aph.gov.au). Are these in teh public domain? Can they be used here?
Another question that I have had for a while concerns the pages on the official australian residences. The images used on the wikipedia pages are poor whereas those used on www.pm.gov.au and www.gg.gov.au are much better. Would we be able to use these pictures?
I am having some trouble in understanding what can and can not be used here
Thanks
- I have dropped a note on Snottygobble's talk page, so he should pay a visit here. In the mean time, you can read www.pm.gov.au's copyright notice, Wikipedia:Fair use, Wikipedia:Image copyright tags and other pages you come across. --Commander Keane 06:04, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
Copyright
editCopyright is a complicated area, and it takes a fair while for people new to the area to understand it properly.
If you click on the "Copyright" link at the bottom of the PM's website, you'll find a page with the following text:
- This work is copyright. Permission is given for fair dealing with this material as permitted under copyright legislation, including for the purposes of private study and research. Apart from those uses, no part may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Commonwealth.
This fairly clearly states the copyright situation. You need prior written permission from the Commonwealth in order to use the image.
You could write to them and ask permission, but it wouldn't be enough to get permission for Wikipedia to use the image. Wikipedia releases its encyclopaedia under a license that permits anyone to use it for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and including the right to modify the material. So we couldn't use the image you uploaded unless the Commonwealth agreed in writing to allow anyone to use it for any purpose. If the Commonwealth did agreed to release the image under those terms, then I would be allowed to modify it by giving him devil's horns and a silly moustache, and I could then sell postcards of the resulting image. I don't think they're very likely to give us permission, do you?
Similarly, the Parliament of Australia website has a copyright statement that says:
- This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. All other rights are reserved.
Again, this is incompatible with Wikipedia, which is not personal, and which permits commercial use of its encyclopaedia.
Generally, before you upload an image to Wikipedia, you need to check that it is either in the public domain (that is, there is no copyright in the image, for example because it is so old that copyright has lapsed), or that the owner permits the image to be used by anyone for any purpose.
Snottygobble 06:20, 27 March 2006 (UTC)