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Miloslav Ciz 2022-11-04 15:58:49 +01:00
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@ -36,11 +36,11 @@ There are a number of places on the internet to look for public domain works, fo
If you want to create a PD work (which you should), then generally in that work **you must not use any non-public domain work**. So, for example, you can NOT create a public domain fan fiction story about Harry Potter because Harry Potter and his universe is copyrighted. Similarly you can't just use randomly googled images in a game you created because the images are most likely copyrighted. Small and obscure exceptions (fonts, freedom of panorama, ...) to this may exist in laws but it's never good to rely on them, it's best to keep it safe and simply avoid utilizing anything non-PD within your works.
Also you can NOT rely on [fair use](fair_use.md)! Even though you could lawfully use someone else's copyrighted work under fair use, inclusion of such material would, by the fair use rules, limit what other would be able to do with your work, making it restricted and therefore not public domain.
Also **you can NOT use anything under [fair use](fair_use.md)**! Even though you could lawfully use someone else's copyrighted work under fair use, inclusion of such material would, by the fair use rules, limit what other would be able to do with your work, making it restricted and therefore not public domain. Example: you can probably write a noncommercial Harry Potter fan fiction and share it with friends on the internet because that's fair use, however this fan fiction can never be public domain because it can't e.g. be used commercially, that would no longer fall under fair use, i.e. there is a non-commercial-use-only restriction burdening your work. It doesn't even help if you get an explicit permission to use a copyrighted work in your work unless such permission grants all the right to everyone (not just your work). { I got a mascot removed from [SuperTuxKart](supertuxkart.md) by this argument, mere author's permission to use his work isn't enough to make it free as in freedom. ~drummyfish }
So you can only use your own original creations and other public domain works within your PD work. Here you should highly prefer your own creations because that is legally the safest, no one can ever challenge your right to reuse your own creation, but there is a low but considerable chance that someone else's PD work isn't actually PD or will seize to be PD by some retroactive law change. So when it only takes a small effort to e.g. photograph your own textures for a game instead of using someone else's PD textures, choose to use your own.
{ NOTE: The above is kind of arguing for reinventing wheels which goes a little bit against our philosophy or remixing and information sharing, but we are forced to do this by the system. We are forced to reinvent wheel to ensure that users of our works can't be legally bullied. ~drummyfish }
{ NOTE: The above is kind of arguing for reinventing wheels which goes a little bit against our philosophy of remixing and information sharing, but we are forced to do this by the system. We are forced to reinvent wheels to ensure that users of our works can't be legally bullied. ~drummyfish }
In cases where you DO reuse other PD works, try to minimize their number and try to make sure they belong to the actual **safe** public domain (see above). This again minimizes legal risk and additionally makes it easy to document and prove the sources.