User:Dhatfield/Copyright of images

Note: I will use US copyright as the basis of this tutorial as the Wikipedia servers are hosted in the US and therefore US copyright law is most relevant.

For many people's purposes we want to get from a fair use image to a free license image. Any attempt to go from one copyrightable form to another constitutes the creation of a derivative work and this can only be done with the permission of the copyright holder. That's right: vectorising a bitmap fair use image can only be done with the copyright holder's permission. So how to break the derivative work chain? One has to go through a non-copyrightable form. For this purpose, the following is a list of non-copyrightable things: "Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration". If you can turn your image into one of the first sets of things, we can do it, if you must use a "description, explanation or illustion", then sorry we simply cannot do this image without violating copyright.

Excerpt from "Copright Basics - circ01.pdf" available at.

What is protected by copyright?
Copyrightable works include the following categories: 1 literary works 2 musical works, including any accompanying words 3 dramatic works, including any accompanying music 4 pantomimes and choreographic works 5 pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works 6 motion pictures and other audiovisual works 7 sound recordings 8 architectural works These categories should be viewed broadly. For example, computer programs and most “compilations” may be regis­ tered as “literary works”; maps and architectural plans may be registered as “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.”

What Is Not Protected by Copyright?
Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others: • Works that have not been ixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded) • Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar sym­ bols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamen­ tation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents • Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration • Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)