Let me offer a few case studies of cases in which a company has donated
images and then asked to have them deleted. In one case we successfully
kept the images, in two other cases we didn't...
Case #1: Pearson Scott Foresman (educational publishing company)
Donated: A couple thousand non-digitized original illustrations, in a
box. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:PD-ScottForesman
Situation: Three years after the donation, their lawyers sent us a DMCA
request to remove all the images. Luckily, we saved the original letter
that accompanied the box. The letter included a statement that the
donation was authorized by Pearson Scott Foresman President, Paul
McFall. We faxed the letter to their lawyers and they withdrew the DMCA
request.
Outcome: Images kept
Case #2: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Donated: All the images from their website (including advertizing
materials featuring celebrities)
Situation: A community member contacted PETA asking for permission to
license certain materials. The representative who answered the email
stated (incorrectly) that everything on the PETA website was free for
use without restriction (i.e. public domain). The email was stored in
OTRS and dozens of images from the PETA website were then transferred to
commons. Due to the high commercial value of some of the images (esp.
featuring celebrities) someone else contacted PETA asking for
clarification on the licensing terms. The 2nd representative talked to
PETA's legal department and determined that they didn't own most of the
images in question.
Outcome: Images deleted
Case #3: Cafe Magazine
Donated: Dozens of images of celebrities by posting to Flickr under a
free license
Situation: A couple community members imported the images from Flickr
and had them Flickr-reviewed. A year or so later a representative from
the Magazine asked to have them deleted. After much discussion it was
established that Cafe Magazine didn't own the images, but only licensed
them for publication. The copyrights were actually held by various
photographers and agencies.
Outcome: Images deleted
Lessons learned:
1. Having the images posted to Flickr isn't always adequate
2. Having an email in OTRS isn't always adequate
3. Don't rely on the word of the PR rep; ask for higher-level
authorization if possible
4. Save everything related to the donation (or forward to OTRS)
5. Cheesecake images of celebrities are never free
Ryan Kaldari
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