Submissions:2025/Understanding the legal basis of the English Wikipedia's fair-use policy
This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2025.
Title:
- Understanding the legal basis of the English Wikipedia's fair-use policy
Type of session:
- Lecture (15-30 min)
Session theme(s):
- Future of Wikipedia
Abstract:
Outside of copyright law, fair use ("fair dealing" in common-law countries other than the U.S.) is a concept poorly understood. Not all Wikipedians, even, are familiar with how it works, even as they may be familiar with its application to images through our non-free content policy. I myself (not a lawyer either, but I do work on a lot of law articles) was not familiar with the legal underpinnings behind some of its requirements until I began writing articles about some of the specific U.S. court cases that underlie those requirements. In this session we will explore the law of fair use in the U.S., both in statute and case law, how it affects the English Wikipedia's fair use policy and how it may in the future
Author name(s):
Wikimedia username(s):
- Daniel Case
Affiliated organization(s):
- Wikimedia-NYC
Estimated length of session
- 15-20 minutes
Will you be presenting remotely?
- I will present in-person
Okay to livestream?
- Livestreaming is okay
Previously presented?
Special requests: