Re: Bug#487218: games-thumbnails: unclear copyright concerns

[Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au>]

Arnoud Engelfriet <arnoud@engelfriet.net> writes:

> Miriam Ruiz wrote:
> > The games-thumbnails package is needed for GoPlay!, so that game
> > descriptions can show a snapshot of how the game looks like.
> 
> I would argue that this is a kind of 'announcement' of the game
> which is covered by quotation rights under Berne.

That may well be true, and would be a good result in this instance.
Can you cite which particular provisions in the Berne convention
you're thinking of?

> It is certainly extremely common today to show small screenshots
> when announcing, discussing or flaming a game.

Unfortunately, this (popularity of a particular practice) is no guide
as to whether it's an acceptable risk for the Debian project to take
on behalf of Debian users. So I'd advise anyone making decisions to
ignore whether or not it's "extremely common" to use works in a
particular way.

-- 
 \       "Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything |
  `\             that's even remotely true!"  -- Homer, _The Simpsons_ |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney