Re: Copyright of console illustrations
On Sat, 30 Aug 2025 18:47:39 +0200
"Andrea Pappacoda" <tachi@debian.org> wrote:
> License: public-domain
As a rule of thumb, nothing is actually public domain unless it's very old.
There are licenses that attempt to replicate public domain, but it is not
possible to simply state you release something into public domain--at least not
in EU or US.
(license vs. copyright)
> My question is: are these illustrations copyrightable? To me, it seems
> that they do not meet the threshold of originality of copyright law, as
> they just report in SVG format a physical object. There's no
> originality.
This would require a judgment call, meaning you need to make an assumption
that courts would also agree. I don't know how hard it was to build those
simple images, and that would be a factor.
Copied from: https://www.dimensions.com/legal
> Dimensions.com grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, and use drawings and models from Dimensions.com for non-commercial uses without permission from Dimensions.com. Attribution and citation, including a functional link to the source, must be provided if referenced. Blogs, news articles, and similar online writing cannot use Dimensions.com 2D drawings or 3D models without approval and attribution as outlined previously.
Assuming the remainder of the application meets DFSG, then I'd say the bar for
"non-commercial" was met as well.
> Copyright: 2021 melonDS team
I'm not finding melonDS on that page, but I also see the site does not claim
authorship or copyright. Ah, melonds made the fork ... they do not have
copyright on this file.
> I was thinking, in the debian/copyright file, of writing something like
> this:
https://salsa.debian.org/tachi/melonds/-/tree/793427e203df56edaa7f3046f92d7634998e091f/src/frontend/qt_sdl/InputConfig/resources
That directory already has a license file in it that specifies the license
applied to those files.
Files: src/frontend/qt_sdl/InputConfig/resources/*
Copyright: ToDo
License: non-commercial
We restrict the usage of our drawings and 3D models in commercial software,
but as long as it's a free and open source community project, that would be
approved. Any reference/backlink to Dimensions.com that could be provided in
the developer notes and/or credits for the project would be sufficient for use."
The question that I'm left with is- does the non-commercial mandate of these
images destroy DFSG-freeness of the package they're included in? Personally, I
don't think it passes the desert island test, but I also suspect that level of
scrutiny (clearly) violates their original intent.
It could be worth sending the email on that site a request for clarification,
or maybe even a an email authorizing free use of the image within that package,
although those conversations are an exercise in language and communication
skills more than any legal discussion.
--
Michael Lustfield
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