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The International Simutrans Forum

Community => Community Discussion => Topic started by: Kozuch on February 06, 2009, 12:00:32 pm

Title: Screenshots are free software too, right?
Post by: Kozuch on February 06, 2009, 12:00:32 pm
I want to post few on Wikimedia Commons...
Title: Re: Screenshots are free software too, right?
Post by: vilvoh on February 06, 2009, 12:23:06 pm
I also had some licence problems with this issue when the project was freeware, but that it's open source I think there's not problem. see these quotes from wikimedia:
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Screenshots of software that is itself not under a free license. Screenshots of software under the GPL or a similar free software license are generally considered to be OK.
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Computer screenshots are subject to the copyright of the displayed program.[1] Thus, screenshots must not be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons unless all software and data shown in them are under some free license.
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A screenshot may be published under a free license only if all the graphics shown have a free license. If, for example, all of them are in the public domain, then the screenshot is too, because there is no creative work in creating a screenshot. If a screenshot contains icons or content of non-free sites, it is not free

The whole game is under AL, which is GPL compliance, therefore I think you can upload them without any problem. You've more info about wikimedia, screenshots and licenses here (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Screenshots).

Title: Re: Screenshots are free software too, right?
Post by: Kozuch on February 06, 2009, 12:36:05 pm
Are there any good savegames or scenarios I can use for thaking the screenshot? I could take it from the web, but I do not know since when the game is free software.
Title: Re: Screenshots are free software too, right?
Post by: VS on February 06, 2009, 12:45:52 pm
IMHO screenshots should fall under fair use, but who knows. Anyway, with Simutrans you will not get into problems. :)

Savegames, scenarios... you could try to dig in old forum backup (http://archive.forum.simutrans.com), or search for Seth (Triggs) - he used to post really great saves. You may need older versions for that, though...
Title: Re: Screenshots are free software too, right?
Post by: vilvoh on February 06, 2009, 12:46:25 pm
As I understand it, now the game is OS, all content shown in screenshots is supposed to be OS. Therefore, almost any screenshot from Simutrans is free, unless it includes extra addons with copyright, which is extremly rare.

Quote from: VS – on
IMHO screenshots should fall under fair use, but who knows. Anyway, with Simutrans you will not get into problems. :)

As I see it, Actually the problem is not from Simutrans side, is from wikimedia's licensing process. It's very confusing :-\

You can get a lot of savegames from archive.forum.simutrans.com
Title: Re: Screenshots are free software too, right?
Post by: whoami on February 08, 2009, 02:15:06 pm
Note: the pak sets have their own licenses. Currently, pak64 (the standard pak set) would be valid for a screenshot as wanted here, but e.g. pak128 isn't completely freeware yet.
Title: Re: Screenshots are free software too, right?
Post by: isidoro on February 08, 2009, 05:08:01 pm
I'm not a lawyer and all this stuff gives me some headache, but I wouldn't call a screenshot "software".  Can it be executed in a computer?  Certainly not.

If I make a painting with Photoshop, is the resulting painting under the license of Photoshop?

If we all, human beings, are to be kept sane in the future, all this empty talk about copyrights are to be simplified a great deal.  Understand me, I'm talking in general, not about ST.
Title: Re: Screenshots are free software too, right?
Post by: vilvoh on February 08, 2009, 10:13:42 pm
Completly agree with isidoro, but I said, that's not a matter of Simutrans. Blame wikimedia and it's absolutly caothic license system. That was the main reason why I didn't put any screenshot in wikipedia entry. Seems you need a law degree to upload a simple screenshot. It's a torture
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