Wikisource:News/2006-03-08/Debate over fair use on Wikisource

The long-standing question of the applicability of Fair use to Wikisource is now being publicly debated in the Scriptorium (see "Fair use & Speeches"). This discussion is tied into a larger copyright debate across the Wikimedia Foundation, and could potentially mean the deletion of such texts as the ambiguously copyrighted UN resolutions. Most works on Wikisource are generally assumed to be safe, as they are released into the public domain by age or, as in the case of public manifestos, by intent.

This debate is similar to a recent consensus on Wikisource not to accept works released under a noncommercial-only license (see "CC-NC license?" and "Noncommercial licenses prohibited"). Although the consequences of this decision were much smaller, it cast shadows on the possibility that Wikisource may host UN resolutions, as they are released under a license which prohibits commercial use.