Image used under fair use

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Copyright status

This image is a copyrighted work and the rights of the copyright owner have probably not expired, but the image is displayed in Camera-wiki under fair use because it is believed that:

  1. the display of the picture does not harm the copyright owner's interests in any way; and
  2. it is impossible to find who the copyright owner is, so that permission cannot be asked.

For an explanation of what is considered fair use, see this Wikipedia page.

Insertion policy

The insertion of an image under fair use is strongly discouraged in Camera-wiki. It is far better to use an image in public domain or licensed under Creative Commons. If this is impossible, it is still better to use an image with explicit permission of the copyright owner.

The only images that may be inserted into Camera-wiki under fair use are those for which all the efforts made to find the copyright owner have failed. The interpretation of this is very restrictive: it does not mean that you were too busy to find or (perhaps because of language problems) unable to contact the copyright owner. It means instead that you made a concerted effort to identify the copyright owner and that this effort failed.

This situation mainly arises for catalogues or brochures published by a company that has since disappeared. Its rights may have subsequently moved along a chain of companies that is impossible to trace. (It is even possible that the company that today owns the copyrights is not aware that it does so.) Please keep in mind that a company does not fall under this category if it is still in existence or if its copyrights are currently owned by another company that is easy to identify. (An example: Tomioka became part of Yashica, which became part of Kyocera, which still exists even though it chooses not to make photographic equipment.)

Please also keep in mind that publishing companies hold rights on the advertisements inserted in the newspapers and magazines that they publish, and that the same rule should apply for them. They also apply to the distributors that hold rights to the catalogues that they publish. It is also completely forbidden to scan a reproduction, for example one that appears within a book or magazine for collectors, because this would infringe the rights of the person or company that made the reproduction.

Rights to reuse

Neither Camera-wiki nor the company hosting its website holds the copyright on the image displayed under fair use, and in no way does Camera-wiki grant you permission to re-use it. In order to re-use the image, you must make your own decision about whether doing so would be fair use. (Bear in mind that the very concept of fair use is dubious or nonexistent within the copyright law of many nations and territories.)