User:Spideog/Irish copyright

Enclosed below is an e-mail I sent to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org in March, which was not answered, and which includes my e-mail correspondence in 2011 with the Irish Parliament (Oireachtas). This is followed by my e-mail correspondence with the Irish Presidency (Áras an Uachtaráin) in 2012. For privacy, I have replaced my real name with "Wikisource User O'Dea" and the name and e-mail address of my correspondents with "First Last". The actual real names and e-mail addresses were sent to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org in March. O'Dea (talk) 22:21, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Correspondence with permissions-commons@wikimedia.org (unanswered)

My e-mail to OTRS:

From: Wikisource User O'Dea
Subject: Copyright status of speeches by Irish public representatives
To: permissions-commons@wikimedia.org
Date: Sunday, March 25, 2012, 4:45 AM

Dear permissions-commons@wikimedia.org,

I enclose, below, correspondence between me and the Irish Parliament in which I sought information about the copyright status of speeches by Irish political representatives before I posted copies of such material at Wikisource. The official reply from the Parliament was very clear that such material was in the public domain.

Despite this, speeches that I posted at Wikisource were deleted some days ago without warning or discussion (see my talk page and the deleter's talk page for details, URLs below).

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/User_talk:Prosfilaes#Deletion_of_Michael_D._Higgins_speeches
http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:O%27Dea

Following my objection to the deletion of the material that I uploaded, I have been advised to forward to you a copy of my correspondence with the Irish Parliament.

In the correspondence below, the Irish word "Dáil" refers to the lower chamber of the Irish Parliament; the word "Seanad" refers to the upper chamber, the Irish Senate; and the word "Oireachtas" is the name of the Parliament itself, containing both bodies. See Wikipedia articles for further explanation, if necessary.

Should you wish to verify my correspondence independently, the person in the Communications Unit of the Irish Parliament (Oireachtas) who replied to my inquiry was First Last (first.last@oireachtas.ie).

E-mail one

From: Wikisource User O'Dea
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@oireachtas.ie
Subject: Are Oireachtas debates copyrighted?
Date: Thursday, July 28, 2011 1:29 PM

Dear Oireachtas.ie,

What is the copyright status of Dáil speeches? Can they be cited freely and completely? Are they in the public domain? Or are they copyright restricted in some way, which limits how much of a speech may be cited?

The Irish Times, for example, cites Enda Kenny's recent famous Cloyne speech in the Dáil in its entirety. If the text of that speech was posted at Wikisource.org (a sister project of Wikipedia), would that violate Irish copyright law? And if so, how can The Irish Times get away with it?

I am thinking of posting the Taoiseach's speech at Wikisource because of its significance, but I need to be clear, first, that the speech is not copyright.

Finally, is there a copyright notice published at the Oireachtas website which covers debates in the Dáil and Seanad? (I looked but found none.)

Thank you.

Wikisource User O'Dea.

This is an example of a speech cited at Wikisource: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama%27s_Condolences_for_Japan

E-mail two

From: First Last
To: Wikisource User O'Dea
Subject: Re: Are Oireachtas debates copyrighted?
Date: Friday, July 29, 2011 4:28 AM

Dear Wikisource User O'Dea,

As the Oireachtas debates are a matter of public record there is no copyright attached to them.

Regards

First Last
Houses of the Oireachtas
Communications Unit
Leinster House
Dublin 2

P: +353 1 618 3166
F: +353 1 618 4551
E-Mail: first.last@oireachtas.ie

E-mail three

From: Wikisource User O'Dea
To: First Last
Subject: Re: Are Oireachtas debates copyrighted?
Date: Saturday, July 30, 2011 7:53 PM

Thank you for the reply, First.

Is there a statement to that effect posted publicly somewhere at the Oireachtas website?

Wikisource User.

E-mail four

From: First Last
To: Wikisource User O'Dea
Subject: Re: Are Oireachtas debates copyrighted?
Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 2:40 AM

Wikisource User,

No there is no statement to that effect.

Regards

First Last
Houses of the Oireachtas
Communications Unit
Leinster House
Dublin 2

P: +353 1 618 3166
F: +353 1 618 4551
E-Mail: first.last@oireachtas.ie

Correspondence with Áras an Uachtaráin

E-mail to Áras an Uachtaráin:

From: Wikisource User O'Dea
Subject: Concerning quotation of the President's speeches.
To: xxxxxxxxx@president.ie
Date: Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 11:09 PM

Dear Sir or Madam,

I write to inquire about the copyright status of the President's speeches.

There is a website called Wikisource which is associated with the well known online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. Wikisource describes itself as "an online library of free content publications". It contains many kinds of documents, literary works, and speeches by a wide range of people, including speeches by politicians. At present, it contains a few speeches by the Taoiseach which I contributed to Wikisource (see link below [1]).

Wikisource can only accept content that is copyright free ("free content"). I wrote to the Communications Unit of the Houses of the Oireachtas last year to inquire about the copyright status of speeches by the Taoiseach (or any Oireachtas member) and was told that, "As the Oireachtas debates are a matter of public record there is no copyright attached to them." This statement cleared the way for me to make a couple of Mr. Kenny's speeches a part of the record at Wikisource.

I have taken a keen interest in the speeches of Mr. Higgins since he became President as I believe he has vital insights to convey during the present national crisis, and I placed the text of his speech "Of Public Intellectuals, Universities, and a Democratic Crisis" on Wikisource. The administrators at Wikisource have deleted the speech from the main public space of the website and have transferred the text temporarily before removing it altogether (view text here [2]).

I am told, I believe incorrectly, that speeches by an Irish president are copyrighted and therefore cannot be hosted by Wikisource.

My intention in posting the President's speech at Wikisource was to bring it to the attention of a wider audience, and I created a link to the speech within the Wikipedia encyclopaedia entry for President Higgins [3]. The latter article about him has been viewed more than 48,000 times in the past 90 days [4] and such a large audience has the potential to drive many readers to his speech at Wikisource on a continuing basis, long after initial media reports of it have died down.

In addition, I embedded active links within the text of the speech so that readers could pursue references by the President by clicking on them, such as mentions of Jürgen Habermas or allusions to such local Irish phenomena as the Irish Socialist Republican Party, which would not be familiar to international readers. These explanatory links would contribute to a deeper appreciation of the text by a wider audience.

It is permitted to place speeches by any American government figure on Wikisource because all works by the American government and its officials belong to the people, and are therefore copyright free. Thus, anything said by Barack Obama is not copyrighted, and many of his speeches are recorded at Wikisource [4].

In the same vein, all photographs taken by U.S. government employees belong to the citizens of the United States and are considered, therefore, to be free of copyright, such as photographs taken by a White House photographer [5] or any picture ever taken by NASA, a government agency owned by the people of the United States [6].

Thus, such items can be freely contributed by members of the public to the Wikimedia Commons website because there are no copyright restrictions. Wikimedia Commons is another website associated with Wikipedia where anyone can contribute copyright-free photographs. For example, a picture there of President Higgins [7] is used to illustrate the Wikipedia article about him [3].

I wish to persuade the administrators of Wikisource that remarks by an Irish President are a matter of public record and as free of copyright as remarks by the Taoiseach or by the U.S. President. If you could confirm this, it would then be legitimate for speeches by President Higgins to be reported at Wikisource without restriction, as they appear in the media.

I would be grateful if you could advise me on this question, please. Are speeches made by the President as representative of the citizens free of copyright, and freely quotable?

Yours sincerely,

"Wikisource User O'Dea."

REFERENCES:

[1] http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Enda_Kenny
[2] http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/User:Karakorak/Sandbox/Of_Public_Intellectuals
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Higgins
[4] http://stats.grok.se/en/latest90/Michael_D._Higgins
[5] http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Category:Presidents_of_the_U.S.
[6] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Barack_Obama_in_Ireland,_May_2011
[7] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Great_Images_in_NASA
[8] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_d_higgins.jpg

Reply from Áras an Uachtaráin:

From: xxxxxxxxx@president.ie
Subject: Copyright status of President Higgins' speeches
To: Wikisource User O'Dea
Date: Thursday, May 17, 2012, 9:12 AM

Dear Wikisource User O'Dea,

Many thanks for your email to Áras an Uachtaráin and apologies for the delay in response.

You are correct in assuming that the President's speeches and remarks are a matter of public record and as such are copyright free.

I appreciate the work you are doing in bringing the President's speeches to a wider audience. I am currently redeveloping the President's website so watch out for some changes next week and please do link to www.president.ie wherever possible so we can educate wider audiences about the President and his work.

Kind regards,

Xxxxx.
Communications Manager
Áras an Uachtaráin

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