Category talk:Rider-Waite tarot deck

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License for deck[edit]

U.S. Games claims copyright on the original cards in both the U.S. and European Union until the end of 2012. This cards now is public domain, and need international access to it. Please, restore deleted deck. --Wikiedit2012a (talk) 10:55, 30 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Please take your request to Commons:Undeletion requests so we can discuss it. Magog the Ogre (talk) 17:27, 30 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
March 2012 is not the "end of 2012"! Any copyright claim to the original uncolorized versions of the cards in the United States is more than dubious, but they were deleted because the U.S. was not the country of origin... AnonMoos (talk) 02:30, 31 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Wikiedit2012 appears to have misspoken; the link provided specifies 2012 in general, meaning the beginning of 2012. In fact, it is a very well written text, and normally I would take it at face value, but my reading of work for hire in the EU is that the copyright duration still lasts for 70 years after the death of the natural author. Why US Games would have misread that is a mystery to me, but apparently they're also misreading US copyright law to apply to works published before 1923 (although the issue is complex enough that even the 9th circuit of appeals read a work possibly published before 1923 to be copyrighted[1], although this doesn't appear to apply here). Of course IINAL so I could be wrong - the question is do I trust what a well written text says (but may have overlooked) or do I trust English Wikipedia? Neither wholly inspires confidence. In any case, as you can see, the issue is considerably more complex than it appears on the surface; that's why I recommended taking it to undeletion so we can have a full discussion. Magog the Ogre (talk) 13:57, 31 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Undeletion request is closed, but in my opinion inaccurate. This was a _work for hire_ commissioned by Waite, so it's his death that counts (so to speak), not Smith's. Supposedly US Games is in agreement here. See, for instance: http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/faq.htm#usgamesclaim The point is: as of Jan 1, 2013, these images are public domain worldwide, so they *should* be restored to Wikimedia.

If you'd read what I wrote in that undeletion request (is anybody reading what I wrote?!), works for hire in the EU are copyrighted for 70 ges ears after the death of the natural author, not the person who commissioned the work, even with a work for hire. Magog the Ogre (talk) (contribs) 02:12, 7 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
It seems that's true only after several retroactive changes to copyright laws (as opposed to the laws that were in effect in the UK in 1909 and for decades thereafter)... AnonMoos (talk) 02:27, 7 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
AFAIK, all changes to UK copyright law have been retroactive, at very least for works that haven't fallen into the public domain, which this work wouldn't have until 2013 under the old laws. Magog the Ogre (talk) (contribs) 02:37, 7 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Apologies, Ogre, for not reading your prior output, but link above supposedly to same does not in fact lead to it. This one works better: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Undeletion_requests/Archive/2012-04
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