Wikipedia talk:Using JPL images

JPL copyright[edit]

Is the entire basis of the assumptions about JPL/NASA copyright faulty? CalTech is not a government facility. The present description of the situation may be a tad understated. (SEWilco 05:04, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC))

The JPL Image Policy ends with an indication that we can't know which images are JPL and which are NASA. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/policy/

"Ownership of images and video by parties other than JPL and NASA is noted in the caption material with each image."

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/about_JPL/

"Welcome to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology."

Wikipedia:California Institute of Technology

"The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university ..."

Was there ever any resolution to this issue? I saw that it was brought up on the talk page of WP:CP, but no one commented on it. Thanks. --ChrisRuvolo (t) 17:20, 21 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see what is so hard about this. I used to work at JPL, and they are fine with Wikipedia, etc, using their images, as long as credit is given as stated on the page. I don't see what is so hard about that. 22:03, 29 September 2005 (UTC)~

Nowhere in the JPL Image Use Policy does it state that JPL images are subject to some sort of blanket copyright. Any statement or implication to the contrary is pure invention. They are asking for proper attribution, which Wikipedia should supply for all images from any source as a matter of course. WolfmanSF (talk) 20:36, 17 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

WolfmanSF, you don't seem to understand copyright:

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator of intellectual wealth (e.g. the photographer of a photograph or the author of a book) to receive compensation for their work and be able to financially support themselves.

An creator of an work has the copyright to his/her works – whether the creator asserts this copyright or not. The law grants the copyright to the creator. JPL has the copyright to the work they produce. What JPL does is waive certain parts of their copyright, which is rather nice. It would be nicer if they would release their work into the Public Domain, considering that they are government funded – but unfortunately this is not the case… Tony Mach (talk) 19:24, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

JPL is a NASA center. NASA is the creator of all JPL's images, and NASA has released them into the public domain. WolfmanSF (talk) 14:46, 19 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note that in this example, of a "JPL image" on a non-JPL NASA web site, the "Creator/Photographer" is described as "NASA". Look, if this controversy is not going to be resolved by reference to what's on NASA and JPL web sites, I'll go ahead and contact someone at JPL when I have time. WolfmanSF (talk) 15:49, 19 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]