Monday, April 5, 2010

Differing Emblazons, and Copyrights

There is a discussion that I think well worth reading even by those who, like me, couldn't draw a straight line if their life depended on it, much less an achievement of arms.  I do however, have a decent collection of heraldic clipart, and can cobble something together that's not too bad together that way.  (I'm reminded of an exchange on an old Hudson and Landry skit:  "Can you read?"  "Nope."  "Can you write?"  "Nope.  But I can trace!")
In any case, this discussion was between the originator and someone else on Wikipedia, talking about the Greek Royal Coat of Arms (this is his version, above) and why not all depictions (emblazons) will look exactly alike, and then wandering off into related copyright law in the EEU and in the U.S. and Wikipedia and fair use issues.  The entire discussion can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Royal_Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Kingdom_of_Greece

I thought the originator did a decent job of explaining to his critic why different emblazons will not look identical, and I found the discussion of copyright, and what Wikipedia will and won't allow as "fair use" based on copyright laws, to be interesting and certainly very relevant to heraldic artists (of whom I am proud to say I know more than a few.  I just wish I were half as talented artistically as many of them).

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