Freedom of Panorama in Europe in 2015

30 June 2015

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Images of modern buildings must remain on Wikipedia.

Absence of full Freedom of Panorama means we can't illustrate Wikipedia properly.

For more than a decade, volunteers have compiled countless facts and contributed millions of hours to build Wikipedia. Photographers have donated hundreds of thousands of photos to illustrate the articles.

The reason Wikipedia can freely depict public spaces in most of the countries in the European Union is that we enjoy full Freedom of Panorama. This is an exception to copyright that allows people to make and use photographs of public spaces without restriction, while at the same time protecting the architect's or visual artist's rights.

Now, the free use of many of these images is in danger by a proposal in the European Parliament. If the restrictive text accepted by the Legal Affairs Committee is adopted in the course of the upcoming EU legislative procedure on copyright reform, hundreds of thousands of images on Wikipedia would no longer be free and and thus would no longer belong in Wikipedia. Read more →

Contact a Member of the European Parliament

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Link: https://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/saveFoP

View from Tower Bridge, London, UK. (Original photo)

Freedom of Panorama in Europe in 2015

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