Disputatio:Centum Maximi Eventus Millennii Secundi

E Vicipaedia

I would consider this to be fair use on the grounds that:

1) This is not an entire article that was published in "Life" magazine. When Life did their top 100 events of the past millennium, they wrote half page-long descriptions of each of these events and what impact they had. I merely listed them. There is a general rule saying that having up to 10 percent of a copyrighted work is considered fair use, and this is much less than 10 percent of the original article.

2) This article in the Wikipedia is for educational purposes and not commercial ones.

3) While the original was written in English, this was written in Latin- a language that also not too many people understand.

4) The Life article from which this list comes is out of print.

Not only written in English, but in America, where the fair use license is a tricky thing indeed. With all the latinists we have here, I'm surprised we don't have a few more lawyers.--Ioshus (disp) 13:13, 29 Octobris 2006 (UTC)
Coming from Continental Europe, I find the "fair use" concept funny. The four reasons you give only explain why it might be permissible to use the contents that are copyrighted by Life magazine under certain circumstances. The reasons you give may of course be valid grounds in certain common law jurisdictions. But just to get you right: you do not deny that this article incorporates copyrighted content, do you? Greetings, --UV 00:00, 30 Octobris 2006 (UTC)
Two points, as I recall having been told them by an American lawyer.
1. In America, facts cannot be copyrighted: only the manner of presentation of facts can. (It may or may not be relevant that the original presentation was in English, not in Latin.)
2. Copyright is a right to earn income. (Its purpose is not, as many people think, to protect ideas.) Unless a violation of a copyright prevents the copyright holder from earning income from copyrighted material (or diminishes the potential income), a lawsuit for infringement isn't likely to succeed. So a practical question here might be: How many people are going to decide not to purchase that issue of LIFE magazine from the copyright holder because they've read a Latin text that quotes facts from it?
Not being a lawyer, I don't have an opinion on these points, except to suggest that Vicipaedia should obey the law. IacobusAmor 00:50, 14 Decembris 2006 (UTC)
Let me add: because rights can be assigned, the stated copyright holder may not be the person or corporation that has the right to (re)print the copyrighted work; nor does the copyright necessarily die with its holder. IacobusAmor 04:09, 14 Decembris 2006 (UTC)

[recensere] "39. Europei patatum excuperunt (1537)"

Forgive me, everybody, but I'm having difficulty translating this sentence. Aside from the misspelling of Europaei, what's a patatum? and what's the verb? (I don't see a verb excupio in any of my dictionaries.) What's the famous historical event? Maybe I need more coffee. Hold on; I'll brew another cup. IacobusAmor 00:50, 14 Decembris 2006 (UTC)

It looks like "Europeans receive the potato" (taking excuperunt to be exceperunt and patatum for batatam.) The original English entry appears to agree. —Myces Tiberinus 00:38, 15 Decembris 2006 (UTC)
Ah, thanks, Myces. So all three Latin words were misspelled. (No wonder I was confused!) That calls the whole translation into question. IacobusAmor 02:31, 15 Decembris 2006 (UTC)