Commons:Deletion requests/File:Standale, Michigan F5 damage 1956.png

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This deletion discussion is now closed. Please do not make any edits to this archive. You can read the deletion policy or ask a question at the Village pump. If the circumstances surrounding this file have changed in a notable manner, you may re-nominate this file or ask for it to be undeleted.

File:Standale, Michigan F5 damage 1956.png

[edit]

Plus a derivative image, trimmed from this one: File:Hudsonville, Michigan F5 damage 1956 (no border).png

The uploader sourced this image from a National Weather Service history page

Such sites host a mixture of content created by the US federal government (public domain) and content created by businesses and private individuals (a wide variety of free and unfree licenses). We generally rely on the captions they were published with to tell us where the photo originated.

This image was published without any attribution,[1] but because it is unlike the images usually taken by NWS staff in the course of their duties, and because I was already corresponding with the NWS researcher responsible for documenting the 1956 Michigan tornadoes for the NWS website, I asked about the origin of this one as well.

He confirmed that he has not been able to discover the origin of this image. He has a hunch that it was a private pilot who lived in the area but does not know for sure.

I have forwarded this conversation to the VRT (ticket:2024100210010644). I have separately confirmed that the pilot he named passed away in 2014.

As a photo taken in the United States prior to 1989, its copyright status rests on whether, when, and in what context it was first published.

In this particular case, there is no known publication before 2006, when the NWS published a series of articles to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the disaster.[2]

Therefore, per COM:ONUS unless anyone can provide evidence that this particular image:

  • was ineligible for copyright because it was taken by an employee of the federal government carrying out their duties OR
  • was published prior to 1989 without following copyright formalities OR
  • was published under a copyright that expired prior to 1989 OR
  • was released into the public domain or under a free license by its creator, or other rights holder

it is presumably protected by copyright that will not expire until 2077 when it will enter the public domain as an orphan work if no photographer is ever identified.

Closing admins should familiarise themselves with the evidence and discussions at this RfC when closing this request.
Rlandmann (talk) 03:25, 3 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
 Delete as the uploader of this photo onto the Commons. By the way, @Rlandmann: your dedication to this is fantastic. Keep up the good work. ChessEric (talk) 21:45, 3 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
 Delete per above. Hurricane Clyde 🌀my talk page! 02:18, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted: per discussion and the linkd RfC. --Krd 15:12, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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