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Submissions/The legal nature of Wikipedia

This has been marked as a Withdrawn submission for Wikimania 2015 because it has been withdrawn by its submitter. The submitter is invited to consider trying again next year.

Submission no.
4020
Title of the submission

The legal nature of Wikipedia

Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop)

Presentation

Author of the submission

Marco Correa Pérez

E-mail address

marco.correa@wikimediachile.cl

Username

User:Warko

Country of origin

Chile

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)

Wikimedia Chile

Personal homepage or blog
Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

I am a wikipedian since 2006, and also a Law student interested in copyright, I decided to make a study about wikis and copyright for my under-graduate thesis, where I analyzed the legal nature of wikis and the possibility of copyright infractions within them. Then, the first chapters from this study —about the legal nature of the wikis— were transformed into an academic article published by the Revista de Chilena de Derecho y Tecnología, a Chilean Law and Technology journal of the University of Chile.[1] This paper is the base of my presentation.

As all we know, wikis are online tools that allow simultaneous collaboration from multiple users, creating an intellectual product that qualifies as a copyrighted work. However, copyright doctrine has said little in respect to the regulation of wikis, which is relevant due to its uniqueness when compared with classic literary works.

This presentation will examine the wikis, and especially Wikipedia ―due its popularity, and of course, because it is the main issue of a Wikimania conference― regarding copyright, attempting to establish the legal nature of the site.

Three main questions will be answered in the presentation:

1. Which kind of wiki is Wikipedia? I will analyze the different kinds of wiki-based sites, according to two main parameters: the openness of access, and the openness of use/edition.

2. What are the types of copyrighted work? Considering that not all the public is familiarized with the copyright doctrine, and since there are many different legislations as countries from the attendants will come, I will summarize and illustrate the different kinds of copyright works in an easy way.

3. What kind of work is Wikipedia? This is the main question, where I will compare Wikipedia with the works that have emerged from the Copyright Law, examining the similarities and differences between them, not only in a theoretical but also in a practical way. Finally, I will provide my conclusions, including a proposal of work that could fit better within the Wikipedia model.

  1. Correa Pérez, M. (2013). La naturaleza jurídica de las wikis en el derecho de autor. Revista Chilena de Derecho y Tecnología, 2(2).
Track

Legal & Free Culture

Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long)
30 minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
Yes (but it depends of the approval of my scholarship).
Slides or further information (optional)
Slides will be uploaded in Wikimedia Commons.
Special requests
None, only a computer to give the presentation.


Interested attendees

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  1. Salvador alc (talk) 04:43, 12 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  2. --Pineapples100 (talk) 20:26, 12 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Joalpe (talk) 03:18, 25 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Yakoo (talk) 23:17, 28 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
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