Commons:Deletion requests/Professional wrestling magazines

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  • Add {{delete|reason=Fill in reason for deletion here!|subpage=Professional wrestling magazines|year=2024|month=July|day=06}} to the description page of each file.
  • Notify the uploader(s) with {{subst:idw||Professional wrestling magazines|plural}} ~~~~
  • Add {{Commons:Deletion requests/Professional wrestling magazines}} at the end of today's log.

Professional wrestling magazines

[edit]

Screengrabs of photos from professional wrestling magazines, mostly from Internet Archive, have been a problem since they started appearing on the site five years ago. The half-assed, piecemeal approach of single-file DRs has not helped. If anything, it's perhaps made the problem worse. Users see content remaining on the site and then proceed to upload further content in the same vein, with their own peculiar interpretations of copyright law as it concerns the lack of a copyright notice.

The bulk of this request focuses on the so-called "Apter mags", the family of magazines published under the corporate names G.C. London and T.V. Sports. Most if not all of their magazines published between summer 1973 and late 1977 are in the public domain due to the lack of a copyright notice. However, this content comes from later issues. The criteria justifying {{PD-US-no notice}} ≠ the criteria justifying {{PD-US-1978-89}}, yet most of these files appear to claim PD based solely on the lack of a copyright notice without acknowledgement of extenuating circumstances. I initiated a similar DR last year. The closing admin provided the following:

I found the following copyright registrations in the copyright.gov database:

  1. V2833P041 for GC London Publishing, which covers the following titles:
    1. Inside wrestling
    2. Victory sports series
    3. World boxing
    4. Wrestling superstars
    5. The Wrestler
  2. V2833P043 for TV Sports Inc / GC London Publishing
    1. KO magazine
    2. Pro wrestling

Searching the database myself, it showed that the above-listed registrations were filed and recorded in 1992, so these copyrights would be valid.

Published in the "Apter mags" with a claim of no copyright notice. Based on what I found at Internet Archive and other places online, these magazines contained copyright notices through the May 1973 cover date. The earliest issue I found without a copyright notice bore an August 1973 cover date.

Published in Wrestling Revue. This magazine was published in Canada, so {{PD-US-no notice}} simply does not apply. While I didn't spend a whole lot of time on the matter, I couldn't find anything in Canadian copyright law pertaining to material falling into the public domain due to lack of a copyright notice.

Published in Wrestling All Stars, which very clearly shows a copyright notice at the given source.

Published in GLOW, which very clearly shows a copyright notice at the given source.

Published in Championship Wrestling, which very clearly shows a copyright notice at the given source.

Published in The Ring's Wrestling Magazine, which very clearly shows a copyright notice at the given source.

Published in Wrestling Guide. COM:PCP applies, as the numerous eBay sources this uploader scrounged from are pretty much unverifiable at this point (I tried the Wayback Machine). I couldn't find this particular issue online apart from the cover. Other issues I've found online do include a copyright notice.

Published in Wrestling Sports Stars. COM:PCP also applies for the same reason, the numerous eBay sources this uploader scrounged from are pretty much unverifiable at this point (I tried the Wayback Machine). I couldn't find this particular issue online. The 1973 issue I found on Internet Archive and the 1974 issue I personally own both contain a copyright notice.

Addition to the original nomination, which I discovered while adding the Ellis photo to his Wikipedia article. Published in Wrestling Confidential. This issue is on Internet Archive and does contain a copyright notice. The only other file from this magazine I found on Commons was from 1987. That issue did not contain a copyright notice.
--RadioKAOS (talk) 08:18, 14 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hello there,
Some of these files were uploaded by myself. I did so on the basis that I believed they were in the public domain (under Template:PD-US-1978-89) because, after careful examination, the magazine the images appeared in did not have any correct copyright notice and I was not aware that their copyright was renewed at any point. I was careful not to upload from magazines which did contain valid copyright notices, such as GLOW magazine or from publishers such as JEMS, Inc.
RadioKaos has pointed out that it may be the case that G.C. London/T.V. Sports did renew their copyright on 23 October 1992, which I was previously unaware of.
Can I ask for a clarification? Does that October 1992 renewal retroactively cover their entire catalogue? Or does it only cover images from 5 years previously, ie 23 October 1987?
Template:PD-US-1978-89 states "its copyright was not subsequently registered with the U.S. Copyright Office within 5 years."
Surely this would mean that images published between 1978 and 23 October 1987 were not registered within 5 years, and thus those images are still valid for Template:PD-US-1978-89. If this is the case, I would ask that images published between 1978 and 23 October 1987 be retained. CeltBrowne (talk) 11:40, 14 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@CeltBrowne: A copyright expert will have to comment. From what I can tell, the registration requirement was within five years following the effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, which was March 1, 1989. Also, it wouldn't cover their entire catalog. The Copyright Act of 1976 took effect on January 1, 1978 and specified that any published works lacking a copyright notice to that point were PD.RadioKAOS (talk) 12:00, 14 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@RadioKAOS As per Copyright Office's Circular 3 regarding Copyright Notice:

"An omission or mistake in using a copyright notice may not have invalidated the copyright to works published between January 1, 1978 and March 1, 1989, if... The work was registered before or within five years after the publication without notice and a reasonable effort was made to add notice to all copies or phonorecords distributed in the United States after the omission was discovered"

This verbiage seems pretty clear that the registration should have been made whithin 5 years of the publication and not the effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988. Pfcab (talk) 14:05, 16 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Office's Circular 3 regarding Copyright Notice Pfcab (talk) 14:06, 16 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for that clarification. It seemed highly unlikely to me that an image published in 1980 and in the public domain could be taken back out of the public domain an entire 12 years later.
So to reinitiate, based on that information, I believe that all images published by GC London/TV Sports without a copyright notice before 23 October 1987 should be retained. CeltBrowne (talk) 20:59, 16 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Also, if what you're saying does prove to be the case, how can a publication date be determined in edge cases? I know at least in the case of the Apter mags, they mailed to subscribers via a certain class of mail in order to avoid any requirement for a circulation audit, which would have provided that date. The cover date is no indication: they often appeared on newsstands prior to that month, plus were actually produced as long as four or five months prior in order to satisfy the printer's lead time requirements.RadioKAOS (talk) 12:28, 14 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, I will not protest the deletion. I did not know about how mass deletions work at the time, and, as I got a message telling me one by one deletion is not acceptable, I felt frustrated, I stopped and forgot about it with time, as no other action has been taken. I am really sorry the situation got worse. CoffeeEngineer (talk) 16:42, 14 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@RadioKAOS: I agree that determining the exact date when this magazines were published is difficult, but as you pointed out the magazines were in cirulation before the cover date. Therefore, there would be no edge cases where an edition was published after the date indicated on it's cover date.
Furthermore, as per Copyright Office's Circular 1 regarding Copyright Basics: [1]

Under copyright law, publication is the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending. Offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of people for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display also constitutes publication.

Which means even if the magazines only began to be sold exactly on the day indicated by the cover date it would already be considered to be published before that date as they would have already been distributed to resellers. Pfcab (talk) 14:45, 16 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@RadioKAOS: OK, I'm sure you know better than I about copyright issues. Krok6kola (talk) 19:23, 22 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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