Talk:Star of Texas (Award)

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Law Enforcement

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United States: Texas

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Copyright & Fairuse

Latest comment: 2 months ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Award criteria's are not copyrighted as they are from the Government. Please do not claim the content is copyrighted when it's not legally allowed to be copyrighted.

https://library.fvtc.edu/Citing/GovernmentWorks#:~:text=While%20a%20U.S.%20government%20work,when%20used%20in%20these%20jurisdictions. TheNathanMuir (talk) 13:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

https://gov.texas.gov/site-policies Commercial use of any reproduction of any portion of this website is strictly prohibited. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 17:44, 7 August 2024 (UTC)Reply

The argument that the content in question is copyrighted is incorrect. The policy and terms of the site clearly specify what is copyrighted, stating: "All photographs and videos are copyrighted and may not be used without permission." This indicates that text on the site, particularly when it is drawn from the law, is not subject to copyright. The text in question is almost verbatim from the law, and under U.S. law, government-created works, including laws, are public domain and cannot be copyrighted.

Key Legal Points and Case Law:

Wheaton v. Peters (1834): Established that no one can claim a copyright in laws or judicial opinions.
Banks v. Manchester (1888): Reinforced that judicial opinions, which are government-created, are public domain. This principle extends to other government works.
Title 17, Section 105 of the U.S. Code: States that "Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government." This includes federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and other official documents.
Texas Government Code Section 552.002: Defines public information, including information written, produced, collected, or maintained under law by a governmental body. This ensures that such information, including laws, is public and accessible.

Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2):

Federal law is the "supreme Law of the Land," meaning that in the absence of conflicting state laws, federal laws apply. This is supported by cases such as:
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): Affirmed federal law's supremacy over state laws.
- Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): Reinforced federal authority, highlighting federal preeminence.

The State of Texas cannot copyright public domain material, which includes the text in question. For plagiarism to occur, there must be a victim. In this case, there is none:

The State of Texas cannot be the victim, as it cannot copyright public domain content.
A government official or employee who created the work in an official capacity cannot claim copyright unless explicitly stated, which is rare.

The text on the site was sourced directly from the law, making any claim of plagiarism or copyright infringement invalid. If the content involved third-party elements such as contractor images, news organization materials, or trademarked items like "U.S. Army Branch Insignia," the situation would differ. However, in this case, the text was solely from the law, which is not copyrightable.

Cited Sources:

Website Policies: The site policies state that only photographs and videos are copyrighted: "The OOG respects the rights of intellectual property owners and will not intentionally infringe on those rights. If an intellectual property owner believes his or her rights have been infringed by the posting or sharing of intellectual property on an OOG website or social media page, please visit the" Texas.gov Site Policies.
- The policy applies to the specific page in question Star of Texas Awards.
Public Information: Texas law states that the website about the Award and Law is considered public information, meaning it is not copyrighted.
No Copyright Notices: There are no copyright notices on the specific pages in question:

Precedent set by Wikipedia from Previous Pages (Example Comparisons):

Wikipedia has set precedent that the using of exact verbiage is allowed based on many articles that show text copied VERBATIM from numerous government sites.
Military Awards: Text from awards like the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart on various government and public sites is also directly sourced from government documents, which are public domain and not flagged as plagiarism. Even though the text is copied verbatim.
- Bronze Star Medal examples:
- Purple Heart examples:

TheNathanMuir (talk) 20:37, 27 August 2024 (UTC)Reply

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