Hello,
Wikimedia Commons currently insists all images to have a free license. I completely agree with this policy. However, I have a question about the license of a flag.
A flag is a sort of drawing. If I find a flag somewhere on the internet, it may not be free. If the flag is correct, and I would create another correct flag, however, it would be exactly the same, and it would be free. Legally, drawing the same flag again, pixel for pixel, would alter its license, wouldn't it?
If so, can I let an image program do this? Suppose I find a correct flag in .gif format, download it, convert it to .png. It then is a different flag with the same content. If the license of the source is unknown, what do I know about the license of the new .png?
It may be a derivative work, but the result would have been exactly the same if I would have followed the exact instructions at http://www.freewebs.com/mahabadassociation/flag.html . It confuses me: can a flag be licensed at all?
regards, Gerrit Holl.