stratophile
Active Member
Hi everyone,
I'm hoping someone here can assist me with the weirdest problem I've encountered in many, many years.
Google, in its infinite wisdom, has advised me that the term "Camino de Santiago" is a copyrighted term that cannot be used by me without the express permission of its owner....
OK. That is idiotic, of course. And in Google's defense, it is a specific app reviewer at Google that has decided the term is not in the public domain. The rest of Google may or may not be in agreement. For the sake of Ivar (given his URL...) hopefully the rest of Google is a little more sensible!
But it is still causing me a huge problem. Google puts the onus on me to provide formal documentation that I have rights to the term. I'm filing an appeal with Google but I suspect that if I just say "Try searching on Google, you idiot!" it might not work.
There are hundreds of apps in Google Play with the term in their name or description. I just checked and a search in Google Books for "Camino de Santiago" returns 1,320,000 results... But neither is actual proof that I have rights to the term (maybe every other author is *wrong* and using it illegally... <sigh>).
One basis for the appeal, though, that might work is this: if I can show the term is ancient, then clearly it isn't covered by copyright. With that in mind, can anyone point me towards any authoritative historical document demonstrating usage going back hundreds of years?
Alternatively, does anyone have any suggestions on how I can demonstrate that this term is in the public domain?
Ivar: if I go down, I'm taking you with me, pal!
I'm hoping someone here can assist me with the weirdest problem I've encountered in many, many years.
Google, in its infinite wisdom, has advised me that the term "Camino de Santiago" is a copyrighted term that cannot be used by me without the express permission of its owner....
OK. That is idiotic, of course. And in Google's defense, it is a specific app reviewer at Google that has decided the term is not in the public domain. The rest of Google may or may not be in agreement. For the sake of Ivar (given his URL...) hopefully the rest of Google is a little more sensible!
But it is still causing me a huge problem. Google puts the onus on me to provide formal documentation that I have rights to the term. I'm filing an appeal with Google but I suspect that if I just say "Try searching on Google, you idiot!" it might not work.
There are hundreds of apps in Google Play with the term in their name or description. I just checked and a search in Google Books for "Camino de Santiago" returns 1,320,000 results... But neither is actual proof that I have rights to the term (maybe every other author is *wrong* and using it illegally... <sigh>).
One basis for the appeal, though, that might work is this: if I can show the term is ancient, then clearly it isn't covered by copyright. With that in mind, can anyone point me towards any authoritative historical document demonstrating usage going back hundreds of years?
Alternatively, does anyone have any suggestions on how I can demonstrate that this term is in the public domain?
Ivar: if I go down, I'm taking you with me, pal!