I am really wondering what price Harold Thomas asked that Google was unwilling to pay (Not really seeing Google as being poor)
He
Pardon? I am willing to bet that untold number of entries had the flag on it did he expect them to run every single one past him for permission before they could even be entered?
Until this happened I was unaware that the flag had a copyright. I have often considered that the Aboriginal flag would make a better national flag than the one we already have - or should be added to the current flag (in place of the English cross thingy). I am wondering if this were ever likely to pass whether Mr Thomas would be a dick about things.
So should Google have consulted him over the mere possibility of an Aboriginal flag being used?
Should Google have offered more than the normal commercial rates as evidenced by this
Bolding mine
In my opinion the only person being disrespected here is Jessie Du and that Mr Thomas has done nothing but harm his cause.
That’s funny. I was at Google earlier and noticed that the banner was meant to celebrate Australia Day and thought that the middle O made no sense. Well originally it did and very Aussie sense too.
If the flag is suppose to represent something on a national basis and it has a copyright then all it really represents is the person holding the copyright. It’s artwork that represents Harold Thomas. Google should have edited it out and been done with it.
A Google Image search reveals that the flag image appears on hundreds of sites. It’s on the Wikipedia page (other holders of copyrighted images have requested that Wiki remove them, and these are honored.)
Because it was actually no bother to him at all? Strange that he would cling to copyright protection when istm that using the flag there, central to an Australian day link, is precisely why I would have thought he designed it. Maybe it’s ego but maybe he just had a knee-jerk “White guys trying to rip us off again!” reaction.