Wikipedia:Copyrichts

The licence Wikipedia uises gies free access til wir content in the same sense as free saftware is licensed freely. This precept is kent as copyleft. That is ti sey, Wikipedia content can be copied, modifeed, an redistreibuted sae lang as the new version gies the same freedoms til ithers and acknowledges the makars o the Wikipedia airticle uised (a direct airtin back ti the airticle satisfies oor makar credit requirement). Sae Wikipedia airticles will aye stay free an can be uised by oniebodie subjeck ti certain restrictions, maistlins servin til ensure that freedom.

Ti fulfill the abuin goals, the text foond in Wikipedia is licensed ti the public unner the GNU Free Documentation Licence (GFDL). The fou text o this licence is at Wikipedia:Text o the GNU Free Documentation Licence.

Permeission is gien ti copy, distreibute an/or modifee this document unner the terms o the GNU Free Documentation Licence, Version 1.2 or onie later version published bi the Free Software Foundation; wi nae Invariant Sections, wi nae Front-Cover Texts, an wi nae Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the licence is foond in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation Licence".

Content on Wikipedia is covered bi disclamations.

The English text o the GFDL is the ae legally bindin document; the follaein owersettin is oor interpretation o the GFDL: the richts and obleigations o uisers and contreibutors.

IMPORTANT: Gin ye want to uise content frae Wikipedia, first read the Uisers' richts an obleigations section. Ye shuid then read the GNU Free Documentation Licence.

Gin ye want ti uise Wikipedia materials in yer ane beuks/airticles/wabsteids or ither publications, ye can, but ye maun follae the GFDL. Gin ye are juist duplicating the Wikipedia airticle, ye maun follae section twa o the GFDL on verbatim copyin, as discussed at Wikipedia:Verbatim copyin.

Gin ye mak a dereivative version bi chyngin or eikin content, this entails the follaeing:

• yer materials in turn hae ti be licensed under GFDL,
• ye maun acknowledge the makarship o the airticle (section 4B), an
• ye maun gie access ti the "transparent copy" o the material (section 4J). (The "transparent copy" o a Wikipedia airticle is its wiki text.)

Ye micht can partially fulfill the latter twa obleigations bi giein a conspicuous direct airtin back ti the Wikipedia airticle hosted on this wabsteid. Forbye ye maun gie access til a transparent copy o the new text. Houaniver, please mynd that the Wikimedia Foundation maks nae guarantee ti retain makarship information an a transparent copy o airticles. Sae ye are encouraged ti gie this makarship information an a transparent copy wi yer derived works.

An exemplar notice, for an airticle that uises the Wikipedia airticle Metasyntactic variable micht read as follaes:

This airticle is licensed unner the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation Licence</a>. It uises material frae the <a href="http://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metasyntactic_variable">Wikipedia article "Metasyntactic variable"</a>.

("Metasyntactic variable" an the Wikipedia URL maun o coorse be substituted accordingly.)

Or ye can distribute yer copy o "Metasyntactic variable" alang wi a copy o the GFDL (as explained in its text) an leet at least five (or aa gin there's less nor five) principal makars on the title page (or top o the document).

Aa oreiginal Wikipedia text is distributed under the GFDL. Occasionally, Wikipedia airticles micht include eimages, soonds, or text quotes uised unner the U.S. Copyricht law "fair use" doctrine. It is preferred that these be gotten unner the maist free (libre) licence (sic as the GFDL or public domain) practical. In cases whaur nae sic eimages/soonds are available richt nou, then fair uise images are acceptable (until sic time as free eimages become available).

In sic a case, the material shuid be identifeed as frae an external soorce (on the eimage description page, or history page, as appropriate). As "fair use" is specific ti the uise that ye contemplate it is best if ye describe the fair uise rationale for sic specific uise either in hidden text in the airticle or on the eimage description page. Mind that things that are fair uise for Wikipedia michtna be conseidered fair use for yer intended uise o the content in anither context.

For exemplar, gin we include an eimage under fair uise, ye must ensure that yer uise o the airticle qualifees for fair uise an aa (this michtna be the case, for exemplar, gin ye were uising a Wikipedia airticle for a commercial uise that wuid itherwise be alloued bi the GFDL an the fair uise wuidna be alloued under that commercial uise).

Wikipedia daes uise some text under licenses that can work wi the GFDL but micht need ither terms that we dinna require for oreiginal Wikipedia text (sic as includin Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts, or Back-Cover Texts). Whan uisin thir materials, ye hae til include those invariant sections word for word.

An approval process for fair uise eimages haes bin proponed at Wikipedia:Fair uise. Eimages that hae gaun thro that process cairry the tag:

Eimages an photographs, like screiven works, are subjeck ti copyricht. Somebodie ains them sauf they haev been expleicitly pit in the public domain. Eimages on the Internet maun be licensed direckly frae the copyricht hauder or a bodie able ti license on their behauf. Whiles, fair uise guidelines micht lat a photograph be uised.

Eimage description pages can be tagged wi a byordinar tag ti shaw the legal status o the eimages, as described at Wikipedia:Eimage copyricht tags. It isna clear the nou whit shoud happen whaur the same eimage haes been uploaded mair nor aince but wi different copyricht statements.

Warks produced bi employees o the Unitit States federal govrenment in the scowth o their employ is in the public domain bi statute. Houaniver, merk that, mauger popular misconception, the U.S. Federal Govrenment can awn copyrichts that's assigned tae it bi ithers. As a general rule photographs on .mil an .gov steids is public domain. Houaniver there's some notable exceptions. Check the privacy an security notice o the wabsteid. It shoud be merkit that govrenments ootwi the U.S. aften daes claim copyricht ower warks produced bi their employees (for example, Croun Copyricht in the Unitit Kinrick). Mair oot ower, maist state govrenments in the Unitit States disna place their wark intae the public domain an dis in fact awn the copyricht tae their wark. Please caw canny an check wha's aucht whit afore copyin.

The UK Office o Public Sector Information, the umwhile HMSO, haes telt us:

Croun copyright pertection in maiter setten furth lests for fifty year frae the end o the year that the maiter wis first setten furth in. Frae this [for example] maiter setten furth [fifty-ane year syne], an ony Cruwn copyricht maiter setten furth afore that date, wad be oot o copyricht nou, an can be reproduced freely ootthrou the warld. [1]

This is foondit on the eemage guidelines at IMDB, sae it specially applees tae celebrity photographs, but can applee tae other picturs. Legeetimate photographs for ordinar comes frae three differin places wi permeesion.

1. The studios, producers, magazine publisher, or media ootlat that shot the oreeginal photograph.
2. Agencies that represents the photographers that shot the photaes or the photographer themsel (the latter specially for amateur photographs)
3. Submeesions frae the celebrity themsel or a legal representative o the celebrity.

Soviet copyricht laws isna retroactive, an aw warks setten furth in the Soviet Union afore teh 27t o Mey 1973 bides unprotectit ootwi the umwhile Soviet Union.

Gaun bi the Russian copyricht law o 1993 (wikisource:Закон об авторском праве и смежных правах), the follaein items isna subject tae copyricht:

• Offeecial documents (laws, coort deceesions, ither texts o legislative, admeenistrative or judicial chairacter);
• State seembols an taikens (banners, coats o airms, orders, baunknotes an ither state seembols an taikens);
• Fowk creative warks;
• Reports aboot events an facts, o informative chairacter.

Russian copyricht expires 70 year efter the daith o the makkar.

If ye contreebute maiter tae Wikipaedia, ye thereby license it tae the public unner the GFDL (wi nae invariant sections, front-batter texts, or back-batter texts). For tae contreebute, ye therefore maun be in a poseetion tae allou this license, that means that aither

• you're aucht the copyricht tae the maiter, for instance acause ye produced it yersel, or
• you acquired the maiter frae a soorce that allous the licensin unner GFDL, for instance acause the maiter is in the public domain or is itsel setten furth unner GFDL.

In the first case, ye haud on tae the copyricht tae yer maiter. Ye can republish an relicense them later in ony whit wey ye like. Houaniver, ye can niver tak back the GFDL license for the versions ye'v pitten here: that maiter will bide unner GFDL foriver an aye. In the seicont case, if ye incorporate external GFDL maiter, as a requirement o the GFDL, ye need tae acknawledge the authorship an provide an airtin back tae the netwark location o the oreeginal copy. If the oreeginal copy required invariant sections, ye hae tae incorporate thir intae the Wikipaedia airticle; it is houiver awfu desirable tae replace GFDL texts wi invariant sections bi oreeginal content athout invariant sections whaniver possible.

If ye uise part o a copyricht wark unner "fair uiss", or if ye obtein speicial permeesion tae uise a copyricht wark frae the copyricht hauder unner the terms o wir license, ye maun merk that fact (alang wi names an dates). Wir ettle is tae be able tae freely caw aboot sae muckle o Wikipaedia's maiter as possible, sae oreeginal eemages an soond files licensed unner the GFDL or in the public domain is preferred ower copyricht media files uised unner fair uiss. See Wikipedia:Bylerplate request for permeesion for a form letter speirin a copyricht hauder tae gie us a license for tae uise their wark unner the terms o the GFDL.

Niver uise maiter that infreenges the copyricht o ithers. This coud cause legal liabeelities an seriously hurt the project. If in dout, write it yersel.

Merk that copyricht law govrens the creative expression o ideas, no the ideas or information thirsels. That is, it is perfitly legal tae read an encyclopaedia airticle or ither wark, reformulate it in yer ain wirds, an submeet it tae Wikipaedia. (See plagiarism an fair uiss for discussions o hou muckle reformulation is necessar in a general context.)

Airtin tae copyricht warks is for ordinar no a problem, sae lang as ye hae ettelt tae find oot whither or no the page ye're airtin tae disna brak anither body's copyricht. If it is, please dinna airt tae the page. Whither sicna airtin is contreebutor infreengement is bein threapit ower in the coorts at the meenit, but aw the same, airtin tae a steid that unlawfully caws aboot ither fowk's wark shaws us in a puir licht.

It's no the job o ordinar Wikipaedians tae polis content for possible copyricht infreengement, but if you jalouse ocht dis, ye shoud at the verra least bring up the issue on that page's collogue page. Ithers can syne examine the seetiation an tak ony action necessar. The maist helpfu bit information ye can gie is a URL or ither reference tae whit ye think micht be the soorce o the text.

Some cases will be fause aliarms. For example, if the contreebutor wis in fact the author o the text that is setten furth ither gates unner ither terms, that disna affect their richt tae post it here unner the GFDL. Whiles ye will find text intergates on the Wab that wis copied aff Wikipaedia an aw. In baith thir cases, it is a guid idea tae mak a jottin in the collogue page for tae discourage sicna fause alairms in the futur.

If some o the content of a page is a richt infreengement, than the infreengin content shoud be taen aff, an a jottin pyntin this oot made on the collogue page, alang wi the oreeginal soorce. If the author's permeesion is obteint efter, the text can be pitten back.

If the hail content o a page is a jaloused copyricht infreengement, than the page shoud be listed on Wikipedia:Copyricht problems an the content o the page replaced bi the staundart notice that ye can find there. If, efter a week, the page aye still seems tae be a copyricht infreengement, than it can be deletit follaein the procedures on the votes page.

In extreme cases o contreebutors cairyin on postin copyrich maite efter appropriate wairnins, sicna uisers can be hindert fae editin for tae gaird the project.

If ye're aucht Wikipaedia-hostit content that's bein uised athoot yer leave, than you can seek for the page tae be taen aff Wikipaedia belyve; see Request for immediate remuival o copyricht veeolation. Forby thon, ye can contact wir Appyntit agent for tae hae it taen aff for aye, but it micht tak up tae a week for the page tae be deletit thon wey (ye micht dicht the page an aw but the text will bide in the page history). Aither wey, we will, o coorse, need some evidents tae uphaud yer threap o ye bein aucht the maiter.

• Wikipedia:Copyright FAQ
• The Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ for questions on copyright.
• Wikipedia's designated agent under OCILLA
• Wikipedia:Sites that use Wikipedia as a source
• Wikipedia:Standard GFDL violation letter
• Wikipedia:Possible copyright infringements
• Wikipedia:Spotting possible copyright violations

Furder discussion...

• Wikipedia:Copyricht issues
• m:Wikipaedia an copyricht issues
• m:Evite Copyricht Paranoia
• m:Permeession grant stent