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Wikipedia:Copyright problems

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Texture (talk | contribs) at 03:40, 1 April 2004 (=March 32=). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.


This page is intended for listing and discussing copyright problems on Wikipedia, including pages and images which are suspected to be in violation.

If you list a page or image here, be sure to follow the instructions in the "Copyright infringement notice" section below. Page titles should stay listed for a minimum of 7 days before a decision is made.

See also: Wikipedia:Votes for deletion, Wikipedia:Deletion policy, Wikipedia:Copyrights, Wikipedia:Copyright violations on history pages, Wikipedia:Image description page, Wikipedia:Request for immediate removal of copyright violation, Wikipedia:Confirmation of permission, Wikipedia:Sites that use Wikipedia for content, m:Do fair use images violate the GFDL?. copyright

Alternatives

In addition to nominating potential copyvios for deletion, you could:

  • Replace the article's text with new (re-written) content of your own: This can be done on a temp page, so that the original "copyvio version" may be deleted by a sysop. Temp versions should be written at a page like: [[PAGE NAME/temp]]. If the original turns out to be not a copyvio, these two can be merged.
  • Write to the owner of the copyright to check whether they gave permission (or maybe they in fact posted it here!).
  • Ask for permission - see wikipedia:boilerplate request for permission, Wikipedia:Confirmation of permission

If you believe Wikipedia is infringing your copyright, you may choose to raise the issue using Wikipedia:Request for immediate removal of copyright violation. Alternatively, you may choose to contact Wikipedia's designated agent under the terms of the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act.

Actions to take for text

Remove the text of the article, and replace it with the following:

[[/Temp]]
{{msg:copyvio1}}
<place URL of allegedly copied material here>
{{msg:copyvio2}}
~~~~

Where you replace "<place URL of allegedly copied material here>" with the Web address (or book or article reference) that contains the original source text. After removing the suspected text violation add an entry on this page under the List of possible copyright infringements section.

Actions to take for images

If you suspect an image is violating copyright, add the below text to the image information page:

This image is a possible [[Wikipedia:Copyrights|copyright infringement]] and should therefore not be used by any article. <explain reason for suspicion here>

This image is now listed on [[Wikipedia:Possible copyright infringements]]. To the poster: If there was permission to use this image under terms of our [[Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License|license]] or if you are its copyright holder, then please indicate so here (click ''Edit this page'' in the sidebar) - see our [[Wikipedia:Image use policy|image use policy]] for tips on this. NOTE: deletion will occur about one week from the time this page title was placed on the Votes for deletion page.

It also should be noted that the posting of copyrighted material that does ''not'' have the express permission from the copyright holder is possibly in violation of applicable law and of our [[Wikipedia:Copyright|policy]]. Those with a history of violations may be temporarily [[Special:Ipblocklist|suspended]] from editing pages. If this is in fact an infringement of copyright, we still welcome any original contributions by you.

If you believe that this image may be used by Wikipedia and by all sublicensees under the [[fair use]] doctrine, then please add a detailed ''fair use rationale'' as described on [[Wikipedia:Image description page]] to justify this belief.

Thanks, ~~~~

After adding the text to the image information page add an entry on this page under the List of possible copyright infringements section.

Amazon copyrights

An interest has been expressed in the Wikipedia community to use images from Amazon.com, particularly with regard to cover art from commercial music recordings (albums).

When approached about permission to use images from their site, Amazon.com's official response was that such permission simply wasn't theirs to give. They say that the copyrights still belong to the holders of copyrights in the original works.

At this time, there is no official Wikipedia policy for or against using Amazon.com as a source of images such as album cover art. Note, however, that Wikipedia copyright policy is still in effect—uploaded images' descriptions should still contain proper attribution, a copyright notice if copyrighted, and a fair-use rationale if fair use is being claimed. (Simply make sure that the copyright is attributed to the true copyright holder and not Amazon.com.) For specific guidelines on images and copyright, see Wikipedia:Copyrights#Image_guidelines.

Possible copyright violation in Page History

March 18

  • Double Dose from [11] - unclear case, as the text is a total copy/paste of the "press kit" section of the band's website. -- Hadal 08:52, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • Left a request with the web site for confirmation. - Texture 16:04, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)





March 23

  • I'd like to put Image:1969 draft lottery photo.jpg in an article. I copied it from [12] which credits the photo to "Selective Service System". Since SS is a federal agency, I'm assuming that it cannot be copyrighted. However, before I put it in an article I'd like to get other peoples comments. OK to use this image or not? If not, I'll just get it erased. Thanks for your help, Wile E. Heresiarch 18:03, 23 Mar 2004 (UTC)

March 24

  • This diff needs checking - an anon says there's copyvio on the page, but it doesn't look like a copy/paste to me, similar but rewritten. I wasn't sure what to do, and I've not blanked the page. fabiform | talk 03:19, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Found it on the web: http://www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/addl/toxic/plant28.htm - MPF 11:46, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Tiff1.jpg, Image:Tiff11.jpg, Image:Lagonda2.jpg, Image:Lagonda200.jpg - a "(c) www.goldstag.co.uk" is visible in the picture. andy 11:51, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • Image:View2.jpg - same contributor, other source. I suspect all of the images he uploaded so far are copyright violations as well andy 12:40, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • Looks like a wrong alarm. I was contaced by email by the user that he is owner of both websites. andy 13:24, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • BB98uk Here - Am I allowed to put these images back now that we have confirmed original ownership was me? 16:23, 24 Mar 2004 (GMT)
      • We'd prefer pictures without copyright text on them. Also, the two Lagonda pics don't seem to really show the car very well at all ... —Morven 21:23, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Marcmolne.jpg from [17] from CNN/Reuters. The copyright notice clearly states: Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Lupo 13:48, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Paul Vogel from [24]. Maximus Rex 20:04, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • The same anon who created the article also posted it to VfD. I suspect they ccreated it before they realised either the copyright policy or policy on self-entryfication. Can we speedy delete? DJ Clayworth 20:15, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Svilajnac from [26] (in Serbian) Content was from introductory preamble on a website homepage, about a small town of 10000 people in Serbia.

March 25

  • Image:Dockableipod.gif from [33] - Redjar 13:32, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • This image is not a copyright infringement, as it is provided specifically for use by others. However, it is under a restrictive non-transferable license [34], which is a problem -- Cyrius 14:32, Mar 25, 2004 (UTC)
  • John Steuart Curry, Abu Salma, Wieland, Heinrich Otto, Petofi, Sandor, Jodl, Alfred, (may be others), all created by User:Debug from [41]. This is a copyleft resource but Debug says we have to have a 16KB long README file in each article, which is clearly both unacceptable and in conflict with the GFDL. Morwen 20:21, Mar 25, 2004 (UTC)
    • I added the copyleft work collectively at Biostubs. I thought it was compatible with Wikipedia/GFDL as fair use, since I included ther README file as requested by the author. Sorry if I was wrong, and delete/fix them as you like. I just wanted to help the project (3 people complained on my page, but nobody said thank you - is this the way you are used to work here and is this how you are supposed to attract volunteers?) Debug 20:25, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Well, thanks for trying to help, and for accepting this. I am sorry if we appeared unwelcoming - the reaction was one of panic. I was certainly afraid yuo had set up a bot and were going to import several thousand of these things. Morwen 20:35, Mar 25, 2004 (UTC)
Yeah, thanks for trying. Sorry it didn't work out. Fennec 20:39, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
I've made David I, David II, Eastwood, Clinton Jr., Jodl, Alfred, Petofi, Sandor, Shapley, Harlow, Wieland, Heinrich Otto and John Steuart Curry into redirects or stubs. I don't think there is any need for those to be deleted, as the version in the history have the required README attached. Bartolozzi, Francesco and Abu Salma probably still need to be deleted. --Camembert 20:43, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
It's ok - actually a friend asked me whether I could incorporate the copylefted work in your project, So I created the Biostubs and some others. I didn't know the pages were existand under different name. I think the software could perform some automatical search whenever a new empty article is accessed and suggest alternative names from the search results. Anyway, now I have to go, cya. Debug 20:48, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

March 26

  • Kyle E. McSlarrow from [51] Fuzheado 12:07, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • Official US government biography of a US government official on a US government site without credit or copyright notice. Should be public domain. -- Cyrius 13:44, Mar 26, 2004 (UTC)
  • S.M.A.R.T from [60] -- Khym Chanur 10:19, Mar 27, 2004 (UTC)
    • Besides the copyright issue it's also grammatically incorrect. Have created a redirect to the SMART disambig page. -- Graham  :) | Talk 13:31, 27 Mar 2004 (UTC)

March 27

  • User:Paektu - sections copied from [61] and [62] - I am fairly sure that copyrighted material is not even allowed on user pages (at least not without attribution), so I have removed it. Please feel free to revert this change if you have good reason to do so, but please give your reason here first. -- Marknew 11:47, 27 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Party names applied for in Ontario 1990 and after and Party names applied for in Ontario both use tables copied and pasted from [71], not sure if copyvio or public domain, certainly should be altered from current form (they were 276,000 bytes and 84,000 bytes respectively). -- Graham  :) | Talk 20:30, 27 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • The actual HTML has been since skimmed down, the content is from a Canadian Crown corporation, and quite honestly, it's the only good way we can display the information. -- user:zanimum
      • The whole point is that HTML tables take up far too much space. Use wiki markup, and lose the grey/white contrasting backgrounds and that'll cut down the file sizes a treat. -- Graham  :) | Talk 21:03, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

March 28

  • Hávamál from [77] (would be a source dump and not appropriate for wikipedia anyway). Maximus Rex 05:09, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Colon Hydrotherapy (Colonics). Not a straight cut-and-paste from http://colonhealth.net, but I googled a phrase containing a mispeeling and that's what came up. -phma 06:41, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • I don't know why you even went a looking for copyright info. I thought it looked like promotion for colonics. I added the content that there is no evidence that such therapy is beneficial. However, getting it dropped completely due to copyright vio seems a loss at being able to tell the whole truth about colonics. If the page can be unprotected I could add to that article further. Kd4ttc 01:41, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • The article is rewritten at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_Hydrotherapy_(Colonics)/Temp Kd4ttc 17:19, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Pair writing has had a copyvio message up since yesterday morning, but has not been listed here for some reason. Text is from [83] -- Graham  :) | Talk 17:21, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

March 29

  • Image:Ns-panorama.jpg from [101], the official web site of Novi Sad. At the bottom of the page, it says Copyright: ApoloWebTeam 2001.WSG. Lupo 13:27, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Museum of Islamic Ceramics from [102], official Egyptian gov't Web site. My guess is this (same anon user who copyvioled another EG-related article) is an Egyptian unfamiliar with international copyright issues. —Tkinias 17:25, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:MotherRussia.jpg from [103] (JPEG available on [104]). Contributor's description says that this site has no copyright information, but this does not automatically mean that we can use it! --Romanm 18:15, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • Um, site says ``Pictures are copyright Marit Larsen, unless otherwise noted [105]. That seems pretty clear to me. We need permission from Marit Larse or it's copyviol. —Tkinias 10:59, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

© 1995-2003 by Steve Mount. All rights reserved. moink 23:54, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

March 30

  • Arna from [114] --Wolf530 05:33, Mar 30, 2004 (UTC)
    • Author states that it was posted with permission, on behalf of the website. --Wolf530 19:56, Mar 30, 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Budpowell.jpg - says "Copyright Mosaic images" right on it. RickK | Talk 03:18, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • There is now a different image there. I don't whether it is copyrighted as well. Boilerplate text added today. Maximus Rex 01:55, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Exploding head syndrome has significant portions of the text copied verbatim from the web page listed at the bottom of the article. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 18:38, Mar 31, 2004 (UTC)
    • Which portions were copied verbatim? I did use the web page extensively as a source of information, but I wrote the article myself and specifically bore in mind the need to express the information differently from the original as I did so. Bryan 01:32, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

March 31

  • Ling Bai from http://www.famouschinese.com/viewarticle/view?ArticleID=169 - added by 64.136.26.230 --Eequor 19:21, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • Keep. "if the content is licensed to the public under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), permission will be granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the text of www.famouschinese.com materials under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation..." --Jiang 03:20, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Level up--I can't find where the text was lifted from, but the initial versions had things like Table of Contents and such. It was an obvious copy & paste with no mention of source or permission. It may have been lifted from a non-Internet source. —Frecklefoot 19:40, Mar 31, 2004 (UTC)

March 32

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