Project:Use of copyrighted materials
This page documents an Online Communipedia policy. It describes facets of project governance or standards that all editors need to follow. |
All content provided to this project is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0 license after every edit. Therefore, any editor wishing to contribute must provide content that is:
- Their own content which they are releasing under the same license; or
- Is content which has a compatible license to CC BY-SA 3.0.
It is the obligation of editors providing content to verify that such content is under a compatible license. If there is any doubt, administrators may remove such content until verification is made. Note that all content created is by default fully copyrighted with all rights reserved unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Text
License Compatibility with Online Communipedia | |
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Licenses compatible with Online Communipedia | Licenses not compatible with Online Communipedia |
Creative Commons Licenses | |
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When dealing with taking text from other sources, a link to the original source it came from must be provided at the relevant article (unless the content is CC0 or in the public domain), as all compatible licenses demand attribution.
This is done by using Template:Text attribution. Instructions for using it are available on it's documentation. The template gives options for attributing public domain and CC0 text, but it is not required by copyright law. If the work in question is not released under a compatible license, and it isn't in the public domain, it may not be used at Online Communipedia.
Images
The image must fall under one of the compatible Creative Commons licenses (see table in aformentioned section) or it must meet one of the following criteria:
- The image is comprised of simple geometric shapes and words and thus under United States copyright law[2] is not original enough for copyright protection.[3]
- The image is a logo being used in accordance with fair use for the sole purpose of identifying an organization or community (e.g it's logo).
- The image is a screenshot used in accordance with fair use for the purpose of providing critical commentary on an organization or community.
- The image has been declared in some fashion to be released under the public domain outside of a Creative Commons License.
Even if another license or rationale may technically allow an image to be hosted by Online Communipedia, the image is ineligible for inclusion by policy.
To mark the image's copyright, select the appropriate option when using Special:Upload. The uploader must also place in the file summary the source the image came from unless they select the option indicating it is their own image they are releasing.
Other material
Other material (such as PDF files) may only be uploaded if it meets one of the following criteria:
- It is released to Online Communipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0 by the owner of such material.
Instant Commons
Online Communipedia has opted into using InstantCommons. As such, any image obtained via such feature may be used freely (so long as there are no additional restrictions that may inhibit use), as all content on that site is de-facto under a compatible license.
Footnotes
- ↑ According to the legal team at the Wikimedia Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0 is not backwards compatible with CC BY-SA 3.0, and it is the determination of the site operator to follow their advisement. They provide some caveats between text and media, but considering the site operator is not knowledgeable in copyright law, CC BY-SA 4.0 is simply blanket prohibited.
- ↑ The guidance provided by Wikimedia Commons is used when determining this rationale.
- ↑ This does not permit inclusion if the work is copyrighted outside of the United States