Wikipedia:Media copyright questions

Media copyright questions
Welcome to the Media Copyright Questions page, a place for help with image copyrights, tagging, non-free content, and related questions. For all other questions please see Wikipedia:Questions. How to add a copyright tag to an existing image On the description page of the image (the one whose name starts File:), click Edit this page. From the page Wikipedia:File copyright tags, choose the appropriate tag: For work you created yourself, use one of the ones listed under the heading "For image creators". For a work downloaded from the internet, please understand that the vast majority of images from the internet are not appropriate for use on Wikipedia. Exceptions include images from flickr that have an acceptable license, images that are in the public domain because of their age or because they were created by the United States federal government, or images used under a claim of fair use. If you do not know what you are doing, please post a link to the image here and ask BEFORE uploading it. For an image created by someone else who has licensed their image under an acceptable Creative Commons or other free license, or has released their image into the public domain, this permission must be documented. Please see Requesting copyright permission for more information. Type the name of the tag (e.g.; {{Cc-by-4.0}}), not forgetting {{ before and }} after, in the edit box on the image's description page. Remove any existing tag complaining that the image has no tag (for example, {{untagged}}) Hit Publish changes. If you still have questions, go on to "How to ask a question" below. How to ask a question To ask a new question hit the "Click here to start a new discussion" link below. Please sign your question by typing ~~~~ at the end. Check this page for updates, or request to be notified on your talk page. Don't include your email address, for your own privacy. We will respond here and cannot respond by email. Note for those replying to posted questions If a question clearly does not belong on this page, reply to it using the template {{mcq-wrong}} and, if possible, leave a note on the poster's talk page. For copyright issues relevant to Commons where questions arising cannot be answered locally, questions may be directed to Commons:Commons:Village pump/Copyright.
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(For help, see Wikipedia:Purge)

File:BMW Sauber F1 Team logo.png

If the primary BMW roundel/logo (File:BMW.svg) is considered to be PD, then it seems that the BMW Sauber F1 logo should also be PD since the the only possible copyrightable element is the roundel itself. Is there a reason the team logo needs to be non-free content, while the files in c:Category:BMW roundel logos are not? -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:43, 19 September 2017 (UTC)

I think you have a pretty good grasp of {{PD-logo}} as evidenced by your other questions here. For cases like this where the only question is whether it applies or not your judgement is clearly good and you can probably be BOLD and make the changes yourself going forward. There is always a margin of uncertainty but your analysis above is exactly right afaikt and as you say no reason it should be considered non-free based on our current policies. AlasdairEdits (talk) 18:47, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

File:Seal of the California State University.png

Does this logo for California State University need to be treated as non-free content or can it be converted to {{PD-CAGov}}? It will have to be removed from Template:Portal/doc/all per WP:NFCC#9 if it needs to be non-free. -- Marchjuly (talk) 02:36, 19 September 2017 (UTC)

PD-CAGOV is pretty ambiguous and hard to understand. My instinct says it is not covered by PD-CAGOV but think we would need someone familiar with CA copyright law and state law to get a proper answer say which we are unlikley to get. As a starting point it would be good to find out when was the seal designed? if the CU system has been in place since 1857 there is a goodce it is just PD by reason of age. AlasdairEdits (talk) 18:49, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

The seal was designed in 1962 and CSU asserts copyright here. StarryGrandma (talk) 19:39, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

Thanks AlasdairEdits and StarryGrandma for taking a look. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:11, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

File:Heartagram.png

Not sure why this needs to be licensed as non-free content when it seems simple enough for {{PD-simple}} or even {{PD-logo}}. Even if it's copyrightable in Finland (the home of HIM (Finnish band)), it still seems OK to be {{PD-ineligible-USonly}}. Any reason why this needs to be non-free? -- Marchjuly (talk) 05:01, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

File:SoundEdit-icon.gif

The licensing for this image indicates that it has been effectively placed into the public domain by the copyright holder. Indeed, the image has also been tagged (possibly by a bot) as being an image that would be OK to copy to Wikimedia Commons. At the same time, it is not clear that the SoundEdit software icon was in fact placed into the public domain or that the uploader is the copyright holder. Right now, the icon is used in the main infobox in the SoundEdit article. (I recently added an infobox to the article though the icon was present in the article before then.) Would it be possible to treat the image as non-free content (such as with the {{Non-free use rationale icon}} rationale and the {{non-free icon}} license tag)? --Elegie (talk) 12:18, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

Yes, Elegie. Please convert the license to use the non-free license tag and rationale. There is no evidence that the copyright holder of SoundEdit has released this into the public domain. – Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 13:28, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

Finnusertop Thanks for the feedback. The license info for the image has been adjusted accordingly. --Elegie (talk) 23:02, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

File:Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney.jpg

This file is licensed as {{non-free biog-pic}} and I've tagged it with {{rfu}} because of File:Portrait of Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney.jpg, but given the fact that Carney dies in 1908, it seems likely that the file might be PD. Unfortunately, the source provide for the image seems to be a possible Wikipedia mirror of some kind and I can really tell anything about the image other than it appears to be quite old. If anyone can figure out a way to sort this out, please remove the rfu tag and change the licensing accordingly. -- Marchjuly (talk) 05:12, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

I've replaced the image in the article with one (a less good one) from Commons PD because it was published in 1903. Thincat (talk) 12:12, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

Fair Use

File:DrThaddeusLottSr.jpg This is the image I intended to add to the Thaddeus S. Lott, Sr. page. How can I correctly tag this image under fair use considering that he passed away in 2015? Thanks. a_cloud 06:28, 21 September 2017 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by ACloud (talk • contribs)

Hi ACloud. Wikipedia does allow the use of copyrighted images as non-free content. It's similar to and based upon the concept of fair use, but it's more restrictive by design. Per item #10 of WP:NFCI, Wikipedia does allow non-free images of deceased individuals to be allowed to be used as the primary means of identification in a stand-alone article about the individual, but there is a bit of a caveat. Each use of a non-free image is required to satisfy all ten of the non-free content use criteria listed in WP:NFCCP. One of these criteria is WP:NFCC#1 which requires us to use a freely licensed/public domain equivalent image when one is available or when there is a reasonable expection that one can be created. For a living individual, this pretty much means that a non-free image is almost never allowed except in certain cases such as explained in item 1 of WP:NFC#UUI. This is because it is assumed that in most cases even if no freely licensed equivalent images already exists, there is a reasonable expectation that one can be created by someone at some point in time, possibly by even taking a new photo. Obviously for a deceased individual it's impossible to take a new photo, but that does not necessarily mean that a previously taken photo has not be been released under a free/PD license or can be released under such a license. All Wikipedia asks is that you make a reasonable effort to find such an image. The definition of "reasonable" is a bit subjective, but it usually means something more that a quick Internet search for images; some editors actually reach out to copyright holders of images per WP:BRP to see if the copyright holder can be persuaded to release the image under a license suitable for Wikipedia per WP:DONATEIMAGE. Of course, Wikipedia does expect you to go around pressuring people to release their copyrighted content, and things tend to be OK as long as you make a reasonable effort. Anyway, the EXIF data of the photo you've uploaded says that the copyright holder is someone named Rocky Kneten. Perhaps there's a way for you to contact the copyright holder to ask that the image be release under a free license? If not or if you already tried this and were unsuccessful, then licensing the file using the template {{Non-free biog-pic}} might be an option. If you do license the file as non-free content, you're going to also need to provide a non-free use rationale explaining how the file's use satisfies all ten of the aforementioned NFCCP criteria, and you will need to provide such a rationale for each use of the file. Please note that all ten criteria need to be satisfied for each use as explained in WP:JUSTONE. There are various templates you can use for rationales and template {{Non-free use rationale biog}} probaby would work well for this file. This is a lot of information to digest, and non-free use can be a bit tricky, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them here. Someone will help you out. -- Marchjuly (talk) 10:44, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

This website https://www.rockykneten.com/ABOUT-ME/1 looks like it is the photographer in question from Houston, where the subject of the photo was the School District Superintendent per the HISD in the metadata. Try contacting him but that image is certainly copyright but it's use as non-free most likely fails WP:NFCC#2 because he is a professional photographer, so commercial consideration must be taken into account. You could also ask the school district is they have any freely licensed images of him. Good luck. Do remember that even though it is nice to have a photo in an article it not actually necessary nor a requirement; many biographic articles don't have any image of the subject. ww2censor (talk) 11:13, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

Hi again ACloud. It appears that you previously uploaded this same photo to Wikimedia Commons as c:File:DrThaddeusLottSr.jpg. It also looks as if someone (perhaps you?) sent in a premissions' email to c:COM:OTRS, but that the file was eventually deleted because the photo's license could not be verified. Anyway, the OTRS ticket number file is 2017052310005911, so if you feel that file might have been deleted by mistake or that you can further clarify it's licensing, you can ask for help at c:COM:OTRSN. Otherwise, you can (as Ww2censor suggests above) try and contact the school district to see if the there might be another photo which it holds the copyright on that it wouldn't mind releasing under a free license. Non-free use might still be an option in the end, but you should try to find a free equivalent first. Regardless of any of this, the file will be deleted if it remains without a copyright license. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:10, 22 September 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Marchjuly and Ww2censor for all of this information, I did not know that I still had access to the deleted photo page, so I will remove the other copy. I did send in the email and I will continue with your advice to OTRS and/or to the other options you have given. a_cloud 05:00, 22 September 2017 (UTC)

Photos of toys

Japan considers toys to be utilitarian objects, but the US considers them to be protected by copyright (see c:COM:TOYS for reference). File:Mego Acroyear Red Number 1.jpg, File:Microman Clear M101 George Number 5.jpg, and File:Magne Power Microman 001 Arthur Number 1.jpg are all photos of toys from someone's personal collection. The photos themselves can be released as PD by the photographer, but the toys are obviously the focus of the photos so de minimis cannot be argued. Would these toys be considered copyrightable thus making the photo a derivative work requiring permission from the toy manufacturer for any image of it to be released under a free license? -- Marchjuly (talk) 06:03, 22 September 2017 (UTC)

Hi Marchjuly. The answer is yes, not just copyrightable but already under copyright. I've worried about toy pictures myself. c:COM:TOYS says When uploading a picture of a toy, you must show that the toy is in the public domain in both the United States and in the source country of the toy. In the United States, copyright is granted for toys even if the toy is ineligible for copyright in the source country. The reference given there is to a decision that says Since the toys were authored by a Japanese national and first "published" (i.e. sold) in Japan, they enjoyed copyright protection under United States law from the moment they were created. StarryGrandma (talk) 22:42, 23 September 2017 (UTC)

File:Eehllogo.jpg

I don't think this is the uploader's own work; It looks more like non-free content. However, I am unable to find any information about the file which might make it possible to convert to {{Non-free logo}}. I find the file used on a come of webpages, but nothing official looking and they probably took the image from Wikipedia. Any suggestions on what to do here? -- Marchjuly (talk) 11:29, 23 September 2017 (UTC)

Tencent Games logo

Is the logo used on the article Tencent Games, c:File:Tencent_Games_Logo_Resized.png licensed appropriately for use on enwiki? The uploader claims it as "Own work" which seems unlikely. Can this be used under fair use instead? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mduvekot (talk • contribs) 23:46, 23 September 2017

Probably not and yes to both questions. If you want to use it in the enwiki article you will need to upload it here as a non-free image. I'll tag it for deletion on the commons. ww2censor (talk) 22:20, 23 September 2017 (UTC)

Guilden Morden boar drawing

Guilden Morden grave goods

Would someone please help me with the appropriate US tagging for this drawing? It was drawn between 1882 and 1883, by (most likely) someone who died in 1891, and was first published in 1977, in the United Kingdom. In the UK it became PD in 1961, due to life + 70. My sense is that the correct US tag is {{PD-US-URAA}}, as it was first published outside of the US, never registered in the US, and PD by 1996 in the UK. However, as the US rule on unpublished works is life + 70, I wonder if a different tag is warranted; if the drawing was also PD in the US by 1961, it would not have been subject to copyright protections when first published (in the UK) in 1977. The Guilden Morden boar article is currently a featured article contender, so trying to make sure I nail down the appropriate tag. Thanks in advance for any help! --Usernameunique (talk) 03:03, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

While this work is very likely in the public domain in the UK, it may, or may not, be in the public domain in the US. The first question to consider is if this drawing has ever been published in this or any other work with permission of the copyright holder or their heirs before 2003? If not, then for the purposes of US copyright, it is an unpublished work, and as such can use the {{PD-old-auto|deathyear=1891}}{{PD-US-unpublished}} tags on Commons. If the 1977 publication in Medieval Archaeology was without the permission of the heirs but it was published later in some other publication with the permission of the copyright holder or their heirs, then it may still be protected by US copyright, as an unauthorized publication would not be the first publication.

If the 1977 publication of this drawing was an authorized publication, then we have to consider US copyright formalities. The URAA restores copyright protection to works first published outside the US that lost their US copyright due to failure to comply with US formalities. I think you are correct that as this work was PD in the UK in 1996, it would almost certainly not have been eligible for copyright restoration by the URAA, so I think we can ignore the URAA. Thus, if the drawing was published in 1977 with authorization, all we need to know is if the work retained its US copyright protection because the work did comply with US copyright formalities. For example, did the 1977 publication of Medieval Archaeology contain a valid copyright notice? If not, and the publication of the drawing was authorized, then you can use the {{PD-old-auto-1996|deathyear=1891}} tag on Commons. —RP88 ^(talk) 04:01, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

Thanks very much for explaining that, RP88. This will require some guesswork, but here goes. As far as I know (and having researched the boar extensively), the only publication that contains that image is the 1977 Medieval Archaeology publication. It simply said that "The British Museum has" the drawing, without stating how it was obtained; the most likely explanation is that when the actual boar in the drawing was donated to the museum in 1904, the drawing was donated along with it. It seems quite unlikely that the family, 73 years later, would have been asked for permission to publish the drawing, although I suppose theoretically copyright could have been donated to the BM along with the drawing.

Leaving aside the issue of authorization for now, the 1977 Medieval Archaeology journal contains two mentions of copyright. First, on the inside front cover are the words "All contributions to Medieval Archaeology are COPYRIGHT. Applications to reproduce them, in whole or in part, should be addressed, in the first instance, to the Secretary, Society for Medieval Archaeology, University College, Gower Street, London, WCIE 6BT." Second, an otherwise blank page preceding the contents states "© World copyright—The Society for Medieval Archaeology". Would that constitute a valid copyright notice? If so, what other steps would Medieval Archaeology have had to take to solidify the copyright of the drawing? As far as I can tell, they did not register the journal in the US in 1977 (Copyright Entries). --Usernameunique (talk) 04:28, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

For a valid copyright notice the year of publication (1977) would have to have been printed in close proximity. It could also be quibbled as to whether The Society for Medieval Archeology was the valid copyright holder in the US. I think PD in the US.[1] Thincat (talk) 16:25, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Thincat. The year is nowhere near either mention of copyright; indeed, "1977" is not printed on either page. Would the correct tag then be {{PD-old-auto-1996|deathyear=1891}}? --Usernameunique (talk) 19:02, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

I think the tags you have at present are OK but what you suggest looks perfect to me and has the advantage of simplicity and brevity. I think some words of explanation might help, possibly by referring to this discussion. Not that my opinion is of any authority but the information you have provided is helpful in establishing the situation. Thincat (talk) 19:20, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

Thanks again, both Thincat and RP88; this has been extremely helpful. I have updated the tag, and added a link to this discussion in the summary (I'll update it when this discussion is archived). --Usernameunique (talk) 21:26, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

Thincat and RP88, is there a version of the template where the second part says something to the effect of "it was first published before 1978 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities ..." instead of "it was first published before 1 March 1989 without copyright notice ..."? As per discussion at FAC, "the new tag retains the 'without copyright notice' verbiage which is not strictly speaking correct (it clearly had a copyright notice, even if that notice may not be compatible with US ones). Perhaps a tweak to the tag wording is in order?" Thanks, --Usernameunique (talk) 05:15, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

I think the wording used by the PD-old-auto-1996 template on Commons accurately reflects US law, as under US law a defective notice is not a copyright notice. However, Commons does have a template you can use if you need to be more explicit about your assertion of defective notice. If you believe the drawing is PD in the US because of a defective copyright notice you could switch to using the {{PD-old-auto|deathyear=1891}}{{PD-US-defective notice}} license tags. —RP88 ^(talk) 07:12, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Well, I was taking "no notice" to mean "no valid notice". I have found Template:PD-US-defective notice but if you use that you'll again need a separate tag for UK. It provides the information "Additionally, foreign works created outside the US are subject to copyright restoration even with a defective notice." which doesn't apply here because the drawing was PD in the UK in 1996 so URAA was inapplicable anyway. The hierarchy of commons PD US copyright tags is at Category:PD US license tags if you want to look around. This all rather confirms my view that it's best to avoid submitting articles to WP:FAC – you'll stand a better chance at WP:CSD#G1! Thincat (talk) 07:28, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

I agree, the wording of PD-US-defective notice does assume publication in the US, so it isn't a perfect solution. However, the logic is applicable to foreign works that did not have their copyright restored by the URAA. Assuming the work is PD in the US due to defective notice, I think the current PD-old-auto-1996 tag is fine for Commons. Maybe just expand the permissions note to say that the lack of notice is due to a defective notice? —RP88 ^(talk) 07:38, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Yes, these licence tags are helpful by discouraging people from making up their own copyright criteria but they fall short with awkward situations such as this. Thincat (talk) 07:47, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Thincat and RP88. An awkward situation indeed. Sticking with the current tag for now, though depending on FAC feedback I may change it. I have also expanded the permissions note as suggested. It now reads:

"Drawing is in the public domain in Britain and the United States. Fordham died in 1891, placing it in the public domain in Britain in 1961. When published there 16 years later, in 1977, the publication did not meet requirements to establish copyright in the United States. First, if no permission to publish it from Fordham's heirs was sought—and being in the public domain in Britain such seeking of permission is unlikely—the drawing would be considered an unpublished work in the United States; created by an author who died before 1947 and not published in authorised form before 2003, it would thereby be in the public domain in the United States. Second, even in the event that permission was actually sought from Fordham's heirs, the 1977 publication did not contain a copyright notice adequate to establish copyright in the United States. For one, although the journal contained the statement "© World copyright—The Society for Medieval Archaeology" on the page facing the contents, no year was specified. Another problem is that the publication does not appear to have been registered in the United States, being omitted from the 1977 Catalog of Copyright Entries.

For more information, see discussion here." --Usernameunique (talk) 09:56, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Question

I want to upload a picture (really well taken)-for an article-that I found on Instagram, which was uploaded there by someone I can contact via e-mail. Is there a format to send this person for the permission? How should I do? Cornerstonepicker (talk) 06:26, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

@Cornerstonepicker: assuming they are the copyright holder, which is usually the photographer and not the subject of the image, get them for follow the procedure found at WP:CONSENT but please be patient as the OTRS Team are very backlogged almost 50 days. ww2censor (talk) 13:58, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

@Ww2censor: Thank you. I have doubts with WP:COPYREQ. Should I ask the person to send the consent letter to the WM e-mail... or just ask for permission? Cornerstonepicker (talk) 18:17, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

Actually Cornerstonepicker you are better to have them use the "Interactive Release Generator" over on the commons at c:COM:OTRS#Declaration of consent for all enquiries and an OTRS agent will provide them with a ticket number which means the request is in the queue. Then you can upload the image to the commons and add the template {{subst:OP}} (means OTRS pending) to the image with the license the copyright holder has agreed to. ww2censor (talk) 20:57, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

File:Barton Boars (Barton College) - Logo.png

This is licensed as {{self}}, but it looks non-free. The file's description states "This was used by the Barton College in the 1990s, however was privately designed and never copyrighted. This was printed on the back of the 1994 copy of the Bartonian in the form of a white outline which was digitised and coloured in 2017." which may be true, but I'm not sure that does not necessarily mean "not copyrighted" or "self"; moreover, if the original white outline is really protected by copyright, then the colorized version itself may be considered a WP:Derivative work but the original copyright cannot be ignored. I am aware of {{PD-US-no notice}}, {{PD-US-not renewed}} and {{PD-US-1989}}, but none of those apply to works published in 1994. If the logo was privately designed, then the person who designed the logo should still hold the copyright on it, right? -- Marchjuly (talk) 12:15, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

Yup. The 1994 version is copyrighted. Any derivative works not licensed by the copyright holder are copyright violations. I've deleted this file as a clear copyright violation. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:51, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for checking on this Orangemike. -- Marchjuly (talk) 21:48, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

I am the copyright holder of a file and I wish to grand Wikimedia Commons the exclusive use of this file. How should I do it?

I took a photograph of a computer board built by MasPar. I am the copyright holder of this photograph, but I wish to upload this photograph to Wikimedia Commons so that it may be added to the Wiki page in question.

In short, I am the copyright holder of a file and I wish to grand Wikimedia Commons the exclusive use of this file. How should I do it?

--24.201.107.30 (talk) 22:05, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

By far, the easiest way to do this is to register yourself as a user (the same credentials work on all WMF sites), then you can upload directly at Commons to offer as a free self-made image.

However, when you say "exclusive use" of the image, that does not meet the requirements for Commons or what we consider as a free image. The image must be reusable and modifiable by any other entity, we cannot just restrict that to Commons. --MASEM (t) 23:19, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Understood. Thank you for your answer. --24.201.107.30 (talk) 23:24, 26 September 2017 (UTC)