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Wikipedia:Copyright problems

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Duk (talk | contribs) at 04:38, 2 April 2005 (March 24). 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.

Notice to copyright owners: 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.

Instructions

If you list a page or image here which you believe to be a copyright infringement, 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. Add new reports under today's section at the bottom of this page.

Pages where the most recent edit is a copyright violation, but the previous article was not, should not be deleted. They should be reverted. The violating text will remain in the page history for archival reasons unless the copyright holder asks the Wikimedia Foundation to remove it.

See also: Wikipedia:Copyrights, Wikipedia talk:Copyright violations on history pages, Wikipedia:Request for immediate removal of copyright violation, Wikipedia:Confirmation of permission, Wikipedia:Sites that use Wikipedia for content, Wikipedia:Fair use

Actions to take for text

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

{{copyvio|url=place URL of allegedly copied material here}}
  
~~~~

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. For example:

{{copyvio|url=http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/hovawart.htm}}

After removing the suspected text violation add an entry on this page under today's section at the bottom of this page.

Actions to take for images

If you suspect an image is violating copyright, add the following to the image description page:

{{imagevio|url=<place URL of allegedly copied image here>}}~~~~

After adding the text to the image information page add an entry on this page under today's section at the bottom of this page.

Finally, do not forget to add a note to the uploader's talk page to notify them that the image's copyright status is murky and it has been listed here.

In addition

In addition to nominating potential copyright violations 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

Instructions for special cases

  • Category:Unfree images: These may be listed, if they indeed are not available under a free license or a reasonable fairuse rationalle. Note that some of these may not actually be unfree images, but rather images which are released under multiple licenses.
  • Category:Images used with permission: These images are apparently available only to Wikipedia, and are not released under the GFDL. According to Jimbo Wales, we cannot use images that are not GFDL and are not usable under a fair use rationalle[1]. Images from this category may be listed here, but be sure that the image is not also available under a free license, and that a fair use claim cannot be made.
  • Non-commercial use images:As of June 30, 2004, images where permission is granted for non-commercial use only are not allowed. This is official Wikipedia policy pronounced by Jimbo Wales. [2]. As a result, all of these images now need to be removed from any associated articles and deleted. Before they are deleted, we should evaluate whether we can justify their use on other grounds, such as fair use. --Michael Snow 21:22, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)
    • Just to clarify, we are not yet to the point where wholesale deletions and actions against this type of image are warranted. We are still not to a satisfactory point in image tagging, and we want to finalize the new upload form (and get it active), so that we can better manage change in the future. It is advised not to upload any new non-commercial images now, and to seek replacements for non-commercial images that we have, but for today anyway, I recommend against people trying to hunt these down and extinguish them. We are going to try to have a smoother transition than that. Jimbo Wales 15:23, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Older than 7 days

Below are articles and images that have been listed here for longer than a week old, but have not yet dealt with for specific reasons.

Poster claims to be the author or to have permission

When you originally report a suspected copyright violation, do not add it here, but at the very bottom of this page (under the heading for today's date). Typically, the issue will be resolved within the usual seven days. This section is intended for cases where a second opinion is needed, or where someone should follow-up by e-mail, and which thus need a little more time.

  • Carlos Martínez. Uploader is not the author but claims to have permission, see Talk:Carlos Martínez. Also, the site on which I found the text is apparently not the original either. I've reverted the copyvio, assuming good faith. Also I have contacted the email address informing that I've reverted and put the page here. If anybody feels the need for a follow-up, please do so. Sander123 11:24, 14 Oct 2004 (UTC)
    • article is now at Carlos Martínez (actor) and I don't see that allowing the text under GFDL has been resolved. If we can't confirm, should be relisted. -- Infrogmation 21:26, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)
  • Generation YES from [3] - Lucky 6.9 23:41, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • Fitz Hugh Ludlow from [4] Quickbeam 04:05, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
  • Identity based encryption from [5] — Matt Crypto 22:20, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Article posted by copyright holder Matt Pauker from Voltage Security - original definition of IBE needs to be reverted and article provides simplified explanation of how IBE works and should be re-posted - but it may make sense to link back to Messaging Pipeline since they agreed to post article also
      • See the article's talk page for more. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 01:05, Mar 12, 2005 (UTC)

Fair use claims needing a second opinion

Apparently the old Wikipedia:Fair use mechanism has fallen out of use. This section lists all cases (typically images) where a fair use claim was made during the initial seven days, and for which a second opinion is needed. Add your comments here, and when you remove an entry from here (and it is kept), copy the discussion to the (image) talk page.

These need a thorough check for online sources, and if none are found, a check for offline sources.

  • Italian exports, Italian Government, and Islam in Italy all smell like copyvios but I can't tell where from. They were all put up by User:82.43.213.217, and share the same writing style. Dave6 05:44, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)
    • No copyvio notices on these articles. -- Infrogmation 14:21, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)
    • I agree that these are almost certainly copyright violations, although they might be school papers this guy wrote. I can't find the sources either. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 15:55, Mar 31, 2005 (UTC)
  • Image:Aqua10b.jpg. Clearly this has been stolen from somewhere.Konstandinos 19:41, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Correct. Taken from Aqua Express website. I know the person who runs that site, and will consult them as to permission for using the image. Meanwhile i'll fix the formatting you messed up in Aqua (band) and leave the image out. Hedley 20:33, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)
      • A redundant blank line hardly qualifies as messed up. Konstandinos 21:13, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Others

  • Artificial_pacemaker#Patient_education seems to be copied from [6] or [7], or perhaps all three were copied from some other source. Before my edit in [8] it exhibited the exact same smart quotes problems as did both of the other sites. The text was added in [9] by 144.15.16.71, which has no other contributions. -- bd_ 00:29, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)
    • Interesting. That IP resolves to nd016071.global.medtronic.com and the history part is straight from current Medtronic literature. [10]. As a pacemaker manaufacturer, they could even be the source of the commond Wikipedia/WebMD content. Since somebody there added stuff and they do make educational materials (albeit currently somewhat different) available, asking what they might want to donate wouldn't hurt. --iMeowbot~Mw 03:53, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

New listings

March 24

  • Significant portions of Lanciano seem to have been taken from [16], although some editing and additional writing seems to have been added by the initial poster. - RedWordSmith 06:40, Mar 24, 2005 (UTC)

Charles Matthews 07:49, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Spanish, appears to be a town in Mexico. (see Elota) DialUp 04:24, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

March 25

March 26

  • uploads from User:Painbearer, multiple requests on user's talk page for copyright tags.

March 27

March 28

  • Image:Aplomado_Falcon_in_Flight.jpg—I couldn't find this image on the Web, but there's a copyright notice on the picture. Jnbszabo has no user page or talk page, but I'll say something at Talk:Aplomado_Falcon. I hope he or she has permission, since this is much better than the other images at the article. —JerryFriedman 20:26, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I eventually realized that I could start this user's talk page, so I just put a message there too. —JerryFriedman 16:14, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I am the copyright holder (I wrote the original) and so its not an infringment...

March 29

March 30

  • The article's creator states, "Verified permission to use content from pittockmansion.com for this article, by City of Portland's Pittock Mansion Program Manager, Mary C. Weber." Has this been challenged? Amadeust 17:20, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Speedy delete and replace with redirect to William Phips, which already exists. / Tupsharru 12:53, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

March 31

April 1

April 2

Wikipedia's current date is June 6, 2025. Before appending new notices, please make sure that you are adding them under the right date header. If the header for today's date has not yet been created, please add it yourself.