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Wikipedia:Copyright problems

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Diberri (talk | contribs) at 01:17, 20 April 2004 (=April 20= add 'First War of Schleswig'). 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?, m:Fair use, Wikipedia:Fair use, 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:

{{msg:copyvio1}}
<place URL of allegedly copied material here>
{{msg:copyvio2}}
~~~~
'''Rewrite article at: [[<replace with article name>/Temp]]'''

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:Copyright problems]]. 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

Image deletion problems



April 1

April 2


April 4

  • Korova Milk Bar from 'A Clockwork Orange', both movie and book Denni 05:40, 2004 Apr 4 (UTC)
    • Why not cut the quote and leave the rest? RickK | Talk 05:46, 4 Apr 2004 (UTC)
      • That's what I did. Unfortunately, except for the bit at the bottom, it's all direct quote. Denni 18:38, 2004 Apr 6 (UTC)
  • The image [20] is probably taken from a news site; uploader User:Adam Carr has not responded to my requests for its origin. See also Talk:Malaysian general election, 2004. -- Jpatokal 06:03, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
    • you need to insert the boilerplate text and have it sit for 7 days before this can be deleted.--Jiang 01:34, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)
      • Added boilerplate on 4th April. Angela. 05:53, Apr 4, 2004 (UTC)
        • Just realized boilerplate was not added until April 4. Restoring and moving this entry to April 4 - Tεxτurε 21:18, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)
          • The image doesn't seem to exist. The image description page should be deleted though. Angela. 00:14, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

April 5

  • ..countless more pages being added by User:MeenakshiM, I have posted something on his Talk Page, hopefully he will answer as to whether he has permissing to repost all these articles from http://chandrakantha.com/ --Stormie 11:15, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)
  • There also two images and several articles copied from other sites. I have replaced all with the boilerplate copyvio notice. User contributions Tuf-Kat 18:47, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)
    • I made changes to Padma Vibhusan without realizing the copyvio stuff; in the process, I think I may have fixed it, but I don't know. What's the proper procedure from here? --Golbez 05:34, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Thecolorofmoney.jpg, directly from the cover of the DVD (or from any commercial website selling it) Postdlf 12:14 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Cover scans are generally fair use - David Gerard 12:20, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)
    • Huh. Is there more discussion on this specific issue somewhere, on or off-site? Postdlf 4:09 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)
      • A quick Google turns up m:Fair use and Wikipedia:Fair use - David Gerard 16:24, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)
        • By "specific issue", I meant cover scans as fair use, not fair use in general. Postdlf 7:29 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)
          • There is no special case for cover art; such images are treated like any other images. It should be noted, however, that the copyright remains with the owner of the original cover art. In other words, if Joe's Web Site scans the cover of an album from Capitol Records, the copyright still belongs to Capitol Records, not Joe's Web Site. —LarryGilbert 21:44, 2004 Apr 6 (UTC)
  • Proteus anguinus from [33] - text at the bottom of the article indicates that it was "originally published in Adria Airways In-Flight Magazine, No.2, 1994." Even if the contributor owns the web site and wrote the article they cannot waive copyright for the magazine. - Tεxτurε 21:07, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 6

  • Image:Bems.jpg. Image is copyrighted according to [50]. Uploader claimed in its upload comment the image had no copyright info. Lupo 13:23, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Karimov.jpg from [55], which has copied the BBC Country Profile for Uzbekistan on June 4, 2001. The BBC has since replaced the picture in its profile to one labelled as "AP". The BBC profile itself is © BBC MMIV. The copyright for this image is most probably held by the BBC or by AP. Lupo 15:09, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • this picture was taken from website which has no copyinfo and i am preety sure that this picture wasn`t made by BBC maybe the article was but i doubt that picture was made by them because it is low quality.

Avala 14:27, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 7

  • Multiple chemical sensitivity Anonymous user 80.60.71.117 has pasted in large sections from QuackWatch [62] without even a reference. Evidently a newbie as they've also added a link to the original site in another section. The same user has done the same on other pages not yet listed as copyvio. Zuytdorp Survivor 00:27, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Reverted edits by 80.60.71.117. The article was not a copyvio prior to that. Angela. 18:58, Apr 16, 2004 (UTC)
  • Bathinda from [64]. RickK | Talk 03:23, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Original page author has edited page mentioning Wikipedia. This looks good, now. Restore soon? Fennec 04:59, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
      • Looks good to me! Needs some cleaning up and wikifying, so the sooner it gets restored the better, I say. --Stormie 06:02, Apr 7, 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Satrom.jpg. Associated Press copyrighted photo. RickK | Talk 05:42, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • I've added the fair use disclaimer. Can the image be reinstated? --Alexwcovington 06:14, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • This image has been listed in Wikipedia:Fair_use It is clearly a fair use of this image... Fair use includes copyrighted work BTW. --Alexwcovington 06:31, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Herbert Kappler from [68] - this and the previous two violations are all from the same anon user. -- Hadal 07:40, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Z zivkovic1a.jpg from [70], a web site of the Serbian government. At the bottom of this page, it says Copyright © 2001 - 2004 Office of Media Relations. Lupo 09:35, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Chad idrissdeby.jpg from [71]. They say at [72]: © 2000, 2004 todos los Derechos reservados. Also: how do we know that this would be an "official" portrait? Lupo 09:50, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 8

  • 2004 Pulitzer Prize copied the text from [85] verbatim. GUllman
    • It isn't copied verbatim. The lead paragraph is original, and how the heck else am I supposed to do a winners list? If that counts as a copyright violation, then we'd better take out all our Grammy articles and every other awards list...Ambivalenthysteria 09:18, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Mntng.gif, copyrighted image from [86]. Uploader claimed it was public domain, and later provided false and misleading sources. Lupo 10:29, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
      • sad to hear that i was misleading. i found it on that swiss website which deleted it from it`s archive and i don`t care for airliners.net i took it from swiisi long time ago.
  • Pokemon#History from [91], a copyrighted fan site. Guanaco 21:58, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • The text on that site was also stolen. No one knows who originally wrote it. --JessPKC 02:08, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • The article of Melvin R. Laird is a copy of [99] MK 16:29, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • .mil is a US government site, and therefore public domain. I'll revert the article. RickK 03:41, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • If the source is okay, can the article be reverted to the version I had wikified? MK 03:58, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)
      • Unless there is opposition, I'm going to revert this back to the last version I had wikified (16:25) before I ran across the possible copyright problem. MK 15:02, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 9

  • Celtic Frost from [101]. Meelar 00:36, 9 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Um, there was a perfectly good version of the Celtic Frost article, which User:62.167.53.109 overwrote with the copyvio version.. I trust it is possible to just delete the copyvio version and leave the good one there? --Stormie 00:39, Apr 9, 2004 (UTC)
  • Air Force Space Command from [105] - Fennec 18:51, 9 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Not a violation. U.S. government Website are copyright-free. Rmhermen 13:32, Apr 10, 2004 (UTC)
    • Agreed, reverting to version by Rmhermen after Fennec rv'd to the copyvio page without defending his position. Guanaco 21:15, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 10

  • Image:Bulbasaur.png, etc. - These seem to be copyrighted artwork from one or more of the corporations that have permission to use Pok&eacutemon. Definitely not public domain, as is claimed. No mention of public domain at the source. They're shown on pages Bulbasaur through whatever the last Pok&eacutemon is. Guanaco 01:06, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Image is property of Nintendo, Nintendo tolerates use of official images, which that is. --JessPKC 02:10, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Isthmus of Corinth - this has been around for a long time so I don't know who copied who, but I assume the article was copied from here. Adam Bishop 19:41, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)


  • The "History" section of Beard - had page reference that I removed, reads like an old scholarly work -- maybe old enough to be exempt from copyright, but I don't know the source. jaknouse 01:19, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 11

  • Bora Laskin. Notice on page said it was only to be used non-commercially. Angela. 22:53, Apr 6, 2004 (UTC)
    • Bora Laskin The copyright notice of the Supreme Court says that it can be used for PUBLIC NON COMMERCIAL use provided that notice given that it is not official and there is no endorsement. My understanding is that the Wikipedia is both public and non commercial. If I am wrong about this please let me know Benji Franklyn
    • I've reformatted the text somewhat, both to make the article more consistent with standard Wikipedia format and to reduce any potential copyright issues. Bearcat 08:48, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • This is not GFDL-compatible. GFDL allows commercial use, so this could cause copyright problems. It's not a violation per se, but if anyone tries to use it freely and commercially as they could a GFDL work, they would be accidentally violating the copyright because we misrepresented it as GFDL. Guanaco 14:30, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Cornwall, Ontario from [123] by 66.185.84.208. -- Zigger 20:32, 2004 Apr 11 (UTC)
    • There was a non-copyvio there before the anon, so it just needs to be reverted. Adam Bishop 20:45, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 12

  • Image:Compsognathus.jpg, status unclear: the image is found at www.creationscience.com [125], [126], but it seems unlikely that it originated there. In any event that web site has a copyright 1995-2004 and no provision for copying an image. Reconstructing dinosaurs in a horizontal posture became common only in the 70's, I believe, so I don't think the original drawing can be very old. I see the illustrator's initials, "GH", but I don't recognize the illustrator from the initials or the style. I'll put a request for info on the contributor's talk page. Wile E. Heresiarch 01:01, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Grandfather's brother paradox from [136] - Fennec 17:11, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Hmm, this situation is a little confusing. Fact-index.com is a WP mirror, and the indicated page does say the text is from WP. FWIW I can't seem to find the same text on both pages. But that doesn't matter, I believe, because grandfather's brother paradox is a reposting of previously deleted text (it was on vfd about a month or two ago iirc) and therefore it's a candidate for speedy deletion, I believe. Wile E. Heresiarch 01:26, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)
      • The text from Fact-index.com was posted by someon else (not me!). Revert to the previous version. The rest of the text was created by me. No copyright problem exists. Auric The Rad 21:52, Apr 13, 2004 (UTC)

April 13

  • Fundamental from [138]. Guanaco 00:46, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Questionable content added by User:Syneil, 10:01, 3 Apr 2004. The content is not appropriate anyways, as is definitions and thus wiktionary material. Unfortunately we have to wait 7 days? Hyacinth 01:48, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Paul Erdös from [140]. As the subject is very famous, the page has gotten a lot of editing over the years. Unfortunately the original text (in the Paul Erdos page history -- [141]) is copied in substantial part from the U St Andrews math bios web site. Much of the text has been modified over the years but some bits have not -- notably the paragraph beginning "The contributions which Erdös made to mathematics were numerous and broad." Wile E. Heresiarch 03:31, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • Aaaargh! That should have been spotted ages ago. Now we need a massive cleanup/rewrite to remove any traces of possible copyvio. -- Karada 09:35, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Ryugyonghotel.jpg from [148], copyrighted according to [149]. Lupo 13:08, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)
                • sorry for that. but i don`t speak german so it could be receipe for cookies or letter to santa clause it`s all the same for me.

April 14

  • Diyarbakir from "Encylopedia of Islam, Brill," according to note on site. Moncrief 03:03, Apr 14, 2004 (UTC)
  • Athlete's foot, claimed to be public domain but i think this isnt the case. Ikari 18:02 14 Apr 2004 (GMT)
  • OMP from [159] (listing after reversion). Zigger 19:12, 2004 Apr 14 (UTC)

April 15

  • Michael Johns is a copy of the Disinfopedia page at [160]. Is their copyright compatible with ours? RickK 03:34, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • scroll. --Jiang 03:38, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)
      • I don't understand this reply. RickK 01:45, 16 Apr 2004 (UTC)
        • Scroll to the bottom of the disinfopedia page, where it says "This page is available under the GNU FDL." -- Cyrius|&#9998 01:52, Apr 16, 2004 (UTC)
          • I did. I'm not an idiot, like YOU seem to think I am. RickK 02:08, 16 Apr 2004 (UTC)
            • What? You asked if the copyright was compatible. Jiang told you to scroll. You said you didn't understand. I pointed out the somewhat unobvious GFDL notification at the bottom. I thought you simply missed it. Your hostility is uncalled for. -- Cyrius|&#9998 02:31, Apr 16, 2004 (UTC)
      • Idunno what RickK's problem is either. Seems obvious to me this is is not copyvio, as it is still under the same copyright AFiCT. But is it really appropriate for wikipedia anyway? --ssd 16:29, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • John McGeoch [164] Originally published in the Independent newspaper according to link, so potentially a quite serious copyright vio. Moncrief

April 16

  • Elements song also contains the complete lyrics to the song. Was recently added to an existing article -- I'm not sure whether to blank the page or just revert to pre-copy state. Bkonrad | Talk 01:30, 16 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Shaft passer from [176]. Guanaco 23:59, 16 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • I don't see a way to fix this. I just added it to Vfd. (Vfd discussion) It is really just an old troll anyway. --ssd 16:24, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)
    • I'm not seeing what the problem is here. The shaft passer article has a brief quote from one of Feynman's books ("Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman", apparently) and the quote is identified as such. This is allowed by fair use, is it not? -- BTW I don't think it's accurate to describe [177] as the source of the text in question, as that web site is just a copy of the text of the book. Wile E. Heresiarch 05:02, 18 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 17

  • Image:PaulErdos2.jpg from [178]. I contacted the editor who uploaded the image and he said he didn't obtain permission from the copyright holder. (He said he got it from another web site which was vague about the copyright.) Wile E. Heresiarch 02:42, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Ex-premie from [179]. Keep an eye on User:Jossifresco, he/she has been adding several copyrighted articles, and when a copyvio boilerplate is added to the page, the User just creates a new article with a slightly different name and copies the copyrighted material back again. RickK 04:04, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Bbc_logo.JPG - [180] states: "The BBC logo is the copyright of the British Broadcasting Corporation and may only be reproduced when authorised. BBC is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation." -- Marknew 11:15, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Nellalarsen44.png. [182] credits the photo to Carl van Vecten, who died in 1964. Not public domain til at least 2034, and no evidence of copyright permission. -- Can fair use be argued for this image? Wile E. Heresiarch 16:46, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Adams song contains complete lyrics of copyrighted song. --Tbjablin 23:24, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 18

  • Michael Madsen - a weird case, seemed to start as vandalism, then cleaned up, but is now almost entirely a copyvio from [188] and [189]. Should probably just be deleted and then I'll start over. RADICALBENDER★ 02:04, 18 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Digital artist - the original version was a cut and paste from [190], it has since been editted a bit, but is still clearly recognizable. Bkonrad | Talk 02:22, 18 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • above was: Badanedwa 20:48, Apr 18, 2004 (UTC)

April 19

  • Battle of Tarawa [194] and that site's subpages. This seems a little weird, as some lines have been rewriten, but the general layout, structure, and some obvious spelling mistakes (a mission men) suggest that this is mostly a cut and paste transfer. Gentgeen 09:03, 19 Apr 2004 (UTC)
  • Image:Jannat al Baqi.jpg — taken from [196] which doesn't seem to have information on the image's copyright. The uploader seems to have assumed that lack of copyright information means public domain. — Timwi 14:59, 19 Apr 2004 (UTC)

April 20

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Copyright_problems&oldid=3263128"