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Wikipedia:Copyright problems

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    This page is for listing and discussing possible copyright problems involving text on Wikipedia, including pages suspected to be copyright violations. Listings typically remain for at least five days before review and closure by a copyright problems clerk or administrator. During this time, interested contributors are invited to offer feedback, propose revisions, or request copyright permission.

    Listed pages appear in the bottom section of the page. For additional guidance, see below.

    To add a new listing, go to today's section.

    Copyright owners: If you believe Wikipedia is infringing your copyright, you may request immediate removal by following these instructions.

    Instructions

    Handling previously published text on Wikipedia

    Further information: Wikipedia:Copy-paste

    Under the United States law that governs Wikipedia, copyright is automatically assumed as soon as any content (text or other media) is created in a physical form. An author does not need to apply for or claim copyright, for a copyright to exist.

    Only one of the following allows works to be reused in Wikimedia projects:

    A) Explicit Statement. An explicit statement (by the author, or by the holder of the rights to the work) that the material is either:

    B) Public Domain. If the work is inherently in the public domain, due to its age, source or lack of originality; or

    C) Fair Use. United States law allows for fair use of copyrighted content, and (within limits) Wikipedia does as well. Under guidelines for non-free content, brief selections of copyrighted text may be used, but only if clearly marked and with full attribution.

    Even if a source is public domain or compatibly licensed, material should be properly attributed in accordance with Wikipedia:Plagiarism in respect of local customs and attribution requirements of compatible licenses. If the terms of the compatible license are not met, use of the content can constitute a violation of copyright even if the license is compatible.

    Contributors who repeatedly post copyrighted text or images after appropriate warnings will be blocked from editing to protect the project; see 17 United States Code § 512. If one contributor verifiably inserts multiple copyright violations and systematic review is needed, see Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations.

    Instructions for handling text-based copyright concerns

    "WP:CPI" redirects here. For the page that protects extremely high-risk templates, see Wikipedia:Cascade protected items.
    Shortcut

    Blatant infringement

    Pages exhibiting blatant copyright infringements may be speedily deleted if:

    • Content was copied from a non-compatible source that is not a mirror.
    • The page cannot be restored to a non-infringing version nor be viable with the infringing content removed.
    • There is no credible assertion of public domain, fair use, or a free license.

    To nominate an article for speedy deletion for copyright concerns, add one of these to the page:

    Both of these templates will generate a notice that you should give the contributor of the content. This is important to help ensure that they do not continue to add copyrighted content to Wikipedia. An administrator will examine the article and decide whether to delete it or not. You should not blank the page in this instance.

    Suspected or complicated infringement

    If infringement is not blatant or the speedy deletion criteria do not apply:

    • Remove or rewrite the infringing text avoiding copyright violations or revert the page to before the text was added.
      The infringing text will remain in the page history, and it may be tagged for {{copyvio-revdel}}. Administrators hold discretion on the appropriateness of revision deletion for each case. Please note the reason for removal in the edit summary and at the article's talk page (you may wish to use {{subst:cclean}}). Please identify and alert the contributor of the material to the problem, unless advised not to. The template {{Uw-copyright}} may be used for this purpose.
    • However, if all revisions have copyright problems, the removal of the copyright problem is contested, reversion/removal is otherwise complicated, or the article is eligible for presumptive deletion:
    to the bottom of the list. Put the page's name in place of "PageName". If you do not have a URL, enter a description of the source. A pre-filled version can be copied from the top of the copyvio template after substituting it. If yours is the first listing of the day, please add a header to the top of the page, using the page for another date as an example.
    • Warn the contributor of the listing at their talk page, unless advised not to. The template on the now blanked page supplies a notice you may use for that purpose.
    Further information: Wikipedia:Guide to image deletion

    Files are not handled here. For images that are clear copyright violations, follow the procedure for speedy deletion; otherwise list at Files for Discussion.

    Copyright owners and people editing on their behalf or with their permission, please see below.

    Any contributor is welcome to help investigate articles listed for copyright concerns, although only administrators, copyright problems board clerks, and VRT (formerly OTRS) agents should remove {{copyvio}} tags and mark listings resolved.

    Assistance might include supplying evidence of non-infringement (or, conversely, of infringement) or obtaining and verifying permission of license. You might also help by rewriting problematic articles or removing infringing text (without removing {{copyvio}}).

    Supplying evidence of non-infringement

    Articles listed here are suspect of copyright concern, but not every article contains infringement. The content may be on Wikipedia first, in the public domain, compatibly licensed, or falls below threshold of originality for copyright. Sometimes, the person who placed it here is the copyright owner of freely-licensed material and this simply needs to be verified.

    Information can be provided to prove compatible licensing or public domain status under the listing of the article on the copyright problems board or on the talk page of the article. A link or a clear explanation can be very helpful when a clerk or administrator evaluates the matter. As listings are not immediately addressed on the board, it may take a few days after you make your note before a response is provided.

    If the article is tagged for {{copyvio}}, you should allow an administrator or copyright problems clerk to remove the tag. If the article is tagged for {{copy-paste}} or {{close paraphrasing}}, you may remove the tag from the article when the problem is addressed (or disproven), but please do not close the listing on the copyright problems board itself.

    Obtaining/verifying permission

    Sometimes material was placed on Wikipedia with the permission of the copyright owner. Sometimes copyright owners are willing to give permission (and proper license!) even if it was not.

    Any contributor can write to the owner of copyright and check whether they gave or will give permission (or maybe they in fact posted it here!). See Wikipedia:Example requests for permission. In either case, unless a statement authorizing the material under compatible license is placed online at the point of original publication, permission will need to be confirmed through e-mail to the Wikimedia Foundation. See Wikipedia:Confirmation of permission. If a compatible license is placed online at the point of original publication, please provide a link to that under the listing for the article on the copyright problems board or on the talk page of the article.

    Please note that it may take a few days for letters to clear once they are sent. Do not worry if the content is deleted prematurely; it can be restored at any point usable permission is logged.

    Rewriting content

    Any contributor may rewrite articles to remove duplicated or closely paraphrased text. If the article is blanked, the rewrite takes place at Talk:PAGENAME/Temp so that the new material can be copied over the old. (The template blanking the article will link to the specific temporary page.)

    The article should not be copied over without first removing copied content. Other content from the article can be used, if there is no reason to believe that it may be a copyright issue as well. If the content is copied from an inaccessible source like a book or cannot be verified, please remove all text added by the contributor. If you copy any text from the old article, please leave a note on the listing or in your edit summaries of the rewrite. Reviewing clerks or administrators will then preserve the history of the old article.

    Rewrites can be done directly in articles that have been tagged for {{close paraphrasing}} and {{copy-paste}}, with those tags removed after the rewrite is complete.

    Please review Wikipedia:Copy-paste and the linked guidelines and policies in it as necessary to review Wikipedia's practices for non-free text. Reviewing Wikipedia:Plagiarism is also helpful, particularly where content is compatibly licensed or public domain. Repairing these issues is usually as simple as supplying proper attribution.

    Shortcut

    If you submitted work to Wikipedia which you had previously published and your submission was marked as a potential infringement of copyright, you must do one of the following to resolve the problem:

    See also Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.

    Letters and emails may take some time to clear once they are sent. Do not worry if the content is deleted prematurely; it can be restored at any point usable permission is logged. Your email will receive a response whether the permission is usable or not. If you have not received a response to your letter within two weeks, it is a good idea to follow up.

    Please keep in mind that content previously published elsewhere may not meet Wikipedia's specific guidelines and policies. If you are not familiar with these policies and guidelines, please review especially the core policies that govern the project. This may help prepare you to deal with any other issues with the text that may arise.

    Should you choose to rewrite the content rather than release it under the requisite license, please see above.

    Clerks and patrolling administrators

    For a more complete description of clerks and their duties, as well as a list of active clerks, please see Wikipedia:Copyright problems/Clerks.

    Copyright clerks are experienced editors on Wikipedia, especially with copyright policies and their enforcement. On this board, they are trusted to evaluate and close listings and request administrative actions when necessary. Clerks are periodically reviewed by other clerks and patrolling administrators.

    For a more complete description of administrators on Wikipedia, please see Wikipedia:Administrators.

    Any administrator may work the copyright problems board. This may involve evaluating listings personally or completing evaluations by clerks. Clerks are trusted in their work and their recommendations may be implemented without double-checking, although any administrator is welcome to review recommendations and discuss them with the clerks in question.

    Closing listings

    Pages can be processed at any time by anyone, but are not formally closed until a clerk or administrator verifies that all problems are resolved. Pages listed for presumptive deletion stay open for a minimum of 7 days before being processed. VRT agents may close listings at any time.

    For advice for resolving listings, see:

    {{CPC}} may be used to denote resolutions of listings by administrators, clerks and VRT agents.

    Update this page

    Older than 7 days

    Below are articles that have been listed here for longer than 7 days. They will be processed at any time by clerks or administrators (see WP:CPAA). When every issue on a day is clear, the day may be removed.

    13 September 2024

    16 September 2024

    8 October 2024

    • Peshtigo fire: Storzeme1852 in 2021 added copyvio that has now been removed by Firefangledfeathers. Kaya098, another SPA editing in the same time period (not outright socking, I don't think, but maybe a class?), lifted a quote from [3] (search "Modern students of such matters"), which appears to in turn be a quote from Fire at Peshtigo by Robert W. Wells (so not public domain despite appearing in a government document). I sadly don't have time to sort it out right now, but both editors' contributions to the article should be investigated. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (they|xe) 19:57, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    10 October 2024

    18 October 2024

    22 October 2024

    Update — I think this has been plagiarised from Wikipedia, not the other way around. The book was published in 2007, whereas this text was added to WP in 11:17, 6 July 2005. I've removed the article's copyvio tag. Preimage (talk) 11:56, 22 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    24 October 2024

    It was a quote, and I removed it. It's fine now. Dhantegge (talk) 02:31, 24 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    • The Wikipedia article was created in 2012 as can be seen here: [5]
    • The Canadian Encyclopedia article, was "Published Online March 15, 2016.
    That's unexpected. The Canadian Encyclopedia author's bio doesn't match that of the wiki editor who wrote largely wrote the article either so it doesn't look like the CE article happened to be written by a Wikipedia editor. Wellington Bay (talk) 14:16, 25 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Another possibility is that this CE article was adapted either from another CE article or from another published article by the same author. Wellington Bay (talk) 14:22, 25 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    2 November 2024

    New listings

    Update this page
    Some issues may not be displayed on this page due to template transclusion limits. This can be alleviated by clearing the backlog.

    New listings are made on daily reports transcluded on this page and are not directly added to it. To add a new listing, please go to today's section. Instructions for adding new listings can be found at Instructions for listing text-based copyright concerns. Editors may resolve issues within listings by removing the copyrighted content or rewriting content on the temporary pages at any time, save for presumptive deletion. See the section on responding for more information.

    2 November 2024


    5 November 2024


    8 November 2024

    Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2024 November 9

    Wikipedia's current date is 9 November 2024. Put new article listings in Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2024 November 9. Files should be handled by speedy deletion or Wikipedia:Files for discussion.

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Copyright_problems&oldid=1256297780"