Commons:Village pump/Copyright

• Community portal
  • introduction
• Help desk
• Village pump
  • copyright
  • proposals
  • technical
• Administrators' noticeboard
  • vandalism
  • user problems
  • blocks and protections

Shortcuts: COM:VP/C • COM:VPC

↓ Skip to table of contents ↓       ↓ Skip to discussions ↓       ↓ Skip to the last discussion ↓

Welcome to the Village pump copyright section

This Wikimedia Commons page is used for general discussions relating to copyright and license issues, and for discussions relating to specific files' copyright issues. Discussions relating to specific copyright policies should take place on the talk page of the policy, but may be advertised here. Recent sections with no replies for 7 days and sections tagged with {{section resolved|1=~~~~}} may be archived; for old discussions, see the archives.

COMMONS DISCUSSION PAGES

• Commons Help desk
• Village pump (general discussion)
  • Copyright
  • Proposals
  • Technical
• Graphics and photography discussion
  • Photography critiques
  • Image improvement
    • Illustration workshop
    • Map workshop
    • Photography workshop
    • Video and sound workshop
• Categories for discussion
• Undeletion requests
• Deletion requests
• Volunteer Response Team/Noticeboard
• Translators' noticeboard
• Work requests for bots

---

• Contact administrators
  • Vandalism
  • User problems (Dispute resolution)
  • Blocks and protections
• Bureaucrats' noticeboard
• CheckUser requests
• Oversight requests

---

• Telegram
• IRC ^webchat
• Commons mailing list (archive)
• Commons' bugs on Phabricator

Please note

1. One of Wikimedia Commons' basic principles is: "Only free content is allowed." Please do not ask why unfree material is not allowed at Wikimedia Commons or suggest that allowing it would be a good thing.
2. Have you read the FAQ?
3. Any answers you receive here are not legal advice and the responder cannot be held liable for them. If you have legal questions, we can try to help but our answers cannot replace those of a qualified professional (i.e. a lawyer).
4. Your question will be answered here; please check back regularly. Please do not leave your email address or other contact information, as this page is widely visible across the Internet and you are liable to receive spam.
5. Please do not make deletion requests here – instead, use the relevant process for it.

Start a new discussion

	SpBot archives all sections tagged with {{Section resolved|1=~~~~}} after 1 day and sections whose most recent comment is older than 7 days.

Possibly public domain images published in book

I copied this question from the Help Desk at the suggestion of another contributor. There is a book titled Port Charlotte by Roxanne Read, and within it there are some old photos pertaining to Port Charlotte High School that were apparently provided "courtesy of Port Charlotte High School" (as well as some other public schools in Port Charlotte, including Charlotte Harbor Center). Public records in Florida are considered public domain, and apparently "public record" has a broad interpretation, so these are potentially public domain images. Would I need to try to hunt down either the author of the book or the school/school district officials that provided these to confirm their public record status (meaning that they were, in fact, government produced vs. a private individual or corporation with copyrights producing them for the government), or is the citation in the book enough to qualify them for inclusion in the Wikimedia Commons and/or Wikipedia? PCHS Pirate Alumnus (talk) 19:21, 21 October 2025 (UTC)

@PCHS Pirate Alumnus: "Courtesy of" in this case is likely to just mean who physically provided a photo. It would matter enormously whether or not the photo was taken by a school employee as part of their job, and nothing you say indicates that we can assume that.

Also, you don't say anything about the nature of the photo, or its date. If (for example) they were published in a school yearbook or a school newspaper before 1 March 1989, there is a very good chance of being PD for lack of copyright notice. - Jmabel ! talk 01:22, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for the reply. The photos in question are from the early 1980s (1980-1982, I think, but definitely prior to 1989). It seems to me that a reputable publisher would require the author to provide proof of permission to use the images if they were copyrighted by someone other than the school, and if that were the case the person or company that owns copyright would be named in the book. The book was published by Arcadia Publishing in 2009. How would you suggest verifying this, since I can't seem to find any information on the author to ask her directly? PCHS Pirate Alumnus (talk) 13:27, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

@PCHS Pirate Alumnus: It doesn't seem likely that the author of the Arcadia book has any rights at all involved in this, so it would seem to make more sense to contact the school. I take it from your account name that that should not be difficult for you to do. - Jmabel ! talk 02:35, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Licensing for works containing other works

Is there a more structured way to record the copyrights at File:Poster_House_Dorothy_Waugh_exhibit.jpg#Licensing and File:Wikipe-tan_drawing_at_WCNA_2025.jpg#Licensing?

For the first one, it's not merely a scan, so {{PD-art}} doesn't seem to apply, but I've released my photograph under a free license. For the second one, {{PD-art}} doesn't seem to apply when it's a freely licensed work rather than a PD work. Sdkb ^talk 21:01, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

@Sdkb: you can spell it out in the "Permission" field of the {{Information}} template. - Jmabel ! talk 01:24, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

Category:Videos by HoneyWorks

I was always wondering if the CC licenses on this category valid. I have seen the previous DRs and village pump posts, and it seems like the expectation is that we wait until Honeyworks requests takedown and that since the official channel released it that we should assume they have release rights. I've looked through their copyright FAQ and it seems like they are fine with most derivatives and performances, but there's a big caveat: they don't want their videos or music reproduced whole ("アルバム全曲を圧縮ファイルで公開する事や、動画配信する事は禁止します") and they also prohibit commercial distribution of derivatives of their illustrations ("ですが、販売・頒布に関してはご遠慮下さい"). In addition, performance rights are reserved by JASRAC. I don't think a CC license on a Youtube video fits with their official stance. Takipoint123 (💬) 16:21, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

Doesnt matter. They released their videos under a Creative Commons license which they cannot retract under any circumstances Trade (talk) 01:38, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

That's true in essence, but equally important is if the copyright owner intended to release it under CC BY SA at the first place. Also, YouTube does not allow CC licenses to songs which have a content identifier I believe (all Honeyworks songs are managed by JASRAC so they probably do). Takipoint123 (💬) 14:14, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Well, feel free to start a deletion request then Trade (talk) 18:30, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

Royal Military College Duntroon badge

Hi, and hope you're well. If File:Royal Military College Duntroon badge cropped.PNG can be hosted here, can w:File:Royal Military College Duntroon badge.gif be imported? I don't know enough to evaluate the November 2023 discussion at w:File talk:Royal Military College Duntroon badge.gif#c-KarmaKangaroo-20231125160900-KarmaKangaroo-20231122204100. Thanks in advanced! Rotideypoc41352 (talk) 20:03, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

Judging by the templates that state it is public domain in both the US and Australia, I say we're good. Bremps... 03:22, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Copyright of your own render of a company's spacecraft?

Hi, I created an up-to-date render of SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle docked to Vast Aerospace's Haven-1 spacecraft and I'm wondering if it is okay to publish the render depicting the two on Commons? Edits4019 (talk) 03:08, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Almost certainly allowed under COM:VEHICLE. Based5290 (talk) 19:04, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

BBC audio files

I don't have much experience when it comes to audio files uploaded to Commons, but I'm hoping that someone who does will take a look at File:BBC Hebrew Final Broadcast.wav, File:BBC Hebrew Service 10th anniversary Oct 31, 1959.wav, File:BBC Hebrew, Queen's Coronation 1953.wav, File:BBC Hebrew Unit - Michael Almaz 1976.wav and File:BBC Hebrew First Broadcast.wav. These all appear to be legitimate recordings of BBC radio broadcasts in their entirety that are being claimed as own work by the uploader. Some of them might be old enough to have already entered into the public domain per COM:UK I guess, but it would be better for someone more experienced with audio files to do that assessment. I've let the uploader know about this discussion, and perhaps they'll clarify what they mean by "own work"; such a claim and the licensing used the files, though, seem incorrect to me. -- Marchjuly (talk) 03:06, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

I'm not an expert on copyright of audio files but these may not have originated in the UK. While the BBC home service is based in the UK, a service specifically in Hebrew may have been part of the BBC World Service. They could have recorded and broadcast the service from a location outside of the UK (I'd guess the intended audience was Israel). Some BBC World Service shows were recorded in (and broadcast from) the UK using native speakers from the intended audience (one example is how the Free French broadcast BBC radio shows from London during WWII). Further research may be needed on how the BBC managed this service. Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Israel may be relevant here. From Hill To Shore (talk) 11:43, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

Copied from my talk page. Yann (talk) 19:01, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

Not all the recording belong to the BBC. I recorded some myself with the individual broadcasters when I worked with them. Some are from discs belonging to the broadcasters who were presented with them. Leonard9ca (talk) 16:46, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

@Leonard9ca: Did you produce the original broadcasts yourself or did you just make recordings of them? Typically, the copyright holder of something is considered to be original creator of the content, not someone who reproduces what was created. If the recordings you created were something considered to be an audio equivalent to Commons:2D copying, then what you created is considered in many cases to be simply a "mechanical reproduction" that in and of itself lacks sufficient creativity to be eligible for copyright protection under the copyright laws of many countries (e.g. the United States). Even for those countries in which it might be considered eligible for copyright protection (e.g. the United Kingdom), there's a good chance it would still be a Commons:Derivative work involving two copyrights for Commons purposes: the one for the original work and the one for your recording. Since the copyright of the latter doesn't automatically void or take precedance over the copyright of the former, Commons would still need some way of assessing the copyright of the original broadcast since it can really only keep content which is 100% free (either 100% within the public domain or 100% released under acceptable free licenses). The Creative Commons license you used might be OK for your recording, but it wouldn't automatically also cover the original broadcast. -- Marchjuly (talk) 23:15, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

PD-Serbia for derivative works?

There's the image w:en:File:Album Tesko meni sa tobom.jpg on enwiki uploaded under a fair use rationale. It's an album cover from the late 1980s, but it is based on a 1943/1944 photograph by Žorž Skrigin (1910–1997), i.e. Kozarčanka, which is licensed as {{PD-Serbia}} because it's a photograph published before 1978 and Yugoslavia only provided a copyright term of 25 years after author's death for photos.

Now my question would be whether this PD rationale would extend to derivative works that were published after 1978, like the above album cover?

Or is the album cover maybe distinct enough that it crosses the Serbian TOO as a creative work of its own? Nakonana (talk) 12:49, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

• Looks all right to me, just link to the original in the other versions field of the information template when you upload it. -Nard (Hablemonos)(Let's talk) 13:11, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

CC licensed used by official channel in different region for Copyrighted Materials

The YouTube source for File:Overwatch_2_–_Trailer_de_lançamento.webm (as well as several files that have been cropped from screenshots of it) does list the standard CC YouTube license, but its clear that the material in question is normally 100% a copyrighted work from a US company. The uploader does appear to be an official agency of the US company that owns the copyright but this feels like copyright-washing that we should be avoiding. Masem (talk) 17:58, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

Templates and categories were created in September 2024, April 2025 and July 2025 for videos of several official youtube accounts of that company. Not sure what we do with that but at least it's not an isolated mistake by one channel. Notifying JohnCWiesenthal. -- Asclepias (talk) 19:56, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

Those channel-specific YouTube CC BY templates were created in response to {{Official Doctor Who YouTube channel}} and {{Official Star Wars Flickr stream}} (and actually started with {{Official NickRewind YouTube channel}}). JohnCWiesenthal (talk) 20:26, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

Don't deny its fine for those templates, it makes sense, for the channels of the programs in their original native country or language, as there's clearer line of authority for taking copyrighted material to release as CC. Here, though, this is a foreign language version of the main US entity, and posting videos that are under copyright from the official English channels, but where the foreign version simply uses the same visual elements and labels that CC. The cleanliness of the Brazilian Xbox division to do that is very unclear. Masem (talk) 12:29, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

This seems like a straightforward rehash of the Vogue Taiwan situation. The foreign subsidiaries of a company don't automatically have the right to freely release content they're republishing from their corporate owner. They're two separate entities, so the republisher (the subsidiary) needs explicit permission from the content owner. As has been demonstrated in several other analogous situations, that required permission often never happens, as subsidiaries sometimes mistakenly believe they don't need to ask for it. So, IMO, we can't rely on the CC licenses for the non-English XBOX videos unless and until Microsoft/XBOX HQ confirms that their subsidiaries had permission to release the content as such. 19h00s (talk) 12:44, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

That doesnt explain why a subsidary suddenly decided to release everything under CC BY SA (and in the case of XBoxBR, seemingly only for videos posted in a specific time period) Trade (talk) 06:25, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Don't know if this info is going to be useful, but XboxBR stopped CC BY licensing after October 2023 (with the last CC BY video being 11 segredos que você não sabia sobre o Xbox, which I also wanted to upload, but now I'll wait). Dabmasterars [EN/RU] (talk/uploads) 10:37, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

I mean I don't think we're ever going to get a direct explanation as to why they made that choice unless the rightsholder confirms it was on purpose and authorized. No one from Condé ever gave a full reasoning of why Vogue Taiwan made those licensing choices. I was chastised in that last discussion by several folks for conjecturing about the intent of VT, so I'm just gonna wait until WMF or a rightsholder responds. 19h00s (talk) 12:30, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

What you've encountered is a free depiction. There is a whole category for these types of files with constant arguing about whether some of this stuff should be allowed. The most recent deletion discussion about Minecraft content uploaded by Xbox Mexico veered heavily towards the fact that uploads by subsidiaries count as official (0 "delete" votes, 6 "keep" votes, excluding mine), but feel free to argue otherwise. This can be a pretty contentious topic and the fact that it has never been tested in court doesn't help.

Also, CC licenses are irrevocable, so even if one changes their license on YouTube, it is still fair game, as long as you can verify that the license was here in the first place (either with Internet Archive or if the reviewer verified it). So if the owner changes the license after being contacted, that doesn't mean anything unless the owner explicitly mentions that the license was not intended in the first place. Dabmasterars [EN/RU] (talk/uploads) 17:50, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

I feel you may be overlooking some factors here. We have several uploads of the video, two of which in the same locale (Overwatch BR), by subsidiaries of the same company. But only the XboxBR account posted it as free use. That wasn't the same issue raised in the Minecraft deletion discussion, and I share Masem's concerns about copyright-washing.--Kung Fu Man (talk) 18:18, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

This doesn’t address whether XBOX’s Brazilian subsidiary had the right to publish the content under that license. That’s the core of the issue here, not the irrevocability of CC licenses. Subsidiaries don’t automatically have the same rights over content as their corporate parents. 19h00s (talk) 18:41, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

And just to put a finer point on it, I really do think this feels like the same situation as Vogue Taiwan (see the primary discussion and the eventual WMF response). In that case, a foreign subsidiary of Condé Nast (Vogue Taiwan, or VT) republished content from Condé under free licenses; that same content had been published elsewhere by other Condé entities without free licenses. After WMF got in touch with Condé to clear things up, Condé confirmed that the CC licenses on VT's content were an error; the consensus among admins was to then delete all of the content in question, not because VT had made a mistake (CC licenses are irrevocable, after all), but because VT likely never had the legal authority to make that free licensing decision in the first place, meaning the CC licenses were likely never even valid. I think that's exactly what's happened here with XBOX: the foreign subsidiaries of a company have released under a free license content from their corporate parents, even after that same content had been republished by other subsidiaries with restrictions. This resulted in that content ending up on Commons; but there is no evidence that the subsidiary had the legal authority to make that licensing decision, meaning we do not know if the licenses are valid or invalid. Given the context here (we're talking about a giant tech company that regularly pursues damages for IP violations), I do not think it's appropriate to just "assume" that the subsidiaries crossed their t's and dotted their i's on this, especially when other examples have taught us that assumption is not always correct.

I understand completely why it's so tempting to believe on its face the licensing situation here; there's even a part of me that feels a bit of satisfaction with XBOX's seeming mistake because I also love free media and hate it when corporations gatekeep everything they own. But loopholes or unique situations like this which seem to get around the IP practices of large companies are in fact usually too good to be true. 19h00s (talk) 19:15, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

I sent messages to Activision/Microsoft/XBox's PR and legal teams to try and sort this out. Does anyone else have any interest in reaching out to any of the rightsholders here to get clarity? Should we ask WMF Legal for an opinion on what they would do if Microsoft/XBox/Activision send DMCA takedowns? 19h00s (talk) 20:17, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

WMF legal could definitely provide help. Although it would make sense to remove the content under the DMCA takedown, I feel like going with a full lawsuit could be more beneficial, since there has been no precedents on free depictions and one could be set, resolving most of the future conflicts. Though I don't know how costly it would be and how strong the Wikimedia lawyers are. Still, it would be nice to know the legality of free depictions once and for all, including ones made by subsidiaries. Dabmasterars [EN/RU] (talk/uploads) 04:58, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Why do i feel like this is gonna end up with companies pressuring YouTube to remove CC licensing as an option entirely? Trade (talk) 06:27, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Certainly not my intention, but... oof, yeah.

FYSA, I flagged this for WMF legal in the same place where Yann flagged the Vogue Taiwan issue. 19h00s (talk) 12:26, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

File:Burg_Rheinstein_2009-08-01_08.jpg und Burg Rheinstein 2009-08-01 07

Könnte es sein, dass diese wappenähnlichen Gebilde in einem nicht öffentlich einsehbaren Teil der Burg angebracht sind? Die Stelle sieht neu gestaltet aus, und es könnte sein, dass wir hier Probleme mit der Panaoramafreiheit und dem Urheberrecht haben. GerritR (talk) 19:46, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

Laut Google Lens Bildersuche ist dieser Teil der Burg definitiv öffentlich einsehbar (und begehbar). Beispiele desselben Tores mit denselben Wappen:

• in einem Artikel vom Februar 2024[1]
• im März 2019 mit einer Besucherin auf dem Foto[2]
• in September 2010 mit einem Besucher[3]
• mit ganz vielen Besuchern in 2009[4]
• noch mehr Besuchern[5]
• auf Tripadvisor in einer Rezension aus 2016[6]
• in einem japanischen Blog im Jahr 2017[7]
• undatiert auf einer russischen Seite[8]

Ich würde sagen, hier kann von Panoramafreiheit ausgegangen werden. Nakonana (talk) 20:52, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

Das scheint das aktuelle Eingangstor zur Burg zu sein. --Rosenzweig τ 21:09, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

Question on en-wp on threshold of originality

 You are invited to join the discussion at w:Wikipedia:Media copyright questions#Question(s) about Quaristice. Rotideypoc41352 (talk) 22:45, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

Aooo Album Cover & Band Photos

I'm not the best educated on on how wikipedia and wikimedia operate, but I wrote the article for J-rock band Aooo and was hoping to use a photo of their debut album and band photo on the article Feeeshies (talk) 01:06, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

@Feeeshies: did you take the band photo? If not, please read Commons:Uploading works by a third party.

As for the album jacket, assuming that it is not so simple as to be uncopyrightable, then it is certainly copyrighted, and cannot be on Commons without permission of the copyright-holder. Which language Wikipedia are we talking about? If it is the English-language Wikipedia, please see en:Wikipedia:Non-free content and en:Template:Album rationale for how you would do this entirely within the English-language Wikipedia. - Jmabel ! talk 01:39, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

How to put an image of Haikouichthys ercaicunensis in an article following the right Commons procedures ?

Concerning this file in Dutch Wikipedia article Cambrische explosie :

File:Haikouichthys ercaicunensis, an early Vertebrate (Agnatha) from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Biota, Helinpu Formation, South China.png

In the description, under permission I added : 'mail (2025-07-14) from Xiguang Zhang (xgzhang@ynu.edu.cn), The Research Center for Chengjiang Biota, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650091, China, with granted permission for the use of Figure 1 on page 1163.'

After receipt of the above mentionned permission-emails from Mr. Xiguang Zhang, article-author, I published the image, convinced these emails would suffice, but nontheless this permission, the file has been nominated for deletion.

After reading about how to follow the right Commons-procedures, I still don't have a clue how to do this.

I somewhere read that volunteers can reach out to the copyright holder(s) for obtaining the right license.

So, I would like to address myself to these volunteers. Ronny MG (talk) 14:31, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

The same request towards these volunteers for the files below, concerning uploaded images for which I have permission by email from authors to use them in the article (see reference to these permission-mails under 'Beschrijving', Toestemming'):

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schematic_structure_of_Kimberella_quadrata,_Upper_Ediacarian_of_South-Australia_and_Northwestern_Russia.png

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Body_impression_of_Kimberella_quadrata_;_Upper_Ediacarian_section_of_the_Arkhangel%E2%80%99sk_region_at_Zimnie_Gory_site...png

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kimberichnus_teruzzii,_holotype_PIN,_no._3993-5619_;_grazing_traces_from_Kimberella_(Upper_Vendian,_Zimnie_Gory_Formation_of_Arkhangel%E2%80%99sk_region,_Russia)..png

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reconstruction_of_Kimberella_with_grazing_traces_Kimberichnus_teruzzii_(Upper_Ediacaran_of_South-Australia_and_Upper_Vendian_of_White_Sea_Region).png

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reconstruction_drawing_of_Myllokunmingia_fengjiaoa,_a_stem_Vertebrate_from_the_Lower_Cambrian_Chengjiang_Biota_Konservat-Lagerst%C3%A4tte._Helinpu_Formation_at_Haikou_(Kunming_City,_Yunnan_provincie,_Southern_China).png

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Accumulations_of_the_primitive_Chordate_Yunnanozoon_lividum._Lower_Cambrian_of_Chengjiang_Biota_Konservat-Lagerst%C3%A4tte,_South_China.png

Many thanks in advance.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Ronny MG (talk • contribs)

• Have the article authors directly email COM:VRT instead of you, they need to state the following three points:
  1) the file name they are emailing about
  2) they own the copyright of the image in question (either because they drew it or in the case of the publisher the rights were transferred to them)
  3) the specific license they are releasing the image under, "permission to use in wikipedia" is not enough. -Nard (Hablemonos)(Let's talk) 18:02, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

By the way, I noticed that most of the images used in the article in question (wikipedia:nl:Cambrische explosie) were uploaded by yourself, and many of them overlap with existing images. File:The Early Cambrian Vetulicolian Nesonektris aldridgei. Buck Quarry, Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte (Kangaroo Island, South Australia).png for example, have same content as File:Nesonektris aldridgei.gif. This image was originally CC-licensed anyway, but even for images that require the permissions listed above, there are likely alternatives that are perfectly acceptable for use in articles. See Category:Kimberella fossils or Category:Yunnanozoon fossils for example, you can find good fossil images that is usable for article, usable without getting permission from author. Ta-tea-two-te-to (talk) 22:53, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

Is the title and author name under CC BY-SA 4.0 and the image under CC BY-SA 3.0??

I was looking at older image dumps and I released some are liscensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 but the structured data is sparse, with only the name of the author in some cases even though for a CC BY-SA 3.0 attribution the title is required. Perhaps this has been asked before, or I simply do not understand this correctly... Sloemaxez (talk) 00:33, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Huh, @Sloemaxez, your posting is somewhat hard to sort out and understand (notably due to a lack of punctuation). Did I grasp correctly that you're asking about licensing combinations on Wikimedia dumps? If yes:

- for some time already (several years, I think), the standard license on WMF projects was switched from CC-By-SA 3.0 unported to CC-By-SA 4.0 unported. I don't recall the exact date at the moment, but this date serves as cut-off between the default licenses. Anything that carried a valid license at the time of upload is available under that exact license.

- an author name is pure information and does not amount to any expression of creativity. Only human creative results warrant copyright protections, which are the base of licenses. So, author names are not within the purview of copyrights.

- an author is free to provide a title for their work(s). If such information is given, then it must be included in any license-compliant usage. But: authors are also free to forego the selection of a title. If they don't state a title, then the licensing requirement of stating one is moot - you can't use something that isn't present. For Wikimedia Commons images, you can and maybe should default to the filename as title surrogate as that would help in searching the actual source file. It is also quite difficult (but not impossible) to create a title which is creative enough to warrant a copyright in its own right, as default, use the same license for it as the underlying work. Other licensing constructions must be clearly declared.

- the Creative Commons licenses are quite permissive when it comes to make correct attributions in compilations using licensed material. You will need to simply list what compiled part is available under what kind of license. There are other en:FOSS licenses around which are "more virulent", meaning, they pervade compilations and are often incompatible with other kinds of free licensing models. Further reading is likely to be gleaned by actually googleing "viral license" or at en:Copyleft#"Viral" licensing.

Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 01:34, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Oh I see, my english has been getting worse(despite me being a native speaker), I am sorry for my lack of punctuation. Your response is appreciated. Sloemaxez (talk) 04:05, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

@Sloemaxez: nevermind - I struggled at sorting out the meaning of the 2 verbs in "I was looking at older image dumps and I released some are liscensed under CC BY-SA 3.0". But apparently I got your intentions right enough?! Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 04:33, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

released -> realized Sloemaxez (talk) 05:07, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

AAAHHH! Thanks, that really makes sense. - I forgot to give Commons:Multi-licensing as link in my first answer, by the way. It may also be a helpful reading. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 05:21, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Help determining copyright

This photo is of a composer named Apollon Gussakovsky (Russian) or Hussakovskyi (Ukrainian). I tried to search the image, but the only other result I found was this Soviet journal that doesn't mention the author, date,... Can anyone help me find the copyright details of the image? WafflesInvasion (talk) 13:04, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

• Given his lifespan of 1841-1875, this file *should* be safe to upload to Commons. -Nard (Hablemonos)(Let's talk) 13:40, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

  Agree {{PD-old-assumed}} should probably work. Nakonana (talk) 17:54, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

Russia rehabilitation question

Hi, I'm trying to figure out Russian copyright for a work. This is about a man who, while in Russia under the USSR, published a work in 1930, was arrested in 1935 and died while imprisoned (around 1938), then was posthumously rehabilitated in October 1958. Based on Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Russia, is his 1930 work still copyrighted?

To my understanding it is; if we assume 50 years from rehabilitation -> October 2008, and on January 1, 2008, Russia retroactively extended rehabilitation copyright to 70 years, so -> October 2028. grapesurgeon (seefooddiet) (talk) 00:42, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

Yes, I think your reasoning is correct. Ymblanter (talk) 09:55, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

Copyright terms almost always run to the end of the year, so until Dec. 31, 2028. Also still protected in the US until the end of 2025 because of the URAA. --Rosenzweig τ 10:57, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

About an old Argentine photo

Once again I'm struggling to wrap my head around the ins and outs of copyright law for a GA review. In 2023, Jpmanganiello (talk · contribs) uploaded this photograph of the Dubovsky family, claiming to be the copyright holder and releasing it under a CC license. I can't find any evidence that this photograph was published prior to its upload here. I also don't know the identity of the photographer. I estimated that the photo was taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s, judging by the age of the children, which would imply that it was created before Argentina established its own copyright law in 1933. I've tried reaching out to the uploader for more information, but they have been inactive since uploading it. Based on all this info, was the uploader correct in uploading it under this license, or is it in the public domain based on the known information about it? LEvalyn (talk · contribs) believes it might fall under PD-1996, but I'm not sure that's the case, due to a lack of prior publication. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. --Grnrchst (talk) 11:30, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

If the photo was taken and afterwards given to the family by a professional photographer, then, per Commons:Deletion requests/File:Beverly J. White portrait.jpg, it was published if it wasn't a work for hire. So either Jpmanganiello has to be the copyright holder or we are certain that the photo is not a work for hire. prospectprospekt (talk) 14:22, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

How is "for hire" defined? It definitely seems like it was taken in a studio. But again, I have very little information about it :/ --Grnrchst (talk) 17:53, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

Looking through that discussion thread and some linked from it, I don't see a clear explanation of "for hire" , but I do see a recurring idea that when a photographer gave a studio portrait to the subjects of the photo, this actually constituted its "publication". That's new information to me and very helpful to know! I agree with Grnchst that this certainly appears to be a studio portrait of the family. I'm more convinced now that pd-1996 is appropriate here. LEvalyn (talk) 18:03, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

My understanding from reading Nimmer on Copyright § 5.03[B][2][c] is that under the Copyright Act of 1909, commissioned works are presumed to be made for hire, but (as Nimmer speculates at the end of the section) it is possible that the photographer published the photo before implicitly transferring their common law copyright. However, since this is a photo from Argentina, I'm not sure if US copyright law is the correct point of reference. Maybe Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc., a case that I don't fully understand, could offer some insight? prospectprospekt (talk) 22:48, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Fair-use and copyright violation

I was editing the article on Plants vs. Zombies on the English Wikipedia, which itself had a screenshot of the game, uploaded under the fair-use license. I uploaded a screenshot of my own to add to the section of the article talking about other game modes. It is just a screenshot of the game just like the existing photo in the article. As I am still quite an inexperienced editor, I couldn't figure out how to set the license under fair-use. This seems to have lead to the removal of the image, along with a warning issued to me regarding a copyright violation, and how repeated offenders could be banned.

Clearly, I had no intention of violating any copyright laws, and I had thought that any issues with not selecting the right license would be rectifiable after the image was uploaded, and not lead to a copyright violation. I am concerned that this might mean my account is flagged for having a copyright violation, and I would like to appeal for this record to be removed, as I am sure that fair-use applies to the image that I had uploaded, as it does for the existing image featured in the article.

Could anyone educate me on what I might have missed? How was I supposed to get the image to be uploaded under fair-use, and how can I go about rectifying this record for a copyright violation? Who could I contact or appeal to regarding this issue? Thank you.

-- Sentimex (talk) 06:58, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

Fair use images should be uploaded to the English Wikipedia, they are not allowed on Commons. Spinal83 (talk) 07:45, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

Ditto as to what Spinal83 said, Fair Use is outside the scope of Commons as it is supposed to serve as a library of freely-licensed images.

Furthermore, when uploading a fair-use/nonfree image to Wikipedia, one must make sure it follows the Free Use Rational. One of the most important aspects of this is that the file is low enough quality as to make it unfit for reproduction.

With all that said and done, I'd like to say "Welcome to Wikimedia Commons!". Start here if you'd like to know more about this project and it's policies. I hope this moment doesn't scare you off. Cawfeecrow (talk) 13:28, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

Thank you both for your responses, and doubly so for the warm welcome! I needed that if I'm being honest, that copyright violation notice did scare me quite a bit, haha. I had no idea that there was a distinction between uploading to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, which explains my initial confusion during the upload. I'll try to be more careful moving forward. Glad to have had a positive encounter with the community come out of this! -- Sentimex (talk) 20:39, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

We mark everything as "copyvio" even if the usage here (or Wikipedia) would fall under fair use and be legal. Fair use, as it exists in the United States, is not common elsewhere (though a few countries have copied the language into their laws in the last few years). Most have something somewhat similar but not as wide-ranging or flexible. Since Commons is used by projects of all languages, we don't allow fair use images here at all -- those have to be uploaded at local projects such as English Wikipedia (and they try to limit their use there, so if there are many fair-use images on an article, they may try to whittle those down). Fair use implies that it's legal in some circumstances, and not in others (which would then be copyright violations if used in those other situations). The marker here was more of "it could be a copyvio if people use in ways we claim it can be used", as images here should also be OK for e.g. commercial use. Carl Lindberg (talk) 20:49, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

That's really good to know, really appreciate your detailed explanation. I did intend to upload the image to the English Wikipedia as I was editing an article, but I did not realise that the image ended up being uploaded to Commons instead. This is something about the interface that I am still confused about and would like to figure out moving forward. -- Sentimex (talk) 20:56, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

@Sentimex: you should probably read Commons:Uploading works by a third party. - Jmabel ! talk 02:37, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Will check this out. Thanks! -- Sentimex (talk) 20:56, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

What's the TOO on PD moving picture re-scans and/or "remasters"? (US)

I already presume colorizations meet TOO, I'm not talking about them.

Per Bridgeman v. Corel, I know that static reproductions of PD 2d works do not meet TOO. However, I'm a little lost on moving reproductions. You know, movies. Template:PD-scan doesn't specify format.

I see that per Maljack Productions, Inc. v. UAV Corp., "pan and scan" reproductions are copyrighted (though I'm no film aficionado, not too sure I'd be able to identify a pan and scan work myself), but I can't find policy on simple "transfer this to digital HD" reproductions. Attempting to look at Commons precedent, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steamboat_Willie_(1928)_by_Walt_Disney.webm appears to be lifted from Disney Video and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:004_-_The_Barn_Dance.webm seems to be from a DVD version, and I know that everyone gets a heart attack from even the slightly-dodgy mention of Micheal Rat and his henchmen (reasonably so), so it's looking good for "hd rescans of moving pictures do not meet TOO"...I think. But I'd like an actual expert rather than relying on my iffy guess-work

It feels silly that I'm even asking this question in the first place, since I feel like I should know this by now, but I don't. Not just asking for the purposes of Commons, but also for personal use purposes. Thank you for listening. Cawfeecrow (talk) 07:01, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

Any motion picture consists of many still frames that are displayed sequentially. So, any digitization of a movie involves digitization of a large number of still pictures, none of which creates any new copyright. The pan and scan is different in this respect as in involves digitization of only a portion of each still image. Ruslik (talk) 19:25, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

Right, thanks! Cawfeecrow (talk) 21:31, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

Derivative license

If a non‐original derivative is made of a public domain work, that work will also be in the public domain. Let’s assume a man makes a work of art, and then makes a non‐original derivative of the artwork (e.g. a different colour for one section). He then licenses the original under a free licence. Does that make the derivative can be uploaded here? What about if he licensed the derivative and not the original? ANOTHERWlKlPEDlAN _{wɑit thɑt’s ɑ typo} 22:39, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

• Modifications of existing works that don't rise to a standard where they can be copyrighted are said to be below the threshold of originality, see COM:TOO however if it's also licensed under a free license, I don't see the problem? Maybe if you showed us the source and final products we could give some more specific advice? Also some licenses are sharealike or viral, you don't have a choice but to license the derivative the same way. -Nard (Hablemonos)(Let's talk) 23:08, 30 October 2025 (UTC)
• I think the issue you are asking about is one of licence timing. The example you give suggests an artist creates a copyrighted work, then creates a derivative of the work and, finally, releases the original work under a free licence. You are couching this in terms of one work being derivative of the other, but you could also argue that the original artist produced two versions of the same work. Without specific examples to consider, I would lean toward this being two versions of the same work, one version has been licensed and the other is unlicensed. From Hill To Shore (talk) 23:24, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Yemen

Houthi-controlled areas

Do Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Yemen apply to the areas in Yemen that are being governed and controlled by the Houthis? It doesnt really make sense for Commons to be bound by the FOP of a internationally recognised government which lacks any ability to enforce their laws in the area. Trade (talk) 00:11, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Yes, we recognize the treaties that govern copyright in Afghanistan even if the Taliban do not care to enforce copyright (and thus also the no FOP in that country). I don't see a reason for us not to uphold Yemeni copyright in Houthi-controlled areas. Courtesy ping to @Abo Yemen: Abzeronow (talk) 00:48, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Wasn't the whole argument to follow Russian FOP in Crimea that the Ukrainian government did not had any ability to enforce the law in the area? Not that i wish to bring up that argument again

I find the argument with Afghanistan curious because as far as Commons is aware there is little to suggest that the copyright law has changed since the fall of the republic Trade (talk) 00:55, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

The Crimea argument essentially boils down to Russia being slightly more liberal on FOP than Ukraine, and thus a policy-based reason to keep Crimean buildings without violating COM:PCP. Abzeronow (talk) 01:00, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

So if the Houthis had a more liberal FOP you would be onboard with recognizing their law instead? Trade (talk) 06:09, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

The houthis still follow the yemeni constitution and its laws and are pretty much a de facto state, so yes, it does apply 𐩣𐩫𐩧𐩨 Abo Yemen (𓃵) 12:17, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Media without human authors

Trade recently created categories Category:Videos without human authors and Category:Images without human authors which made me wonder whether satellite imagery and videos – including from cameras on the ISS – should also be in it.

If so, doesn't that mean those are not copyright protected either? And doesn't that mean that all Google Earth media also is CCBY? Please clarify.

Moreover, for now I've added Category:Photos taken with camera traps and Category:Self-portraits of animals (non-human animals) to the former – please comment if these don't belong there or should be distinguished somehow from the rest of the cat contents. There probably are a few more similar categories still missing there. Prototyperspective (talk) 11:32, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Copyrightability of the Commons logo

There is a request to put a PD template to the Commons logo (thus deny its copyrightability) at File talk:Commons-logo.svg#Edit request. I invite opinions because this can be controversial. whym (talk) 07:35, 1 November 2025 (UTC)