m (fixed bad link to wikipedia public domain)
(fix links to Wikipedia project pages; some {{WP|XYZ}} links)
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'''Important note:''' ''Appropedia does not own copyright on Appropedia article texts and illustrations. It is therefore useless to email our contact addresses asking for permission to reproduce content.''
'''Important note:''' ''Appropedia does not own copyright on Appropedia article texts and illustrations. It is therefore useless to email our contact addresses asking for permission to reproduce content.''


The license Appropedia uses grants free access to our content in the same sense as [[wikipedia:free software]] is licensed freely. This principle is known as '''[[wikipedia:copyleft]]'''. That is to say, Appropedia content can be copied, modified, and redistributed ''so long as'' the new version grants the same freedoms to others and acknowledges the authors of the Appropedia article used (a direct link back to the article satisfies our author credit requirement).  Appropedia articles therefore will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve to ensure that freedom.
The license Appropedia uses grants free access to our content in the same sense as {{WP|free software}} is licensed freely. This principle is known as {{WP|'''copyleft'''}}. That is to say, Appropedia content can be copied, modified, and redistributed ''so long as'' the new version grants the same freedoms to others and acknowledges the authors of the Appropedia article used (a direct link back to the article satisfies our author credit requirement).  Appropedia articles therefore will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve to ensure that freedom.


To fulfill the above goals, the text contained in Wikipedia is licensed to the public under the '''[[wikipedia:GNU Free Documentation License]]''' (GFDL). The full text of this license is at [[Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License]]. This text should not be changed due to legal reasons.
To fulfill the above goals, the text contained in Wikipedia is licensed to the public under the '''[[wikipedia:GNU Free Documentation License]]''' (GFDL). The full text of this license is at [[Wikipedia:Project:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License]]. This text should not be changed due to legal reasons.


(We note here that most of the text of this page is itself derived from [[Wikipedia:Copyrights|Wikipedia's Copyright page]] under the terms of the GNU-FDL.)
(We note here that most of the text of this page is itself derived from [[Wikipedia:Project:Copyrights|Wikipedia's Copyright page]] under the terms of the GNU-FDL.)


:'''Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the [[wikipedia:Free Software Foundation]]; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.'''
:'''Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the {{WP|Free Software Foundation}}; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.'''
:'''A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "[[Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License|GNU Free Documentation License]]".'''
:'''A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "{{WP p|Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License|GNU Free Documentation License}}".'''
:'''Content on Appropedia is covered by [[Appropedia:general disclaimer|disclaimers]].'''
:'''Content on Appropedia is covered by [[Appropedia:general disclaimer|disclaimers]].'''
<!--- see Text of the GFDL, "How to use this license" for why we use this specific form of words (+discussion in Talk) --->
<!--- see Text of the GFDL, "How to use this license" for why we use this specific form of words (+discussion in Talk) --->
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The English text of the GFDL is the only legally binding document; what follows is our interpretation of the GFDL: the rights and obligations of users and contributors.
The English text of the GFDL is the only legally binding document; what follows is our interpretation of the GFDL: the rights and obligations of users and contributors.


<font size="+1">IMPORTANT:  If you want to reuse content from Appropedia, first read the [[#Reusers'_rights_and_obligations|Reusers' rights and obligations]] section.  You should then read the [[Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License|GNU Free Documentation License]].</font>
<font size="+1">IMPORTANT:  If you want to reuse content from Appropedia, first read the [[#Reusers'_rights_and_obligations|Reusers' rights and obligations]] section.  You should then read the [[Wikipedia:Project:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License|GNU Free Documentation License]].</font>


== Contributors' rights and obligations ==
== Contributors' rights and obligations ==


If you contribute material to Appropedia, you thereby license it to the public
If you contribute material to Appropedia, you thereby license it to the public under the GFDL (with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).
under the GFDL (with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover
 
texts).
In order to contribute, you therefore must be in a position to grant this license, which means that either
In order to contribute, you therefore must be in a position to grant this
license, which means that either
* you own the copyright to the material, for instance because you produced it yourself, or
* you own the copyright to the material, for instance because you produced it yourself, or
* you acquired the material from a source that allows the licensing under GFDL, for instance because the material is in the [[Wikipedia:public domain|public domain]] or is itself published under GFDL.
* you acquired the material from a source that allows the licensing under GFDL, for instance because the material is in the [[Wikipedia:public domain|public domain]] or is itself published under GFDL.
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In the first case, you retain copyright to your materials. You can later republish and relicense them in any way you like. However, you can never retract the GFDL license for the versions you placed here: that material will remain under GFDL forever.
In the first case, you retain copyright to your materials. You can later republish and relicense them in any way you like. However, you can never retract the GFDL license for the versions you placed here: that material will remain under GFDL forever.


In the second case, if you incorporate external GFDL materials, as a requirement of the GFDL, you need to
In the second case, if you incorporate external GFDL materials, as a requirement of the GFDL, you need to acknowledge the authorship and provide a link back to the network location of the original copy.
acknowledge the authorship and provide a link back to the network location of the original copy.


=== Using copyrighted work from others ===
=== Using copyrighted work from others ===


All works are copyrighted unless they either fall into the [[Wikipedia:public domain|public domain]] or their copyright is explicitly disclaimed.  If you use part of a copyrighted work under "[[Wikipedia:Fair use|fair use]]", or if you obtain special permission to use a copyrighted work from the copyright holder under the terms of our license, you must make a note of that fact (along with names and dates). It is our goal to be able to freely redistribute as much of Wikipedia's material as possible, so original images and sound files licensed under the GFDL or in the [[Wikipedia:public domain|public domain]] are greatly preferred to copyrighted media files used under fair use. See [[Wikipedia:Boilerplate request for permission]] for a form letter asking a copyright holder to grant us a license to use their work under terms of the GFDL.  
All works are copyrighted unless they either fall into the [[Wikipedia:public domain|public domain]] or their copyright is explicitly disclaimed.  If you use part of a copyrighted work under "[[Wikipedia:Fair use|fair use]]", or if you obtain special permission to use a copyrighted work from the copyright holder under the terms of our license, you must make a note of that fact (along with names and dates). It is our goal to be able to freely redistribute as much of Wikipedia's material as possible, so original images and sound files licensed under the GFDL or in the [[Wikipedia:public domain|public domain]] are greatly preferred to copyrighted media files used under fair use. See [[Wikipedia:Project:Boilerplate request for permission]] for a form letter asking a copyright holder to grant us a license to use their work under terms of the GFDL.  


Never use materials that infringe the copyrights of others. This could create legal liabilities and seriously hurt the project. If in doubt, write it yourself.
Never use materials that infringe the copyrights of others. This could create legal liabilities and seriously hurt the project. If in doubt, write it yourself.
Line 62: Line 59:


===Introducing invariant sections or cover texts in Appropedia===
===Introducing invariant sections or cover texts in Appropedia===
Under Appropedia's current copyright conditions, and with the current facilities of the MediaWiki software, it is only possible to include in Appropedia external GFDL materials that contain invariant sections or cover texts, if all of the following apply,
Under Appropedia's current copyright conditions, and with the current facilities of the MediaWiki software, it is only possible to include in Appropedia external GFDL materials that contain invariant sections or cover texts, if all of the following apply,  
# You are the copyright holder of these external GFDL materials (or: you have the explicit, i.e. written, permission of the copyright holder to do what follows);
# You are the copyright holder of these external GFDL materials (or: you have the explicit, i.e. written, permission of the copyright holder to do what follows);
# The length and nature of these invariant sections and cover texts does not exceed what can be placed in an [[wikipedia:edit summary|edit summary]];
# The length and nature of these invariant sections and cover texts does not exceed what can be placed in an [[wikipedia:Project:edit summary|edit summary]];
# You are satisfied that these invariant sections and cover texts are not listed elsewhere than in the "page history" of the page where these external materials are placed;
# You are satisfied that these invariant sections and cover texts are not listed elsewhere than in the "page history" of the page where these external materials are placed;
# You are satisfied that further copies of Wikipedia content are distributed under the standard GFDL application of "with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts" (in other words, for the copies derived from wikipedia, you agree that these parts of the text contributed by you will no longer be considered as "invariant sections" or "cover texts" in the GFDL sense);
# You are satisfied that further copies of Wikipedia content are distributed under the standard GFDL application of "with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts" (in other words, for the copies derived from wikipedia, you agree that these parts of the text contributed by you will no longer be considered as "invariant sections" or "cover texts" in the GFDL sense);
# The original invariant sections and/or cover texts are contained in the edit summary of the edit with which you introduce the thus GFDLed materials in wikipedia (so, that if "permanent deletion" would be applied to that edit, both the thus GFDLed material and its invariant sections and cover texts are jointly deleted).
# The original invariant sections and/or cover texts are contained in the edit summary of the edit with which you introduce the thus GFDLed materials in wikipedia (so, that if "permanent deletion" would be applied to that edit, both the thus GFDLed material and its invariant sections and cover texts are jointly deleted).
Seen the stringent conditions above, it is very desirable to replace GFDL texts with invariant sections (or with cover texts) by original content without invariant sections (or cover texts) whenever possible.
Seen the stringent conditions above, it is very desirable to replace GFDL texts with invariant sections (or with cover texts) by original content without invariant sections (or cover texts) whenever possible.


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If you want to use Appropedia materials in your own books/articles/web sites
If you want to use Appropedia materials in your own books/articles/web sites
or other publications, you can do so, but you have to follow the GFDL. If you are simply duplicating the Appropedia article, you must follow [[Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License#VERBATIM COPYING|section two]] of the GFDL on ''verbatim copying'', as discussed at [[Wikipedia:Verbatim copying]].
or other publications, you can do so, but you have to follow the GFDL. If you are simply duplicating the Appropedia article, you must follow [[Wikipedia:Project:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License#VERBATIM COPYING|section two]] of the GFDL on ''verbatim copying'', as discussed at [[Wikipedia:Project:Verbatim copying]].


If you create a derivative version by changing or adding content, this entails the following:
If you create a derivative version by changing or adding content, this entails the following:
Line 104: Line 102:


== See also ==
== See also ==
* [[Wikipedia:Copyright FAQ]]
* [[Wikipedia:Project:Copyright FAQ]]
* The [[Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ]] for questions on copyright.
* The [[Wikipedia:Project:Contributing FAQ]] for questions on copyright.
* Wikipedia's [[Wikipedia:designated agent|designated agent]] under [[OCILLA]]
* Wikipedia's [[Wikipedia:Project:designated agent|designated agent]] under [[OCILLA]]
* [[Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks]]
* [[Wikipedia:Project:Mirrors and forks]]
* [[Wikipedia:Standard GFDL violation letter]]
* [[Wikipedia:Project:Standard GFDL violation letter]]
* [[Wikipedia:Possible copyright infringements]]
* [[Wikipedia:Project:Possible copyright infringements]]
* [[Wikipedia:Spotting possible copyright violations]]
* [[Wikipedia:Project:Spotting possible copyright violations]]
* [[Wikipedia:Fair use]]
* [[Wikipedia:Project:Fair use]]
* [[Wikipedia:Image copyright tags]]
* [[Wikipedia:Project:Image copyright tags]]
* [[Wikipedia:Boilerplate request for permission]]
* [[Wikipedia:Project:Boilerplate request for permission]]

Revision as of 02:17, 24 April 2007


Important note: Appropedia does not own copyright on Appropedia article texts and illustrations. It is therefore useless to email our contact addresses asking for permission to reproduce content.

The license Appropedia uses grants free access to our content in the same sense as W is licensed freely. This principle is known as W. That is to say, Appropedia content can be copied, modified, and redistributed so long as the new version grants the same freedoms to others and acknowledges the authors of the Appropedia article used (a direct link back to the article satisfies our author credit requirement). Appropedia articles therefore will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve to ensure that freedom.

To fulfill the above goals, the text contained in Wikipedia is licensed to the public under the wikipedia:GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). The full text of this license is at Wikipedia:Project:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License. This text should not be changed due to legal reasons.

(We note here that most of the text of this page is itself derived from Wikipedia's Copyright page under the terms of the GNU-FDL.)

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the W; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "W".
Content on Appropedia is covered by disclaimers.

The English text of the GFDL is the only legally binding document; what follows is our interpretation of the GFDL: the rights and obligations of users and contributors.

IMPORTANT: If you want to reuse content from Appropedia, first read the Reusers' rights and obligations section. You should then read the GNU Free Documentation License.

Contributors' rights and obligations

If you contribute material to Appropedia, you thereby license it to the public under the GFDL (with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).

In order to contribute, you therefore must be in a position to grant this license, which means that either

  • you own the copyright to the material, for instance because you produced it yourself, or
  • you acquired the material from a source that allows the licensing under GFDL, for instance because the material is in the public domain or is itself published under GFDL.

In the first case, you retain copyright to your materials. You can later republish and relicense them in any way you like. However, you can never retract the GFDL license for the versions you placed here: that material will remain under GFDL forever.

In the second case, if you incorporate external GFDL materials, as a requirement of the GFDL, you need to acknowledge the authorship and provide a link back to the network location of the original copy.

Using copyrighted work from others

All works are copyrighted unless they either fall into the public domain or their copyright is explicitly disclaimed. If you use part of a copyrighted work under "fair use", or if you obtain special permission to use a copyrighted work from the copyright holder under the terms of our license, you must make a note of that fact (along with names and dates). It is our goal to be able to freely redistribute as much of Wikipedia's material as possible, so original images and sound files licensed under the GFDL or in the public domain are greatly preferred to copyrighted media files used under fair use. See Wikipedia:Project:Boilerplate request for permission for a form letter asking a copyright holder to grant us a license to use their work under terms of the GFDL.

Never use materials that infringe the copyrights of others. This could create legal liabilities and seriously hurt the project. If in doubt, write it yourself.

Note that copyright law governs the creative expression of ideas, not the ideas or information themselves. Therefore, it is legal to read an encyclopedia article or other work, reformulate the concepts in your own words, and submit it to Wikipedia. However, it would still be unethical (but not illegal) to do so without citing the original as a reference. See plagiarism and fair use for discussions of how much reformulation is necessary in a general context.

Linking to copyrighted works

External sites can possibly violate copyright. Linking to copyrighted works is usually not a problem, as long as you have made a reasonable effort to determine that the page in question is not violating someone else's copyright. If it is, please do not link to the page. Knowingly and intentionally directing others to a site that violates copyright has been considered a form of contributory infringement in the United States (wikipedia:Intellectual Reserve v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry). Also, linking to a page that illegally distributes someone else's work sheds a bad light on us. If the site in question is making fair use of the material, linking is fine.

If you find a copyright infringement

It is not the job of rank-and-file Appropedians to police content for possible copyright infringement, but if you suspect one, you should at the very least bring up the issue on that page's talk page. Others can then examine the situation and take action if needed. The most helpful piece of information you can provide is a URL or other reference to what you believe may be the source of the text.

Some cases will be false alarms. For example, if the contributor was in fact the author of the text that is published elsewhere under different terms, that does not affect their right to post it here under the GFDL. Also, sometimes you will find text elsewhere on the Web that was copied from Wikipedia. In both of these cases, it is a good idea to make a note in the talk page to discourage such false alarms in the future.

If some of the content of a page really is an infringement, then the infringing content should be removed, and a note to that effect should be made on the talk page, along with the original source. If the author's permission is obtained later, the text can be restored.

If all of the content of a page is a suspected copyright infringement, then the page should be listed on Appropedia:Copyright problems and the content of the page replaced by the standard notice which you can find there. If, after a week, the page still appears to be a copyright infringement, then it may be deleted following the procedures on the votes page.

In extreme cases of contributors continuing to post copyrighted material after appropriate warnings, such users may be blocked from editing to protect the project.

See Wikipedia:Copyrights for additional information and guidelines regarding Images (including U.S. Government and Celebrity Photographs) as well as Copyright Laws in other countries.


Introducing invariant sections or cover texts in Appropedia

Under Appropedia's current copyright conditions, and with the current facilities of the MediaWiki software, it is only possible to include in Appropedia external GFDL materials that contain invariant sections or cover texts, if all of the following apply,

  1. You are the copyright holder of these external GFDL materials (or: you have the explicit, i.e. written, permission of the copyright holder to do what follows);
  2. The length and nature of these invariant sections and cover texts does not exceed what can be placed in an edit summary;
  3. You are satisfied that these invariant sections and cover texts are not listed elsewhere than in the "page history" of the page where these external materials are placed;
  4. You are satisfied that further copies of Wikipedia content are distributed under the standard GFDL application of "with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts" (in other words, for the copies derived from wikipedia, you agree that these parts of the text contributed by you will no longer be considered as "invariant sections" or "cover texts" in the GFDL sense);
  5. The original invariant sections and/or cover texts are contained in the edit summary of the edit with which you introduce the thus GFDLed materials in wikipedia (so, that if "permanent deletion" would be applied to that edit, both the thus GFDLed material and its invariant sections and cover texts are jointly deleted).

Seen the stringent conditions above, it is very desirable to replace GFDL texts with invariant sections (or with cover texts) by original content without invariant sections (or cover texts) whenever possible.

Reusers' rights and obligations

If you want to use Appropedia materials in your own books/articles/web sites or other publications, you can do so, but you have to follow the GFDL. If you are simply duplicating the Appropedia article, you must follow section two of the GFDL on verbatim copying, as discussed at Wikipedia:Project:Verbatim copying.

If you create a derivative version by changing or adding content, this entails the following:

  • your materials in turn have to be licensed under GFDL,
  • you must acknowledge the authorship of the article (section 4B), and
  • you must provide access to the "transparent copy" of the material (section 4J). (The "transparent copy" of a Appropedia article is any of a number of formats available from us, including the wiki text, the html web pages, xml feed, etc.)

You may be able to partially fulfill the latter two obligations by providing a conspicuous direct link back to the Appropedia article hosted on this website. You also need to provide access to a transparent copy of the new text. However, please note that Appropedia makes no guarantee to retain authorship information and a transparent copy of articles. Therefore, you are encouraged to provide this authorship information and a transparent copy with your derived works.

Example notice

An example notice, for an article that uses the Appropedia article AEF greywater might read as follows:

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Appropedia article "AEF greywater".

("AEF greywater" and the Appropedia URL must of course be substituted accordingly.)

Alternatively you can distribute your copy of "AEF greywater" along with a copy of the GFDL (as explained in the text) and list at least five (or all if fewer than five) principal authors on the title page (or top of the document).

Fair use materials and special requirements

All original Appropedia text is distributed under the GFDL. Occasionally, Appropedia articles may include images, sounds, or text quotes used under the U.S. Copyright law "fair use" doctrine. It is preferred that these be obtained under the most free (wikipedia:libre) license (such as the GFDL or public domain) practical. In cases where no such images/sounds are currently available, then fair use images are acceptable (until such time as free images become available).

In Appropedia, such "fair use" material should be identified as from an external source (on the image description page, or history page, as appropriate). This also leads to possible restrictions on the use, outside of Appropedia, of such "fair use" content retrieved from Appropedia: this "fair use" content does not fall under the GFDL license as such, but under the "fair use" (or similar/different) regulations in the country where the media are retrieved.


If you are the owner of Appropedia-hosted content being used without your permission

If you are the owner of content that is being used on Appropedia without your permission, then you may request the page be immediately removed from Appropedia; see Request for immediate removal of copyright violation. You can also contact our Designated agent to have it permanently removed, but it may take up to a week for the page to be deleted that way (you may also blank the page but the text will still be in the page history). Either way, we will, of course, need some evidence to support your claim of ownership.

See also

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