Commons talk:Licensing

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to Commons:Licensing.

For discussions of specific copyright questions, please go to Commons:Village pump/Copyright. Discussions that do not relate to changes to the page Commons:Licensing may be moved, with participants notified with the template {{subst:moved to VPC|Commons talk:Licensing}}.

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Seven 2006/2007 discussions organized as subpages, ignoringincl. comments added in 2014:

Forbidden licenses[edit]

i suggest this section be separated, so that there's 1 section for acceptable ones and 1 for unacceptable. now it's confusing to have Forbidden under acceptable.--RZuo (talk) 06:42, 3 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Probably better to change the higher-level section name to "acceptable and unacceptable licenses" since other subsections also discuss unacceptable licenses. But if we do this, make sure to keep an anchor for "Acceptable licenses" because many things link here.
Any objections to my making that change? I'd like to allow at least three days for comment. - Jmabel ! talk 19:15, 3 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Sounds like a good idea - sound and useful. -- Infrogmation of New Orleans (talk) 20:07, 3 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
maybe we can simply make the current paragraphs between "Acceptable licenses" and "1.1 Multi-licensing" the new 1st subsection. and add a new section title "types of licenses" or "acceptance" or "validity" or something like that? RZuo (talk) 05:52, 4 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:Licensing&diff=prev&oldid=838399355
if you all agree.
then i would suggest moving the subsection forbidden up to follow the subsection acceptable or Multi-licensing. RZuo (talk) 05:57, 4 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@RZuo: So while we are in the middle of discussing this, and I specifically allowed three days for comment before making any change to this section, you unilaterally make an edit that takes this in a different direction. I am going to take the liberty to revert that. - Jmabel ! talk 19:18, 4 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
for convinience of readers and users, it's better to have the duality of "accepted" vs "not-accepted". and the duality should be parallel to each other, aka have the same level of headings. and it's better to have the two sections one after another (or for example on two side by side columns if that's possible).
on the other hand, someone(!) mentioned that the page is linked from many places. for backward compatibility, best practice is not to change the headings but to retain the "acceptable licences".
so what i did was minimal. just adding 3 words so that we get a structure that puts acceptable and forbidden on the same level.
the current flow of the paragraphs is not clear. it talks about something acceptable, mix in something unacceptable, then go on to talk about examples of something acceptable, then the section for forbidden...
faq pages should be sharp and clear. RZuo (talk) 19:30, 6 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
you know what? big deal.
change it back to https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:Licensing&oldid=417636834 then there's no such problem. RZuo (talk) 19:32, 6 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

We apparently have at least two different directions this could go[edit]

  • RZuo wants to add a section header "Types of licenses" and demote "Acceptable licenses" a level. (See this edit, which I reverted to allow discussion to reach a consensus.)
    • RZuo, if you think that in any way mischaracterizes what you propose, please feel free to correct it here and below, but please do leave some sort of link that shows your version.
  • I (Jmabel) want to keep the prior structure, but change "Acceptable licenses" to "Acceptable and unacceptable licenses".

I'd like to hear from others which they'd prefer. And of course you can add other possibilities. - Jmabel ! talk 19:28, 4 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I notified about this discussion at Commons:Village pump#Licensing (permalink) - Jmabel ! talk 19:40, 4 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Remark: I genuinely don't see why people want a section to be titled "Acceptable licenses" where, even if we rearrange to get the subsections out from under there, half of the section will still be about what is not' acceptable. - Jmabel ! talk 19:50, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Poll[edit]

  • Add a section header "Types of licenses" and demote "Acceptable licenses" a level.
    1. and add "Unacceptable licenses" (currently "Forbidden licenses") at the same level as "Acceptable licenses" to clearly delineate which are acceptable and which are unacceptable. This could save heartache down the road at COM:HD and COM:VP.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 07:13, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  • Leave structure as it is, but change "Acceptable licenses" to "Acceptable and unacceptable licenses".
    1. Jmabel ! talk 19:28, 4 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
    2. -- Tuválkin ✉ ✇ 09:03, 6 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  • Third alternative: Add a section header "Types of licenses", demote "Acceptable licenses" a level and change its name to "Acceptable and unacceptable licenses".
    1. I'd be OK with this (as my second choice) but I still find the word "types" terribly vague. - Jmabel ! talk 19:52, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Is custom licence allowed?[edit]

I've seen custom licences like informal attribution requirements allowed here. Am I allowed to place this modified CC BY-SA 4.0 licence (still free) on my photos then? (but again, I'm not a lawyer!) 

## Free Stock 1.0 Public License

By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined below), You accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Free Stock 1.0 Public License ("Public License"). To the extent this Public License may be interpreted as a contract, You are granted the Licensed Rights in consideration of Your acceptance of these terms and conditions, and the Licensor grants You such rights in consideration of benefits the Licensor receives from making the Licensed Material available under these terms and conditions.

### Section 1 – Definitions.

a. __Adapted Material__ means material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights that is derived from or based upon the Licensed Material and in which the Licensed Material is translated, altered, arranged, transformed, or otherwise modified in a manner requiring permission under the Copyright and Similar Rights held by the Licensor. For purposes of this Public License, where the Licensed Material is a musical work, performance, or sound recording, Adapted Material is always produced where the Licensed Material is synched in timed relation with a moving image.

b. __Adapter's License__ means the license You apply to Your Copyright and Similar Rights in Your contributions to Adapted Material in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Public License.

c. __Copyright and Similar Rights__ means copyright and/or similar rights closely related to copyright including, without limitation, performance, broadcast, sound recording, and Sui Generis Database Rights, without regard to how the rights are labeled or categorized. For purposes of this Public License, the rights specified in Section 2(b)(1)-(2) are not Copyright and Similar Rights.

d. __Effective Technological Measures__ means those measures that, in the absence of proper authority, may not be circumvented under laws fulfilling obligations under Article 11 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty adopted on December 20, 1996, and/or similar international agreements.

e. __Exceptions and Limitations__ means fair use, fair dealing, and/or any other exception or limitation to Copyright and Similar Rights that applies to Your use of the Licensed Material.

f. __Licensed Material__ means the artistic or literary work, database, or other material to which the Licensor applied this Public License.

g. __Licensed Rights__ means the rights granted to You subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, which are limited to all Copyright and Similar Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material and that the Licensor has authority to license.

h. __Licensor__ means the individual(s) or entity(ies) granting rights under this Public License.

i. __Share__ means to provide material to the public by any means or process that requires permission under the Licensed Rights, such as reproduction, public display, public performance, distribution, dissemination, communication, or importation, and to make material available to the public including in ways that members of the public may access the material from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.

j. __Convey__ means to make material available to the public including in ways that members of the public may access the material from a place and at a time individually chosen by them. Merely publicly displaying the material, without the intention to allow the public to obtain copies, is not considered Conveying.

k. __Sui Generis Database Rights__ means rights other than copyright resulting from Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases, as amended and/or succeeded, as well as other essentially equivalent rights anywhere in the world.

l. __You__ means the individual or entity exercising the Licensed Rights under this Public License. __Your__ has a corresponding meaning.

### Section 2 – Scope.

a. ___License grant.___

   1. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, the Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to exercise the Licensed Rights in the Licensed Material to:

       A. reproduce and Share the Licensed Material, in whole or in part; and

       B. produce, reproduce, and Share Adapted Material.

   2. __Exceptions and Limitations.__ For the avoidance of doubt, where Exceptions and Limitations apply to Your use, this Public License does not apply, and You do not need to comply with its terms and conditions.

   3. __Term.__ The term of this Public License is specified in Section 6(a).

   4. __Media and formats; technical modifications allowed.__ The Licensor authorizes You to exercise the Licensed Rights in all media and formats whether now known or hereafter created, and to make technical modifications necessary to do so. The Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any right or authority to forbid You from making technical modifications necessary to exercise the Licensed Rights, including technical modifications necessary to circumvent Effective Technological Measures. For purposes of this Public License, simply making modifications authorized by this Section 2(a)(4) never produces Adapted Material.

   5. __Downstream recipients.__

       A. __Offer from the Licensor – Licensed Material.__ Every recipient of the Licensed Material automatically receives an offer from the Licensor to exercise the Licensed Rights under the terms and conditions of this Public License.

       B. __Additional offer from the Licensor – Adapted Material.__ Every recipient of Adapted Material from You automatically receives an offer from the Licensor to exercise the Licensed Rights in the Adapted Material under the conditions of the Adapter’s License You apply.

       C. __No downstream restrictions.__ You may not offer or impose any additional or different terms or conditions on, or apply any Effective Technological Measures to, the Licensed Material if doing so restricts exercise of the Licensed Rights by any recipient of the Licensed Material.

   6. __No endorsement.__ Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be construed as permission to assert or imply that You are, or that Your use of the Licensed Material is, connected with, or sponsored, endorsed, or granted official status by, the Licensor or others designated to receive attribution as provided in Section 3(a)(1)(A)(i).

b. ___Other rights.___

   1. Moral rights, such as the right of integrity, are not licensed under this Public License, nor are publicity, privacy, and/or other similar personality rights; however, to the extent possible, the Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any such rights held by the Licensor to the limited extent necessary to allow You to exercise the Licensed Rights, but not otherwise.

   2. Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License.

   3. To the extent possible, the Licensor waives any right to collect royalties from You for the exercise of the Licensed Rights, whether directly or through a collecting society under any voluntary or waivable statutory or compulsory licensing scheme. In all other cases the Licensor expressly reserves any right to collect such royalties.

### Section 3 – License Conditions.

Your exercise of the Licensed Rights is expressly made subject to the following conditions.

a. ___Attribution.___

   1. If You Convey the Licensed Material (including in modified form), You must:

       A. retain the following if it is supplied by the Licensor with the Licensed Material:

         i. identification of the creator(s) of the Licensed Material and any others designated to receive attribution, in any reasonable manner requested by the Licensor (including by pseudonym if designated);

         ii. a copyright notice;

         iii. a notice that refers to this Public License;

         iv. a notice that refers to the disclaimer of warranties;

         v. a URI or hyperlink to the Licensed Material to the extent reasonably practicable;

       B. indicate if You modified the Licensed Material and retain an indication of any previous modifications; and

       C. indicate the Licensed Material is licensed under this Public License, and include the text of, or the URI or hyperlink to, this Public License.

   2. You may satisfy the conditions in Section 3(a)(1) in any reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context in which You Convey the Licensed Material. For example, it may be reasonable to satisfy the conditions by providing a URI or hyperlink to a resource that includes the required information.

   3. If requested by the Licensor, You must remove any of the information required by Section 3(a)(1)(A) to the extent reasonably practicable.

b. ___ShareAlike.___

In addition to the conditions in Section 3(a), if You Convey Adapted Material You produce, the following conditions also apply.

1. The Adapter’s License You apply must be this same Public License, or a later version.

2. You must include the text of, or the URI or hyperlink to, the Adapter's License You apply. You may satisfy this condition in any reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context in which You Convey Adapted Material.

3. You may not offer or impose any additional or different terms or conditions on, or apply any Effective Technological Measures to, Adapted Material that restrict exercise of the rights granted under the Adapter's License You apply.

### Section 4 – Sui Generis Database Rights.

Where the Licensed Rights include Sui Generis Database Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material:

a. for the avoidance of doubt, Section 2(a)(1) grants You the right to extract, reuse, reproduce, and Share all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database;

b. if You include all or a substantial portion of the database contents in a database in which You have Sui Generis Database Rights, then the database in which You have Sui Generis Database Rights (but not its individual contents) is Adapted Material, including for purposes of Section 3(b); and

c. You must comply with the conditions in Section 3(a) if You Share all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database.

For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 4 supplements and does not replace Your obligations under this Public License where the Licensed Rights include other Copyright and Similar Rights.

### Section 5 – Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability.

a. __Unless otherwise separately undertaken by the Licensor, to the extent possible, the Licensor offers the Licensed Material as-is and as-available, and makes no representations or warranties of any kind concerning the Licensed Material, whether express, implied, statutory, or other. This includes, without limitation, warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, absence of latent or other defects, accuracy, or the presence or absence of errors, whether or not known or discoverable. Where disclaimers of warranties are not allowed in full or in part, this disclaimer may not apply to You.__

b. __To the extent possible, in no event will the Licensor be liable to You on any legal theory (including, without limitation, negligence) or otherwise for any direct, special, indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive, exemplary, or other losses, costs, expenses, or damages arising out of this Public License or use of the Licensed Material, even if the Licensor has been advised of the possibility of such losses, costs, expenses, or damages. Where a limitation of liability is not allowed in full or in part, this limitation may not apply to You.__

c. The disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability provided above shall be interpreted in a manner that, to the extent possible, most closely approximates an absolute disclaimer and waiver of all liability.

### Section 6 – Term and Termination.

a. This Public License applies for the term of the Copyright and Similar Rights licensed here. However, if You fail to comply with this Public License, then Your rights under this Public License terminate automatically.

b. Where Your right to use the Licensed Material has terminated under Section 6(a), it reinstates:

   1. automatically as of the date the violation is cured, provided it is cured within 30 days of Your discovery of the violation; or

   2. upon express reinstatement by the Licensor.

   For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 6(b) does not affect any right the Licensor may have to seek remedies for Your violations of this Public License.

c. For the avoidance of doubt, the Licensor may also offer the Licensed Material under separate terms or conditions or stop distributing the Licensed Material at any time; however, doing so will not terminate this Public License.

d. Sections 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 survive termination of this Public License.

### Section 7 – Other Terms and Conditions.

a. The Licensor shall not be bound by any additional or different terms or conditions communicated by You unless expressly agreed.

b. Any arrangements, understandings, or agreements regarding the Licensed Material not stated herein are separate from and independent of the terms and conditions of this Public License.

### Section 8 – Interpretation.

a. For the avoidance of doubt, this Public License does not, and shall not be interpreted to, reduce, limit, restrict, or impose conditions on any use of the Licensed Material that could lawfully be made without permission under this Public License.

b. To the extent possible, if any provision of this Public License is deemed unenforceable, it shall be automatically reformed to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable. If the provision cannot be reformed, it shall be severed from this Public License without affecting the enforceability of the remaining terms and conditions.

c. No term or condition of this Public License will be waived and no failure to comply consented to unless expressly agreed to by the Licensor.

d. Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be interpreted as a limitation upon, or waiver of, any privileges and immunities that apply to the Licensor or You, including from the legal processes of any jurisdiction or authority.

> The text of this Public License is dedicated to the public domain under the [CC0 Public Domain Dedication](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode).

gugalcrom123: 💬 talk / 🗳️ contribs / 🖼️ uploads 13:47, 10 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

There's no explicit ban on them, but custom licenses are highly discouraged, especially if they have a ShareAlike provision, because that means that they cannot be remixed with images under a standard ShareAlike license such as CC-BY-SA.
Can you explain in plain English what the difference between this license and CC-BY-SA is? -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 17:34, 10 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
It allows the use of the file without attribution as long as you're not intentionally sharing copies, only displaying it. gugalcrom123: 💬 talk / 🗳️ contribs / 🖼️ uploads 20:36, 10 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
You don't need this custom license, then, because you are trying to make it more permissive than the default. You can just give it the CC-BY-SA along with an additional statement that the attribution requirement is waived under the circumstances you describe. (Any statements that restrict a CC license are not allowed and have no legal validity, but as the copyright holder you can always grant additional permissions outside of the license.) -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 21:22, 10 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
If you plan to use it a lot, you can make a custom template that contains {{CC-BY-SA-4.0}}, followed by your waiver.
On the other hand, this doesn't strike me as a great idea. Almost any use on the Internet is likely to be copied, regardless of the intent of the person who poss it, and you could easily find your image attributed in good faith by a third party to someone who merely intended to use it. And if their intent is to distribute, then they will accidentally have run afoul of your license. - Jmabel ! talk 23:38, 10 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

company pictures[edit]

Hi. For an article about the Skynex Air Defence System on the german Wikipedia I recently stumbled about a brochure of the manufacturer Rheinmetall Air Defence Systems AG. I emailed them asking if I can use the pictures inside the publication in a Wikipedia article and they agreed. In addition they´ve sent me higher resolution pictures of the ones they used.

As I´m mainly doing World War 2 articles with licence-free or -expired pictures I do not really know which licence I should use for the Rheinmetall pictures. Yours Mastertom211 (talk) 12:01, 11 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Mastertom211: Sorry, but from what you are saying this shouldn't be on Commons, at least not as things stand. You don't have a free license. You have permission to use these in a particular context (and, further, I don't believe the German Wikipedia will accept them on that basis either).
Commons hosts only files that are either (1) in the public domain or (2) have a free license that allows anyone to reuse the image and includes allowing derivative works and use in commercial publications (though it is OK to have non-copyright limitations such as personality rights or trademark). - Jmabel ! talk 16:29, 11 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Hi. Thx, this is near to my own thoughts. Yours Mastertom211 (talk) 06:32, 12 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
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