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Editing Battlestar Wiki:Copyrights

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{{policy|19 November 2004}}
''Reproduced & modified under the terms of the [[Wikipedia:GNU Free Documentation License|GFDL]].''
:''This is a derivative work from [[MemoryAlpha:Memory Alpha:Copyrights|Memory Alpha's Copyrights page]].''


''Battlestar Galactica'' and all registered trademarks of [http://www.nbcuniversal.com NBC Universal]. Battlestar Galactica Wiki (Battlestar Wiki) is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by NBC Universal, Sky One, or the Sci-Fi Channel. Battlestar Wiki is intended for personal and non-profit use only.
The goal of [[Battlestar Wiki]] is to create an information source in an [[Wikipedia:encyclopedia|encyclopedia]] format that is freely available. The license we use grants free access to our content in the same sense as [[Wikipedia:free software|free software]] is licensed freely. This principle is known as '''[[Wikipedia:copyleft|copyleft]]'''. That is to say, [[Battlestar Wiki]] 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 [[Battlestar Wiki]] article used (a direct link back to the article satisfies our author credit requirement). [[Battlestar Wiki]] articles and guides, therefore, will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve to ensure that freedom.


Battlestar Wiki offers no suggestion that the work presented on this site is "official", produced or sanctioned by the owner of the aforementioned trademarks. Battlestar Wiki will take all steps necessary to ensure that any usage of trademarked items in no way confuses the audience of this site as to its origin. Battlestar Wiki makes no claim to own ''Battlestar Galactica'' or any of the names related to it. Images that are displayed on this site are copyrighted to NBC Universal (in the case of screen shots, video clips, audio clips and similar items) or to the creator of the image (for fan-made artwork). Visitors may download any pictures displayed on this site for personal use, as long as they are not used for profit, and proper credit is given.
To fulfill the above goals, the text contained in Wikipedia is licensed to the public under the [[Wikipedia:GNU Free Documentation License|GNU Free Documentation License]] (GFDL). The full text of this license is at [[Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License|Text of the GNU Free Documentation License]].  


==Battlestar Wiki Content==
:<b>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|Free Software Foundation]]; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.</b>
===Text Content===
:<b>A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "[[Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License|GNU Free Documentation License]]".</b>
Anyone is free to use the text content of Battlestar Wiki in websites, articles, or other publications, provided you follow the guidelines of the designated [[Battlestar Wiki:Creative Commons License|Creative Commons License]], which establishes the following requirements:
:<b>Content on Wikipedia is covered by [[Wikipedia:general disclaimer|disclaimers]].</b>
<!--- see Text of the GFDL, "How to use this license" for why we use this specific form of words (+discussion in Talk) --->


*you may not use the works for commercial purposes ('''noncommercial'''),
The 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.
*you must acknowledge the authorship of the original article ('''attribution'''), and  
*for any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work ('''Share Alike''').


If you are simply duplicating ("[[Battlestar Wiki:Mirrors|mirroring]]") the Battlestar Wiki article, the second and third obligations can be fulfilled by providing a conspicuous direct link back to the Battlestar Wiki article hosted on this website.
<font size="+1">IMPORTANT:  If you want to use content from [[Battlestar Wiki]], first read the [[Copyrights#Users'_rights_and_obligations|Users' rights and obligations]] section.  You should then read the [[Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License|GNU Free Documentation License]].</font>


If you create a derivative version by changing or adding content, you need to both acknowledge authorship and provide access to the original copy of the text.
== Users' rights and obligations ==


'''Important:''' The content of this website does NOT apply to the original works and trademarked names! The ''Battlestar Galactica'' titles and associated names are the sole property of Universal Studios. The [[:Category:Galactipedian|users]] of Battlestar Wiki believe that the operation of this website falls under the definition of "fair use" under United States copyright laws.
If you want to use [[Battlestar Wiki]] 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 [[Battlestar Wiki]] article, you must follow section 2 of the GFDL on ''verbatim copying'', as discussed at [[wikipedia:verbatim copying|verbatim copying]].


'''See also:''' [[Battlestar Wiki:Why Battlestar Wiki doesn't use the GFDL|Battlestar Wiki:Why Battlestar Wiki doesn't use the GFDL]]
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 Wikipedia article is its wiki text.)


===Images and Other Media===
You may be able to partially fulfill the latter two obligations by providing a conspicuous direct link back to the [[Battlestar Wiki]] article hosted on this website. You also need to provide access to a transparent copy of the new text. However, please note that the [[Battlestar Wiki]] Team 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.
Images that are displayed at Battlestar Wiki remain the property of their original creators, and are only included on this website for purposes of illustration under ''fair use'' guidelines. Unless the original author of the image expressly grants permission, images '''do not''' fall under the scope of the [[Battlestar Wiki:Creative Commons License|Creative Commons License]]. In all cases, the images must be accompanied by a specific note with:
* credit for the original author of the image or other media file (if the file is a fan-created work) including a link where the original author may be contacted, or
* the original source of the image or other media file (if the file is derived from an official ''Battlestar'' work, e.g. screenshots and sound bytes).
You must also include information about:
* whether the file is uploaded to Battlestar Wiki with express permission of the author, or under fair use rules, and  
* the source of the file, being a specific episode, movie, book, other official work, a website, or any other medium.


''See also:'' [[:md:BWM:IUP|Image use policy]].
=== Example notice ===


==Contributors' Rights and Obligations==
An example notice, for an article that uses the [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] article [[Wikipedia:Metasyntactic variable|Metasyntactic variable]] might read as follows:
If you contribute material to Battlestar Wiki, you thereby license it to the public under the [[Battlestar Wiki:Creative Commons License|Creative Commons License]]. 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
: This article is licensed under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation License</a>. It uses material from the <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metasyntactic_variable">Wikipedia article "Metasyntactic variable"</a>.
*you acquired the material from a source that allows the licensing under a Creative Commons or similar license, for instance because the material is in the public domain or is itself published under [[Battlestar Wiki:Creative Commons License|Creative Commons License]].


In the first case, you retain copyright to your materials. You can later republish and relicense them in any way you like. In the second case, if you incorporate external Creative Commons License 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.
("Metasyntactic variable" and the Wikipedia URL must of course be substituted accordingly.)


===Using Copyrighted Work from Others===
Alternatively you can distribute your copy of "Metasyntactic variable" 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).
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 Battlestar Wiki's material as possible (within the limits of copyright law), so original images, video files and sound files licensed under the [[Battlestar Wiki:Creative Commons License|Creative Commons License]] or in the public domain are greatly preferred to copyrighted media files used under fair use.


Never use materials that infringe the copyrights of others. This could create legal liabilities and seriously hurt the project.
=== Fair use materials and special requirements ===


In the case of a written work: If in doubt, write it yourself.
All original Wikipedia text is distributed under the [[Wikipedia:GNU Free Documentation License|GFDL]]. Occasionally, Wikipedia articles may include images, sounds, or text quotes used under the U.S. Copyright law "[[Wikipedia:fair use|fair use]]" doctrine. It is preferred that these be obtained under the most free ([[Wikipedia:libre|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).  


Note that copyright law governs the creative expression of ideas, not the ideas or information themselves. Therefore, it is perfectly legal to read an encyclopedia article or other work, reformulate it in your own words, and submit it to Battlestar Wiki.
In such a case, the material should be identified as from an external source (on the image description page, or history page,
as appropriate). As "fair use" is specific to the use that you contemplate it is best if your describe the fair use rationale for such specific use either in hidden text in the article or on the [[Wikipedia:Image_description_page#Fair_use_rationale|image description page]]. Remember what is fair use for Wikipedia may not be considered a fair use for your intended use of the content in another context.


===If You Find a Copyright Infringement===
For example, if we include an image under fair use, you must ensure that your
It is not the job of Battlestar Wiki [[:Category:Galactipedians|contributors]] to police every article for possible copyright infringement, but if you suspect one, you should at the very least bring up the issue in that page's comments section. 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.
use of the article also qualifies for fair use (this might not be the case,
for example, if you were using a [[Battlestar Wiki]] article for a commercial use that
would otherwise be allowed by the GFDL and the fair use would not be allowed under that commercial use).


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 [[Battlestar Wiki:Creative Commons License|Creative Commons License]]. Also, sometimes you will find text elsewhere on the Web that was copied from Battlestar Wiki. 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.
Wikipedia does use some text under licenses that are compatible with the GFDL but may require additional terms that we do not require for original Wikipedia text (such as including Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts, or Back-Cover Texts). When using these materials, you have to include those invariant sections verbatim.


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 comments page, along with the original source. If the author's permission is obtained later, the text can be restored.
An approval process for fair use images at has been proposed at [[Wikipedia:Fair use|fair use]]. Images which have gone through that process carry the tag:
<table>
<tr><td><nowiki>{{verifieduse}}</nowiki><td>{{verifieduse}}
</table>


If all of the content of a page is a suspected copyright infringement, then the page should be discussed on the [[:Category:Possible copyright violations]] page. If, after a week from the date on which the discussion was started, the page still appears to be a copyright infringment, then it may be deleted from the database.
== Image Guidelines ==
 
Images and photographs, like written works, are subject to [[Wikipedia:copyright|copyright]].  Someone owns them unless they have been explicitly placed in the [[Wikipedia:public domain|public domain]].  Images on the internet need to be licensed directly from the copyright holder or someone able to license on their behalf.  In some cases, [[Wikipedia:fair use|fair use]] guidelines may allow a photograph to be used.
 
=== Tagging ===
 
Image description pages can be tagged with a special tag to indicate the legal status of the images, as described at [[wikipedia:image copyright tags|image copyright tags]].  It is unclear what should happen if different images have been uploaded with different copyright statuses.
 
=== Celebrity Photographs ===
 
This is based on the image guidelines at [[Wikipedia:IMDB|IMDB]], so it especially applies to celebrity photographs, but also can apply to other pictures.  Legitimate photographs generally come from three different places '''with permission'''.
 
# The studios, producers, magazine publisher, or media outlet that originally shot the photograph.
# Agencies that represent the photographers who shot the photos or the photographer themself (the latter especially for amateur photographs)
# Submissions from the celebrity themselves or a legal representatives of the celebrity.
 
== Contributors' Rights and Obligations ==
 
If you contribute material to Wikipedia, 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 [[Wikipedia: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.
If the original copy required invariant sections, you have to incorporate
those into the Wikipedia article; it is however very desirable to replace GFDL texts with invariant sections by original content without invariant sections whenever possible.
 
=== Using copyrighted work from others ===
 
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 [[Battlestar Wiki]]'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|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 perfectly legal to read an encyclopedia article or other work, reformulate it in your own words, and submit it to [[Battlestar Wiki]]. (See [[Wikipedia:plagiarism|plagiarism]] and [[Wikipedia:fair use|fair use]] for discussions of how much reformulation is necessary in a general context.)
 
=== Linking to copyrighted works ===
 
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. Whether such a link is contributory infringement is currently being debated in the courts, but in any case, linking to a site that illegally distributes someone else's work sheds a bad light on us.
 
=== If you find a copyright infringement ===
 
It is not the job of rank-and-file Battlestar Wikipedians to police every article 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 it on [[Wikipedia:Possible copyright infringements|possible copyright infringements]] and the content of the article 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.
In extreme cases of contributors continuing to post copyrighted material after appropriate warnings, such users may be blocked from editing to protect the project.


==Belief of Copyright Infringement==
==If you are the owner of [[Battlestar Wiki]]-hosted content being used without your permission==
Battlestar Wiki requests that in the case that the owner or owners of a copyrighted work feel that their work is being illegally infringed upon, they provide a full list of all items which they believe are infringing, along with the reasoning behind the belief that those items are infringing to Battlestar Wiki's [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|primary Galactipedian]]. In addition, please provide the name of a person, along with their mailing address and e-mail address if possible, for a reply or follow-up letters.
 
[[fr:Battlestar Wiki:Copyrights]]
If you are the owner of content that is being used on [[Battlestar Wiki]] without your permission, then you may request the page be immediately removed from [[Battlestar Wiki]] by following [[Wikipedia:Request for immediate removal of copyright violation | this external (Wikipedia) link]]. You can contact [[Joe Beaudoin]] 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 ==
* [[Wikipedia:Copyright FAQ]]
* The [[Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ]] for questions on copyright.
* [[Wikipedia:Sites that use Wikipedia as a source]]
* [[Wikipedia:Standard GFDL violation letter]]
* [[Wikipedia:Possible copyright infringements]]
* [[Wikipedia:Spotting possible copyright violations]]
 
Further discussion...
* [[Wikipedia:Copyright issues]]
* [[Wikipedia:m:Wikipedia and copyright issues]]
* [[Wikipedia:m:Avoid Copyright Paranoia]]
* [[Wikipedia:m:Permission grant extent]]
 
[[ca:Viquipèdia:Copyrights]]
[[de:Wikipedia:Lizenzbestimmungen]]
[[da:Wikipedia:Ophavsret]] [[fr:Wikipédia:Copyright]]
[[ja:Wikipedia:&#33879;&#20316;&#27177;]][[hu:Wikipédia:Copyright]] [[nl:Wikipedia:Auteursrechten]] [[no:Wikipedia:Opphavsrett]][[simple:Wikipedia:Copyrights]][[sv:Wikipedia:Upphovsrätt]]
[[zh-cn:Wikipedia:&#29256;&#26435;&#20449;&#24687;]]

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