Wikisource:Copyright tags

Please tag texts on the page with one of the tags below.

When marking a page as one of the vaguer categories (such as CopyrightedFreeUse), try to specify somewhere what the actual license or other permission states. If you think a case can be made for Fair use then add to the list at Wikipedia:Fair use.

It's kind of obvious, but if you tag an image as requiring attribution, please specify who needs to be attributed! Note that the GFDL requires attribution. If multiple categories apply to an image, add all that apply. For example, if it is GFDL'd, but would also be public domain in the USA, mark it with both GFDL and PD-US.

Information

Get information from Wikipedia and other sources, about the work, the author and the publication, to see if the text is in the public domain. Popular anonymous works are in the public domain.

Tagging options

Public domain

General public domain works

• {{PD-self}} - for releasing your own work into public domain
• {{PD-release}} - when the creator is known to have released the work to public domain
• {{PD-old}} - for works where the author died more than 100 years ago (up through December 31, 1923).
• {{PD-old-70}} - for works where the author died more than 70 years ago (up through December 31, 1953).
• {{PD-old-50}} - for works where the author died more than 50 years ago (up through December 31, 1973).

USA public domain

• {{PD-US}} - for copyright-expired text in the US (mainly those published pre-1923). Also for works not eligible for copyright under US law.

• {{PD-US-1923-abroad}} - for copyright-expired text in the US but published outside the USA pre-1923. Language subdomains may or may not accept this type of works, according to the national laws when considering wmf:Resolution:Licensing_policy about any countries where any project content is predominantly accessed. If not, ws.org hosts these works and will transfer them to the subdomains when appropriate.

• {{PD-USGov}} - for works created wholly by the US Federal Government. Such works are ineligible for copyright.

• {{PD-USGov-NASA}} - for public domain texts from NASA as described on Category:NASA images.

• {{PD-USGov-NOAA}} - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

• {{PD-USGov-Interior-NPS}} - US National Parks Service

• {{PD-USGov-Interior-USGS}} - US Geological Survey

• {{PD-USGov-Interior-USGS-Minerals}} - "Minerals in Your World" project of the United States Geological Survey and the Mineral Information Institute.

• {{PD-USGov-CIA-WF}} - CIA World Factbook.

• {{PD-USGov-USDA}}
  • {{PD-USGov-USDA-ARS}} - USDA Agricultural Research Service.
  • {{PD-USGov-USDA-NRCS}} - USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

• {{PD-CAGov}} - for images created by the State of California that are ineligible for copyright such as w:Image:Pleasant_Valley_State_Prison.jpg

USA military public domain

• {{PD-USGov-Military}} - general US military

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Award}} - for military medals

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Badge}}

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Air Force}}

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Army}}

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Army-USACE}}

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Marines}}

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Navy}}

Other countries public domain

• {{PD-UKGov}} - for works created by the British Government and published prior to 1954.

• {{Sovietpd}} - for works published by the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics before 27 May 1973.

• {{Polishsymbol}} - for government documents, materials, signs and symbols.

• {{Iraqcopyright}} - for works first published in Iraq before Iraq signed a copyright treaty with the United States.

Free licenses

GNU licenses

• {{GFDL}} - GNU Free Documentation License
  • {{GFDL-small}} - Less obtrusive version of the GFDL template

• {{GFDL_1.2}} - GNU Free Documentation License 1.2
  • {{Image uploaded by user pcb21}} - Year = ... | Description = ...
  • {{SimonEastPhoto}}

• {{GPL}} - GNU General Public License
  • {{Chess image}} - XBoard images.

• {{LGPL}} - GNU Lesser General Public License - This license is deprecated.

Creative Commons Licenses

• {{CC-by}} - Attribution
• {{CC-by-2.0}} - Attribution 2.0
• {{CC-sa}} - ShareAlike
• {{CC-by-sa}} - Attribution-Sharealike
• {{CC-by-sa-2.0}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0

UK government copyrights

• {{CrownCopyright}} - This only applies to some content on some web sites. It's not a carte blanche to use anything. See the talk page for a list of web sites that will allow some use - and check the copyright notice first as they are all different.

The options below are all either for Crown copyright or British Government bodies that claim copyrights in their own right with terms sufficiently different from the norm that they need their own message.

• {{LearningandSkillsCouncilCopyright}} - Learning and Skills Council material
• {{NationalAuditOfficeCopyright}} - National Audit Office material
• {{NHSCopyright}} - National Health Service material

Fair use

Fair use or fair dealing is the concept that unlicensed copyrighted work can be legally used without paying licensing fees or receiving permission of the copyright holder. Fair use is explicitly prohibited on Wikisource.

Creating new tags or sub-category

If you are uploading a relatively large collection of text, you should consider creating a new tag and sub-category for them.

1. First create the template, for example, Template:Asdf. This can be a quick draft version of a public domain notice, for example.
2. Categorize that template to Category:Asdf.
3. Edit this category to put a description.
4. Add the template tag {{Template notice|Asdf}} in this category edit.
5. Categorize this category to, for example, Category:Public domain images.

Done. All you need to do is just tag your copyedited text with {{Asdf}}. All those texts will be in the Category:Asdf images which in turn would be in a sub-category of Category:Public domain.

Text template notice

Each copyright tag such as {{Fairuse}} should correspond to a Category. Placing such a tag on an text will automatically put it into that category, because that template should already belong to that category. Using {{Fairuse}} as an example, each of such category should have a notice by using the tag {{Template notice|Fairuse}} of the template Template:Template notice that renders as:

To put an appropriate work into this category, add the tag {{fairuse}}. This template would be rendered as:

Template:Fairuse

Some of these works may not be appropriate and could be copyright problems. There may be a more appropriate tag to use by taking in consideration of all of the available copyright tags. Consider putting an image in an existing or a new sub-category. Any one category should not have too many items so that all categories would be balanced.