Wikipedia:Copyright problems
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This page is for listing and discussing possible copyright problems involving text on Wikipedia, including pages suspected to be copyright violations. Listings typically remain for at least five days before review and closure by a copyright problems clerk or administrator. During this time, interested contributors are invited to offer feedback, propose revisions, or request copyright permission.
Listed pages appear in the bottom section of the page. For additional guidance, see below.
To add a new listing, go to today's section.
Instructions
Handling previously published text on Wikipedia
Under the United States law that governs Wikipedia, copyright is automatically assumed as soon as any content (text or other media) is created in a physical form. An author does not need to apply for or claim copyright, for a copyright to exist.
Only one of the following allows works to be reused in Wikimedia projects:
A) Explicit Statement. An explicit statement (by the author, or by the holder of the rights to the work) that the material is either:
- in the public domain,
- licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 Unported License (CC BY-SA), or
- otherwise compatible with CC BY-SA 4.0.
B) Public Domain. If the work is inherently in the public domain, due to its age, source or lack of originality; or
C) Fair Use. United States law allows for fair use of copyrighted content, and (within limits) Wikipedia does as well. Under guidelines for non-free content, brief selections of copyrighted text may be used, but only if clearly marked and with full attribution.
Even if a source is public domain or compatibly licensed, material should be properly attributed in accordance with Wikipedia:Plagiarism in respect of local customs and attribution requirements of compatible licenses. If the terms of the compatible license are not met, use of the content can constitute a violation of copyright even if the license is compatible.
Repeated copyright violations
Contributors who repeatedly post copyrighted text or images after appropriate warnings will be blocked from editing to protect the project; see 17 United States Code § 512. If one contributor verifiably inserts multiple copyright violations and systematic review is needed, see Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations.
Instructions for handling text-based copyright concerns
Blatant infringement
Pages exhibiting blatant copyright infringements may be speedily deleted if:
- Content was copied from a non-compatible source that is not a mirror.
- The page cannot be restored to a non-infringing version nor be viable with the infringing content removed.
- There is no credible assertion of public domain, fair use, or a free license.
To nominate an article for speedy deletion for copyright concerns, add one of these to the page:
{{db-copyvio|url=insert URL of source here}}{{db-copyvio|describe non-web source here}}
Both of these templates will generate a notice that you should give the contributor of the content. This is important to help ensure that they do not continue to add copyrighted content to Wikipedia. An administrator will examine the article and decide whether to delete it or not. You should not blank the page in this instance.
Suspected or complicated infringement
If infringement is not blatant or the speedy deletion criteria do not apply:
- Remove or rewrite the infringing text avoiding copyright violations or revert the page to before the text was added.
- The infringing text will remain in the page history, and it may be tagged for {{copyvio-revdel}}. Administrators hold discretion on the appropriateness of revision deletion for each case. Please note the reason for removal in the edit summary and at the article's talk page (you may wish to use {{subst:cclean}}). Please identify and alert the contributor of the material to the problem, unless advised not to. The template {{Uw-copyright}} may be used for this purpose.
- However, if all revisions have copyright problems, the removal of the copyright problem is contested, reversion/removal is otherwise complicated, or the article is eligible for presumptive deletion:
- Place one of the following above the infringing text:
{{subst:copyvio|url=insert URL here}}{{subst:copyvio|identify non-web source here}}- Place
{{subst:Copyvio/bottom}}below the last infringing text.
- Go to today's section and add:
{{subst:article-cv|PageName}}from [insert URL or identify non-web source here] ~~~~
- to the bottom of the list. Put the page's name in place of "PageName". If you do not have a URL, enter a description of the source. A pre-filled version can be copied from the top of the copyvio template after substituting it. If yours is the first listing of the day, please add a header to the top of the page, using the page for another date as an example.
- Warn the contributor of the listing at their talk page, unless advised not to. The template on the now blanked page supplies a notice you may use for that purpose.
Image copyright concerns
Files are not handled here. For images that are clear copyright violations, follow the procedure for speedy deletion; otherwise list at Files for Discussion.
Responding to articles listed for copyright investigation
Any contributor is welcome to help investigate articles listed for copyright concerns, although only administrators, copyright problems board clerks, and VRT (formerly OTRS) agents should remove {{copyvio}} tags and mark listings resolved.
Assistance might include supplying evidence of non-infringement (or, conversely, of infringement) or obtaining and verifying permission of license. You might also help by rewriting problematic articles or removing infringing text (without removing {{copyvio}}).
Supplying evidence of non-infringement
Articles listed here are suspect of copyright concern, but not every article contains infringement. The content may be on Wikipedia first, in the public domain, compatibly licensed, or falls below threshold of originality for copyright. Sometimes, the person who placed it here is the copyright owner of freely-licensed material and this simply needs to be verified.
Information can be provided to prove compatible licensing or public domain status under the listing of the article on the copyright problems board or on the talk page of the article. A link or a clear explanation can be very helpful when a clerk or administrator evaluates the matter. As listings are not immediately addressed on the board, it may take a few days after you make your note before a response is provided.
If the article is tagged for {{copyvio}}, you should allow an administrator or copyright problems clerk to remove the tag. If the article is tagged for {{copy-paste}} or {{close paraphrasing}}, you may remove the tag from the article when the problem is addressed (or disproven), but please do not close the listing on the copyright problems board itself.
Obtaining/verifying permission
Sometimes material was placed on Wikipedia with the permission of the copyright owner. Sometimes copyright owners are willing to give permission (and proper license!) even if it was not.
Any contributor can write to the owner of copyright and check whether they gave or will give permission (or maybe they in fact posted it here!). See Wikipedia:Example requests for permission. In either case, unless a statement authorizing the material under compatible license is placed online at the point of original publication, permission will need to be confirmed through e-mail to the Wikimedia Foundation. See Wikipedia:Confirmation of permission. If a compatible license is placed online at the point of original publication, please provide a link to that under the listing for the article on the copyright problems board or on the talk page of the article.
Please note that it may take a few days for letters to clear once they are sent. Do not worry if the content is deleted prematurely; it can be restored at any point usable permission is logged.
Rewriting content
Any contributor may rewrite articles to remove duplicated or closely paraphrased text. If the article is blanked, the rewrite takes place at Talk:PAGENAME/Temp so that the new material can be copied over the old. (The template blanking the article will link to the specific temporary page.)
The article should not be copied over without first removing copied content. Other content from the article can be used, if there is no reason to believe that it may be a copyright issue as well. If the content is copied from an inaccessible source like a book or cannot be verified, please remove all text added by the contributor. If you copy any text from the old article, please leave a note on the listing or in your edit summaries of the rewrite. Reviewing clerks or administrators will then preserve the history of the old article.
Rewrites can be done directly in articles that have been tagged for {{close paraphrasing}} and {{copy-paste}}, with those tags removed after the rewrite is complete.
Please review Wikipedia:Copy-paste and the linked guidelines and policies in it as necessary to review Wikipedia's practices for non-free text. Reviewing Wikipedia:Plagiarism is also helpful, particularly where content is compatibly licensed or public domain. Repairing these issues is usually as simple as supplying proper attribution.
Copyright owners who submitted their own work to Wikipedia (or people editing on their behalf)
If you submitted work to Wikipedia which you had previously published and your submission was marked as a potential infringement of copyright, you must do one of the following to resolve the problem:
- Link to a note permitting reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA) and the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts) at the site of the original publication; or
- Send an email from an address associated with the original publication to permissions-en@wikimedia.org or a postal message to the Wikimedia Foundation, ideally using the email template at WP:CONSENT.
See also Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.
Letters and emails may take some time to clear once they are sent. Do not worry if the content is deleted prematurely; it can be restored at any point usable permission is logged. Your email will receive a response whether the permission is usable or not. If you have not received a response to your letter within two weeks, it is a good idea to follow up.
Please keep in mind that content previously published elsewhere may not meet Wikipedia's specific guidelines and policies. If you are not familiar with these policies and guidelines, please review especially the core policies that govern the project. This may help prepare you to deal with any other issues with the text that may arise.
Should you choose to rewrite the content rather than release it under the requisite license, please see above.
Clerks and patrolling administrators
Copyright clerks
For a more complete description of clerks and their duties, as well as a list of active clerks, please see Wikipedia:Copyright problems/Clerks.
Copyright clerks are experienced editors on Wikipedia, especially with copyright policies and their enforcement. On this board, they are trusted to evaluate and close listings and request administrative actions when necessary. Clerks are periodically reviewed by other clerks and patrolling administrators.
Copyright problems administrators
For a more complete description of administrators on Wikipedia, please see Wikipedia:Administrators.
Any administrator may work the copyright problems board. This may involve evaluating listings personally or completing evaluations by clerks. Clerks are trusted in their work and their recommendations may be implemented without double-checking, although any administrator is welcome to review recommendations and discuss them with the clerks in question.
Closing listings
Pages can be processed at any time by anyone, but are not formally closed until a clerk or administrator verifies that all problems are resolved. Pages listed for presumptive deletion stay open for a minimum of 7 days before being processed. VRT agents may close listings at any time.
For advice for resolving listings, see:
- Wikipedia:Copyright problems/Advice for admins (VRT agents, see section there)
- Wikipedia:Copyright problems/Advice for clerks
{{CPC}} may be used to denote resolutions of listings by administrators, clerks and VRT agents.
Listings of possible copyright problems
Older than 7 days
- Nur_Jahan (history · last edit · rewrite)from various books such as: [1] and other sources. Nearly every paragraph shows up in either google books or similar, some maybe wiki-originated but the books clearly are not [2] I don't think it's possible to recover this without starting again, it looks like the history of this article is littered with copyright violations from pretty much day one through to today. JeffUK 09:33, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPPING ME AND GOOD MOURING 69.125.123.83 (talk) 10:55, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
- Draft:List of Scott the Woz episodes (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8788222/episodes/?ref_=tt_ep_epl, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8788222/episodes/?season=2. — Diannaa (talk) 12:16, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- I was looking at this too, I think the original source is actually https://open.spotify.com/show/1g6Urt3QZpHIKg9aavAtDk. —Compassionate727 (T·C) 19:49, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. — Diannaa (talk) 13:54, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
- Jinchao Xu (history · last edit · rewrite). I have reverted some recent text added from the subject's university profile or from here. Earwig is still reporting high percentages of the article similar to those pages, however. I cannot tell which came first, those pages or the text in the Wikipedia article - the text in the article was added in 2018, and internet archive versions of those sites don't go back that far. Hoping someone else can work this out. Thanks. Tacyarg (talk) 18:26, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
- Cleaned. Not 100% sure it's copyvio but the way the text reads is concerning enough that I removed. Wizardman 01:06, 28 September 2024 (UTC)
- Peter McLaren (history · last edit · rewrite). I removed some content that was unambigiously in violation of copyright, but for the rest, I cannot tell what would qualify and what wouldn't. I'd appreciate it if someone with expertise in this could take a look. Thanks! Sincerely, Guessitsavis (she/they) (Talk) 21:08, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
- Everbright Securities International (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.ebshk.com/about.php#history. Paradoctor (talk) 08:50, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Wizardman 02:32, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
- Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori (history · last edit · rewrite) I just responded to a revdel request on this, infringing URL was [3], but it looks like there are still more CLOP problems in here asilvering (talk) 20:22, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- Interracial marriage (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/perspectives-african-american-history/border-love-rio-grande-african-american-men-and-latinas-rio-grande-valley-south-texas/ and https://books.google.com/books?id=VnAsAAAAYAAJ&q=Because+almost+all+of+the+Chinese+indentured+immigrants+were+men,+they+tended+to+intermarry+with+both+East+Indians+and+Africans,+and+thus+the+Chinese+of+Guyana+did+not+remain+as+physically+distinct+as+other+groups.+Like+the+Portuguese,+the+ ⸺(Random)staplers 23:09, 7 October 2024 (UTC)
- Old IP copyvios, so no need to notify anyone. It's also, oddly, part of a WikiEdu project.⸺(Random)staplers 23:11, 7 October 2024 (UTC)
- Peshtigo fire: Storzeme1852 in 2021 added copyvio that has now been removed by Firefangledfeathers. Kaya098, another SPA editing in the same time period (not outright socking, I don't think, but maybe a class?), lifted a quote from [4] (search "Modern students of such matters"), which appears to in turn be a quote from Fire at Peshtigo by Robert W. Wells (so not public domain despite appearing in a government document). I sadly don't have time to sort it out right now, but both editors' contributions to the article should be investigated. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (they|xe) 19:57, 8 October 2024 (UTC)
Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah (history · last edit · rewrite) I declined a revdel on this as a probable backwards copy - the text has full matches all over the place. Our article is pretty old. Would appreciate if someone could verify that ours isn't copyvio and attach the relevant backwards copy templates. asilvering (talk) 15:10, 9 October 2024 (UTC)
- Mecklenburgian invasion of Sweden (history · last edit · rewrite) from the book Ulf Sundberg (2010) Sveriges krig 1050-1448. (See article talk#Copyvio concerns)
Article is also being discussed at AfD.Also note Draft:Wars of Deposition against Magnus which contains more of the same material. Jähmefyysikko (talk) 20:21, 10 October 2024 (UTC) (updated 16:28, 23 October 2024 (UTC)) - Republic of Letters (history · last edit · rewrite) from every work cited in user Piessek's edits to the page, which are the vast majority of Piessek's 180 edits on Wikipedia. I investigated Piessek's edits after a message on the talk page regarding copyvio in single section of the article, and found that the vast majority of material from this account's edits are directly lifted from sources given inline – namely Brockliss, Dalton, Fiering, Goldgar, Goodman, Israel, Kale, Konig, Lambe, Lilti, and Ostrander. These edits constitute 63.8% of the page, and have been followed by 15+ years of subsequent edits. Peloneous(t)[c] 23:39, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
- Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://globalprojects.ucsf.edu/project/major-extremity-trauma-research-consortium, or maybe one of the other about us sections on the web some where. There are some differences, but not sure if enough or worth rewriting. Alpha3031 (t • c) 00:38, 18 October 2024 (UTC)
- Rory Gallagher shares a lot of content with skyminds.net Copyvio report, I haven't been able to determine which is the source. -Bogger (talk) 08:21, 18 October 2024 (UTC)
- Bridge over Troubled Water (song) (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1506019/elvis-presley-paul-simon-bridge-over-troubled-water?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target. Quilt Phase (talk) 21:17, 18 October 2024 (UTC)
- Progesterone (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://books.google.com.au/books?id=9HSoZrcBRl0C&dq=Medicinal+Chemistry+sriram&q=dimorphic#v=snippet&q=dimorphic&f=false. Preimage (talk) 11:42, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
- Update — I think this has been plagiarised from Wikipedia, not the other way around. The book was published in 2007, whereas this text was added to WP in 11:17, 6 July 2005. I've removed the article's copyvio tag. Preimage (talk) 11:56, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
Backwardscopy. Tag placed at talk page. Preimage, thank you for your diligence on both counts! Sennecaster (Chat) 21:26, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
- Decauville railway in Delphi (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_18_3/Stamnas_et_al.pdf. Richard Nevell (talk) 17:23, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
- Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (history · last edit · rewrite) Curb Safe Charmer (talk) 19:42, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
- Fort Algernon (history · last edit · rewrite) from http://virginiaplaces.org/military/forts.html. -- Diannaa (talk) 22:43, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
- Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. -- Diannaa (talk) 17:30, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
- Jay Hopson (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://web.archive.org/web/20131227074905/http://www.olemisssports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/021304aaa.html. Third paragraph in the lede, and unfortunately it's the fifth revision, going all the way back to 2012: Special:Diff/495107328. I'm engaged in an unrelated edit dispute. Mackensen (talk) 23:39, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
- Western blot (history · last edit · rewrite) from [5]. Shares large portions of text with the site, which does not appear to be freely licensed, and appears to have been published before the material was added. Sdkb talk 01:31, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
- Tinā (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/10/03/44th-annual-hawaii-international-film-festival-kicks-off-with-inspiring-story-healing-redemption/ and https://hiff.org/events/mothertin/. Detected using Earwig's Copyvio Detector. Royiswariii (talk) 02:06, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
- It was a quote, and I removed it. It's fine now. Dhantegge (talk) 02:31, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
- Letters Patent, 1947 (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/letters-patent-1947. Wellington Bay (talk) 01:04, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
- The Wikipedia article was created in 2012 as can be seen here: [6]
- The Canadian Encyclopedia article, was "Published Online March 15, 2016.
- It seems then that it would actually be the opposite, the Canadian Encyclopedia took content from Wikipedia and not the reverse. 198.103.111.110 (talk) 12:53, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
- That's unexpected. The Canadian Encyclopedia author's bio doesn't match that of the wiki editor who wrote largely wrote the article either so it doesn't look like the CE article happened to be written by a Wikipedia editor. Wellington Bay (talk) 14:16, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
- Another possibility is that this CE article was adapted either from another CE article or from another published article by the same author. Wellington Bay (talk) 14:22, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
- Natural History Museum of Denmark (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://snm.dk/en/article/story-zoological-museum at least some of the WP page appears to be a cut and paste of the webpage from the museum. I haven't checked it all but the section I have highlighted appears identical JMWt (talk) 16:03, 29 October 2024 (UTC)
- Auto mechanic (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://web.archive.org/web/20221007023255/https://www.ase.com/about-ase/. Part of a WikiEdu project.⸺(Random)staplers 06:11, 29 October 2024 (UTC)
Article cleaned, revision deletion requested. The4lines |||| (Talk) (Contributions) 03:44, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
- Artists Repertory Theatre (history · last edit · rewrite) This article was recently highlighted as being promotional at WP:COIN. I noted that a significant percentage of the article was lifted directly from the subject's website or from the sources indicated within the text. This material has now been removed but revdel would be appreciated. See also, recent talk page discussion. Axad12 (talk) 02:45, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- Requested. @Axad12, please use {{cv-revdel}} in the future. Sennecaster (Chat) 02:31, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
- Yiguandao (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://ebin.pub/the-transformation-of-yiguan-dao-in-taiwan-adapting-to-a-changing-religious-economy-073911719x-9780739117194.html. -- Diannaa (talk) 10:21, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- Claudio Fasoli (history · last edit · rewrite) from http://www.claudiofasoli.com. Superspritz (talk) 14:46, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Wizardman 02:12, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
New listings
New listings are made on daily reports transcluded on this page and are not directly added to it. To add a new listing, please go to today's section. Instructions for adding new listings can be found at Instructions for listing text-based copyright concerns. Editors may resolve issues within listings by removing the copyrighted content or rewriting content on the temporary pages at any time, save for presumptive deletion. See the section on responding for more information.
- Artists Repertory Theatre (history · last edit · rewrite) This article was recently highlighted as being promotional at WP:COIN. I noted that a significant percentage of the article was lifted directly from the subject's website or from the sources indicated within the text. This material has now been removed but revdel would be appreciated. See also, recent talk page discussion. Axad12 (talk) 02:45, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- Requested. @Axad12, please use {{cv-revdel}} in the future. Sennecaster (Chat) 02:31, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
- Yiguandao (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://ebin.pub/the-transformation-of-yiguan-dao-in-taiwan-adapting-to-a-changing-religious-economy-073911719x-9780739117194.html. -- Diannaa (talk) 10:21, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- Claudio Fasoli (history · last edit · rewrite) from http://www.claudiofasoli.com. Superspritz (talk) 14:46, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Wizardman 02:12, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
- Magrib (film) (history · last edit · rewrite) presumptive deletion from Arfaz. Completely unsourced except for an IMDb external link. The4lines |||| (Talk) (Contributions) 06:09, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
- Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Wizardman 02:38, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
- The "recipe" section of Swiss lemonade is directly copied from the website linked in reference 3. Sarsenet (talk) 11:17, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
- User:Stella Worth/sandbox/Mary Rutan Health (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.logancountyohio.com/news/mary-rutan-hospital and https://www.logancountyohio.com/news/september-business-of-the-month-mary-rutan-health. Some but not all has already been removed. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 20:54, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
- Permanent account number seems to have quite a bit of stuff that could be copyright violations, but I lack the expertise to untangle it all. --Chris | Crazycomputers (talk) 15:54, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
- Eudice Chong has some lengthy attributed quotations from Chong herself and college sports staff which are copied from various sources. Here's the Earwig report. I can remove the quotations, but do the versions including them need to be revdelled, or is it a different situation for quotes? Thanks. Tacyarg (talk) 20:35, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2024 November 9
Footer
Wikipedia's current date is 9 November 2024. Put new article listings in Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2024 November 9. Files should be handled by speedy deletion or Wikipedia:Files for discussion.