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Welcome to the Media Copyright Questions page, a place for help with image copyrights, tagging, non-free content, and related questions. For all other questions please see Wikipedia:Questions.
How to add a copyright tag to an existing image
On the description page of the image (the one whose name starts File:), click Edit this page.
For work you created yourself, use one of the ones listed under the heading "For image creators".
For a work downloaded from the internet, please understand that the vast majority of images from the internet are not appropriate for use on Wikipedia. Exceptions include images from flickr that have an acceptable license, images that are in the public domain because of their age or because they were created by the United States federal government, or images used under a claim of fair use. If you do not know what you are doing, please post a link to the image here and ask BEFORE uploading it.
For an image created by someone else who has licensed their image under an acceptable Creative Commons or other free license, or has released their image into the public domain, this permission must be documented. Please see Requesting copyright permission for more information.
Type the name of the tag (e.g.; {{Cc-by-4.0}}), not forgetting {{ before and }} after, in the edit box on the image's description page.
Remove any existing tag complaining that the image has no tag (for example, {{untagged}})
Hit Publish changes.
If you still have questions, go on to "How to ask a question" below.
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Note for those replying to posted questions
If a question clearly does not belong on this page, reply to it using the template {{mcq-wrong}} and, if possible, leave a note on the poster's talk page. For copyright issues relevant to Commons where questions arising cannot be answered locally, questions may be directed to Commons:Commons:Village pump/Copyright.
Not exactly, but it seems that you figured it out. Presumably the issue was that the article in the description of the file was the non-colon redirect while the article the image was being used on was the colon article, which might have confused it. Given that over a day has passed, I would assume that JJMC89 bot will not removed the image again, but if it does then feel free to post again here. --Super Goku V (talk) 08:20, 31 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I am not sure what I said that was not understood. A "Files for upload" request requires proof of copyright when attempting to make a request from a preexisting image. I do not know how to prove that this image is from a government agency other than it comes from a ".gov" site. Does anyone know how I should proceed from here? Thanks. 205.204.186.47 (talk) 16:35, 30 January 2024 (UTC) (same person as 104.254.218.148 (talk))[reply]
You would request this as non-free content. You would need to supply the license and a non-free usage rationale for its use. The "Nayakan original CD cover" request is an example of one which is non-free. For the license, you can use {{Non-free logo}}. For the non-free usage rationale, you can use {{Non-free use rationale logo}}. -- Whpq (talk) 17:28, 30 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Status of a mugshot in a specific situation in Germany
There is a case where a very basic photo (some sort of ID image, or I think it might be a mugshot, so I'll call it that) was released. It was put on a wanted poster and on the official government website while this person was wanted. Does this count as making the mugshot/ID usable under Germany's rule that "official notices" are public domain? I don't think so but I wanted to try. PARAKANYAA (talk) 11:02, 1 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm currently working on a BLP over at User:Silver seren/Mary Lake Polan for a scientist. She has an article in the National Library of Medicine over here that has an image I would like to use. Normally, government published images are public domain, but that isn't true for all images in the NLM, sadly. There are no copyright notes listed in this source, however. Additionally, there is a journal article published 7 years later that uses the same image. And several other images of the subject. If you click into the gallery for the images, you'll see that all the other ones of her have a note saying "Photo courtesy of Dr Mary Lake Polan" or some other copyright notice. Except for the first lede image, the same one from the NLM profile. Nothing is listed for that one image.
Does this indicate the image IS a public domain one taken during the course of her public government work? Is there any way to properly confirm this? SilverserenC00:06, 3 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not as experienced as many others, but I wanted to point out two caveats from the NLM, both from the "Copyright" link at the bottom of that page:
However, a copyright notice is not required by law and therefore not all copyrighted content is necessarily marked in this way.
and
User Responsibility: It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when using materials that are not in the public domain. NLM cannot guarantee the copyright status for any item.
The journal's contents are copyrighted, as are submissions to the journal, so I don't think that's any help, even though there is no copyright statement there either.
It seems to me that using the NLM page as a guide to public domain status is problematic. Most images on that page do have copyright notices, but the one you're referring to obviously doesn't, not does the one at the very bottom of the page. Neither photo has any information concerning its status. My weakly experienced opinion is that we should be cautious, and I think the onus is on us to actively determine for ourselves, as the "User Responsibility" caveat states, what the copyright status is, unless the image is to be used under a fair use exemption, which is not available here. Good luck, and I appreciate editors who take as much care as you have to protect our wonderful Wikiworld! Dcs002 (talk) 05:48, 3 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Similarly to Dcs002, I'm not nearly as experienced as others, but I noticed that the list of asset credits(linked from here, which is in turn linked from here) for the NLM exhibition in question makes an attribution (on page 15) to:
Mary Lake Polan, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H. Courtesy private collection
"Courtesy private collection" clarifies it then. It's copyrighted. Good news though! I see I misspoke in my comment above. I said Fair Use is not available here. I meant to say Fair Use IS available here. There are restrictions on the image size (something like 100,000 pixels) and how it may be used, but a picture of the subject of an article can be used for that article under certain conditions, like no free image being available. All the painstaking details are here at WP:Fair. I've done this before. It's not difficult. You just need to write out a Fair Use justification when you upload the image, and make sure you upload it to Wikipedia, NOT Wikimedia. (They don't allow Fair Use because files are stored there, not used.) Good luck! Dcs002 (talk) 05:30, 5 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't realize such fair use rationale was allowed with BLP subjects, Dcs002. I've used such a rationale with BDP subjects instead, where I put it under historical photographs for other scientists where every picture of them was either related to their university work or were in newspapers (or with decades old deceased actors where all images of them were in papers as well). But I thought BLP didn't allowed for such arguments. If they do, then it does seem clear that all pictures that exist of Mary Lake Polan are those taken during the course of her work or from interviews. SilverserenC05:34, 5 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for clarifying. I've done this for album covers and for one pic in an air crash article. I've never done a BLP article, but back in my memory I do recall encountering something like this standard. If the subject is alive, there's a possibility of taking your own photo. Yeah, it's on the WP:FAIR page: "...for example, in most cases, a photograph of a living person can be taken and released under a free licence." Dcs002 (talk) 18:24, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
copyright tagging
I've received a note saying that an image that is in my draft article has not been tagged. I have found what I think is the appropriate tag but I cannot figure out how to attach it to the image.
Draft: Anna Istomina 57.140.161
Copyright tag
{{PD-US-no notice}}
Is this the correct tag? It is a photographic portrait with no information about creator, date, or place of creation. Based on what I know about the person in the photograph, my best guess is that it was taken about 1943. How do I proceed from here? Boat Scherzo (talk) 01:12, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I assume you mean this file: File:Audree Thomas, c. 1943-2.jpg. First, as you say you got the photo from a relative, you can verify that there were no copyright markings on either side of it. Assuming its all good, in the Summary section of that page, replace the "untagged" template with what you have above and that should be good. --Masem (t) 01:22, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Boat Scherzo: That template "PD-US-no notice" would work only if it is known that the photo was first published in the United States. Otherwise, the absence of a copyright notice is not decisive and you may need to consider the URAA, which implies taking into account the copyright status in the country of first publication. The problem is that, as you say, you have "no information about creator, date, or place of creation" or place of publication. Based on the look of the person on the photo, it looks from probably the late 1940s. It could as well be from Canada or from her years in Argentina. First published in Canada would be fine if the photo was taken before 1946 (Template:PD-Canada). First published in Argentina would be even better (Template:PD-AR-Photo). Another copy of this photo on the internet also suggests that it is probably from her years in Argentina, based on printing on the back of the photo [1]. Argentina seems a good guess. I suppose you already know of these other photos probably from the same era, but just in case: this first group photo in the collection of the New York Public Library might be "PD-US-no notice", the publication history of this second photo could possibly be documented with some research, and the person who was your source might be able to tell something about this third photo. -- Asclepias (talk) 15:23, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Minsky's Burlesque operated in the theater that would later be known as the Apollo from only 1928 to 1929, so that's the only applicable time frame this could be from, based on the sources in the article. Thank you. Reconrabbit20:57, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
No, I don't think there is enough originality for a copyright here. I moved it to Commons. Please add any relevant information there. In addition, this is "PD-US-no notice". Yann (talk) 12:30, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]