Licensing update/Implementation
As per the licensing update vote result and subsequent Wikimedia Foundation Board resolution, any content on Wikimedia Foundation projects currently available under GFDL 1.2 with the possibility of upgrading to a later version will be made available additionally under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike 3.0 Unported.
Specifically with regard to text, after this update, only dual-licensed content or CC-BY-SA-compatible content can be added to the projects, and GFDL-only submissions will no longer be accepted. In other words, CC-BY-SA will be the primary Wikimedia license for text, and GFDL will be retained as a secondary license.
As per the Board resolution, as of June 29, 2009, this licensing change has been implemented on all eligible wikis, which should reflect the changes below. Eligible GFDL media files are still in the process of being made available under CC-BY-SA. Please note any gaps or issues on the discussion page.
This page explains the new site terms, and also outlines how wiki communities can further customize them after the roll-out.
Terms for site footer
 | System message: MediaWiki:Wikimedia-copyright
Implementation policy: This text should not be substantially altered; it is acceptable to be more verbose and e.g. point out specifically that multimedia files may be under different licenses, or that text may be available under the GFDL. It's also acceptable to link to official CC translations of the 3.0 Unported license (not the jurisdictional variants), or to create a wiki-local copy thereof. Note that some wiki communities have added trademark notices or other notices to the site footer. These can be restored. Trademark notices are helpful but are not required; we're working on standardized trademark usage guidelines and related language. |
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Terms for edit screen
| System messages: MediaWiki:Wikimedia-copyrightwarning (above edit summary) and MediaWiki:Wikimedia-editpage-tos-summary (below save/preview buttons)
Implementation policy: This summary may be shortened and reworded, but the following must be clearly present: 1) release under both CC-BY-SA and GFDL; 2) requirement to consent to attribution by hyperlink or URL; 3) reference to Terms of Use on wikimediafoundation.org or a project-specific version developed in line with the implementation policy below. Please do not add additional license versioning information beyond what is present below. |
- By saving, you agree to irrevocably release your contribution under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 and the GFDL. You agree to be credited by re-users, at minimum, through a hyperlink or URL to the article you are contributing to. See the Terms of Use for details.
- Part 2: (footnote or otherwise visible on the edit page)
- If you do not want your writing to be edited and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here. If you did not write this yourself, it must be available under terms consistent with the Terms of Use, and you agree to follow any relevant licensing requirements.
- Removed in 2012
Terms of Use
| Implementation policy: A link to the reference version on wikimediafoundation.org of the terms below will be the default on wikis that have been migrated to the new terms. This link can be replaced with a link to a localized version when one has been created. Any localized version needs to follow the implementation policy as further defined below, and existing local "licensing terms" or "copyrights" pages should be marked as deprecated or redirected. |
Summary of site terms
| Implementation policy: This section and all subsections must be present in any localized version, and must be translated literally. The unmodified English original must be included in equal prominence to any translation. A side-by-side view is acceptable. You may add explanatory links to either version where such links do not alter the meaning of the terms. |
- Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.
— Wikimedia Foundation Vision Statement
Information for text contributors
To grow the commons of free knowledge and free culture, all users contributing to Wikimedia projects are required to grant broad permissions to the general public to re-distribute and re-use their contributions freely, as long as the use is attributed and the same freedom to re-use and re-distribute applies to any derivative works. Therefore, for any text you hold the copyright to, by submitting it, you agree to license it under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 (Unported). For compatibility reasons, you are also required to license it under the GNU Free Documentation License (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts). Re-users can choose the license(s) they wish to comply with. Please note that these licenses do allow commercial uses of your contributions, as long as such uses are compliant with the terms.
As an author, you agree to be attributed in any of the following fashions: a) through a hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the article or articles you contributed to, b) through a hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy which is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on this website, or c) through a list of all authors. (Any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions.)
Importing text:
If you want to import text that you have found elsewhere or that you have co-authored with others, you can only do so if it is available under terms that are compatible with the CC-BY-SA license. You do not need to ensure or guarantee that the imported text is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. Furthermore, please note that you cannot import information which is available only under the GFDL. In other words, you may only import text that is (a) single-licensed under terms compatible with the CC-BY-SA license or (b) dual-licensed with the GFDL and another license with terms compatible with the CC-BY-SA license
If you import text under a compatible license which requires attribution, you must, in a reasonable fashion, credit the author(s). Where such credit is commonly given through page histories (such as Wikimedia-internal copying), it is sufficient to give attribution in the edit summary, which is recorded in the page history, when importing the text. Regardless of the license, the text you import may be rejected if the required attribution is deemed too intrusive. (If a section on external attribution exists:) You can find further information about what types of attribution are acceptable below.
Information for non-text media contributors
Non-text media on Wikimedia Foundation projects are available under a variety of different licenses that support the general goal of allowing unrestricted re-use and re-distribution. The requirements for such licenses are given in the Wikimedia Foundation Licensing Policy. Individual communities may elaborate upon and refine these requirements.
Information for re-users
You can re-use content from Wikimedia projects freely, with the exception of content that is used under "fair use" exemptions, or similar exemptions of copyright law. Please follow the guidelines below:
Re-use of text:
- Attribution: To re-distribute a text page in any form, provide credit to the authors either by including a) a hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the page or pages you are re-using, b) a hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy which is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on this website, or c) a list of all authors. (Any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions.) This applies to text developed by the Wikimedia community. Text from external sources may attach additional attribution requirements to the work, which we will strive to indicate clearly to you. For example, a page may have a banner or other notation indicating that some or all of its content was originally published somewhere else. Where such notations are visible in the page itself, they should generally be preserved by re-users.
- Copyleft/Share Alike: If you make modifications or additions to the page you re-use, you must license them under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 or later.
- Indicate changes: If you make modifications or additions, you must indicate in a reasonable fashion that the original work has been modified. If you are re-using the page in a wiki, for example, indicating this in the page history is sufficient.
- Licensing notice: Each copy or modified version that you distribute must include a licensing notice stating that the work is released under CC-BY-SA and either a) a hyperlink or URL to the text of the license or b) a copy of the license. For this purpose, a suitable URL is: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
- For further information, please refer to the legal code of the CC-BY-SA License.
Additional availability of text under the GNU Free Documentation License:
- For compatibility reasons, any page which does not incorporate text that is exclusively available under CC-BY-SA or a CC-BY-SA-compatible license is also available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. In order to determine whether a page is available under the GFDL, review the page footer, page history, and discussion page for attribution of single-licensed content that is not GFDL-compatible. All text published before June 15th, 2009 was released under the GFDL, and you may also use the page history to retrieve content published before that date to ensure GFDL compatibility.
Re-use of non-text media:
- Where not otherwise noted, non-text media files are available under various free culture licenses, consistent with the Wikimedia Foundation Licensing Policy. Please view the media description page for details about the license of any specific media file.
Precedence of English terms
These site terms are not to be modified. If there is any inconsistency between these terms and any translation into other languages, the English language version takes precedence.
Guidelines for external content attribution
| Implementation policy: This is an optional community-created section which specifies which types of external content attribution are acceptable. This section can be created in the wiki's language and does not require an English reference copy. |
Detailed instructions
| Implementation policy: This is an optional community-created section which can elaborate on the terms above without contradicting them. This section can be created in the wiki's language and does not require an English reference copy. |
Full text of the license(s)
| Implementation policy: This is an optional community-created section which can include the full text of the CC-BY-SA and/or GFDL. This section should include the English original license in addition to any official or unofficial translations. |
Licensing update implementation for non-text media files
All GFDL media files that meet the eligibility requirements for relicensing will be additionally licensed as CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported beginning June 15, 2009.