Commons:Multi-license copyright tags
This page is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Commons contributors.It is not a Commons policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it. Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page.
Many files on Commons require multiple copyright tags (also known as license templates), with separate tags for different jurisdictions or contributors. For example:
- Public domain files should indicate copyright status both in the country of origin and in the United States.
- Photographs of 3D objects (such as sculptures) should indicate the copyright status of both the sculpture and the photograph, possibly in both the country of origin and the US.
- Photographs of 2D objects (such as paintings) should indicate the copyright status of the original work and of the photographer. Alternatively (or in addition), they may use {{PD-Art}} to explain why photographers' copyrights are not considered.
- Scans of books should indicate the copyright status of the original work (in both the country of origin and the US), and use {{PD-Scan}} to explain why the copyrights of people digitizing the work are not considered.
- Copyrights related to different jurisdictions. For example, a file may be in the public domain in the US for one reason, but additional (optional) license templates could explain why it is also in the public domain in other countries.
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|
| Acceptable |
| Should no longer be used[a] |
| Unclear status in U.S. |
This is separate from the fact that many non–public domain files on Commons are multi-licensed, meaning the creators have released the content under multiple licenses, allowing reusers to select the one that best suits their needs. As a result, files may end up with several license templates. To clarify the role of each template, the Commons community has developed various ways of combining them over the years.
This page attempts to document the best practices for using multi-license files.
Images of 2D objects
[edit]| Country of origin license template | US license template | Digitization license template | Combination license template | # files | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{PD-old-auto}} | not specified | not specified | {{PD-old-auto|deathyear=yyyy}} | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-auto|deathyear=yyyy}} | 54,086 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-auto|deathyear=yyyy}} | 4,763 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=yyyy}} | |||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=yyyy}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-auto|PD-US-expired|deathyear=yyyy}} {{PD-Art-two-auto|deathyear=yyyy}} |
627,170 | |||
| {{PD-Art}}+{{Cc-by-sa-4.0}}[1] | {{Licensed-PD-Art|PD-old-auto-expired|Cc-by-sa-4.0|deathyear=yyyy}} | ||||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=yyyy}} | 117,806 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-old-auto-1996|deathyear=yyyy}} | |||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-auto-1996|deathyear=yyyy}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-auto|PD-US-expired|deathyear=yyyy}} |
1,314 | |||
| {{PD-Art}}+{{Cc-by-sa-4.0}}[1] | {{Licensed-PD-Art|PD-old-auto-1996|Cc-by-sa-4.0|deathyear=yyyy}} | ||||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-auto-1996|deathyear=yyyy}} | 11,580 | |||
| {{PD-old-100}}[2] | not specified | not specified | {{PD-old-100}} | 608,522 | |
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}} {{PD-Art-100}} |
183,664 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-100}} | 25,221 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-old-100-expired}} | 6,574,320 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-100-expired}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-100|PD-US-expired}} |
821,830 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-100-expired}} | 676,817 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-old-100-1996}} | 68,059 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-100-1996}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-100|PD-1996}} |
44 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-100-1996}} | 0 | |||
| {{PD-old-95}}[3] | not specified | not specified | {{PD-old-95}} | 980 | |
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-95}} | 5 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-95}} | 0 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-old-95-expired}} | 176,928 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-95-expired}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-95|PD-US-expired}} |
39 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-95-expired}} | 11 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-old-95-1996}} | 4,001 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-95-1996}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-95|PD-1996}} |
0 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-95-1996}} | 0 | |||
| {{PD-old-80}}[3] | not specified | not specified | {{PD-old-80}} | 45,995 | |
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-80}} | 6,695 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-80}} | 4,864 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-old-80-expired}} | 480,782 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-80-expired}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-80|PD-US-expired}} |
16,587 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-80-expired}} | 14,174 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-old-80-1996}} | 42,798 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-80-1996}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-80|PD-1996}} |
0 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-80-1996}} | 3 | |||
| {{PD-old-75}}[3] | not specified | not specified | {{PD-old-75}} | 2,670 | |
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-75}} | 165 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-75}} | 28 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-old-75-expired}} | 81,822 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-75-expired}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-75|PD-US-expired}} |
339 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-75-expired}} | 5,983 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-old-75-1996}} | 8,863 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-75-1996}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-75|PD-1996}} |
0 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-75-1996}} | 0 | |||
| {{PD-old-70}}[4] | not specified | not specified | {{PD-old-70}} | 482,452 | |
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-70}} | 168,657 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-70}} | 240,151 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-old-70-expired}} | 1,299,175 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-70-expired}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-70|PD-US-expired}} |
67,111 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-70-expired}} | 325,626 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-old-70-1996}} | 2,936 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-70-1996}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-70|PD-1996}} |
1,188 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-70-1996}} | 13 | |||
| {{PD-old-60}}[3] | not specified | {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-60}} | 0 | |
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-60}} | 0 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-old-60-expired}} | 7,459 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-60-expired}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-60|PD-US-expired}} |
107 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-60-expired}} | 9 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-old-60-1996}} | 77 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-60-1996}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-60|PD-1996}} |
0 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-60-1996}} | 0 | |||
| {{PD-old-50}}[3] | not specified | not specified | {{PD-old-50}} | 1,024 | |
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-50}} | 35 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-50}} | 7 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-old-50-expired}} | 3,088 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-50-expired}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-50|PD-US-expired}} |
7 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-50-expired}} | 29 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-old-50-1996}} | 422 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-old-50-1996}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-old-50|PD-1996}} |
26 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-old-50-1996}} | 196 | |||
| {{PD-anon-70-EU}} or {{PD-anon-70}}[5] |
not specified | not specified | {{PD-anon-70-EU}} or {{PD-anon-70}} | 1,059 + | |
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-anon-70-EU}} | 0 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-anon-70-EU}} | 0 | |||
| {{PD-US-expired}} | not specified | {{PD-anon-expired}} | 229,348 | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art|PD-anon-expired}} | 1,251 | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | {{PD-scan|PD-anon-expired}} | 3,816 | |||
| {{PD-1996}} | not specified | {{PD-anon-auto-1996|publication=XXXX}} {{PD-two|PD-anon-70-EU|PD-1996}} |
43 + | ||
| {{PD-Art}} | {{PD-Art-two|PD-anon-70|PD-1996}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-anon-70-EU|PD-1996}} |
?? | |||
| {{PD-scan}} | ?? | ?? |
Images of 3D objects
[edit]
- {{Licensed-PD}} - template that allows object and photograph to be added separately
- {{Copyright information}} - more general version of {{Licensed-PD}}
- {{Art Photo}} - Combination template of {{Artwork}} for the object and {{Information}} for the photograph metadata, which allows user to provide separate artwork and photograph licenses
References
[edit]- ↑ a b {{Cc-by-sa-4.0}} can be replaced with any other user license.
- ↑ Simpler than {{PD-old-auto}} and can be used for ancient artists with unknown date of death
- ↑ a b c d e Use {{PD-old-auto}} template instead
- ↑ In most cases {{PD-old-auto}} template should be used instead. However it is OK to use in case of works of known authors with unknown year of death if the works were created more than 150 years ago (assuming that most authors did not live more than 80 years since the day of the work creation).
- ↑ See Commons:Anonymous works
- ↑ Should no longer be used for new uploads.
See also
[edit]Art related license tags:
- {{PD-Art}} – template explaining, why photograph of PD object also is PD in US
- {{PD-Art-two}} – same as {{PD-Art}}, but allows country of origin and US license to be added separately
- {{Licensed-PD}} – template that allows object and photograph to be added separately (can be used for 3D objects)
- {{Copyright information}} – more general version of {{Licensed-PD}}
- {{Licensed-PD-Art}} – template explaining, why photograph of PD object also is PD in US, while outside of US a separate license can be used
- {{Licensed-PD-Art-two}} – same as {{Licensed-PD-Art}}, but allows country of origin and US license to be added separately
- {{Art Photo}} – combination template of {{Artwork}} for the object and {{Information}} for the photograph metadata, which allows users to provide separate artwork and photograph licenses