Wikinews:Fair use

This is an official policy on English Wikinews. It has wide acceptance and is considered a standard for all users to follow. Changes to this page must reflect consensus. If in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut: WN:FU

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Etiquette

Fair use is a defense against accusations of copyright infringement in the U.S.A. It is not a right. A similar concept is Fair dealing, which is found in the legal systems of most members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

On Wikinews fair use is almost exclusively a discussion about images.

If you're uploading a fair use image, you must add both the correct image copyright tag and a fair use rationale for every use of that image in any article, or the image may be deleted on sight.

Fair use on Wikinews

Wikinews is more restrictive about fair use of images than Wikipedia. Instead of describing the types of uses which are not allowed, this page serves as a whitelist of the types of uses which are allowed. This is related to the fact that most useful images for Wikinews articles will be those produced by competing news organizations. Such photos and illustrations are absolutely taboo: It is very difficult to claim fair use in a competitive environment, especially as Wikinews allows commercial use of its content. Photos from competing news organizations that are uploaded without permission can be deleted on sight.

Fair use or not, images which are not tagged with appropriate information may also be deleted on sight, and incorrectly tagged images may also be immediately removed. Image descriptions must include a link to and description of the source of the image. Images without source links may also be removed expeditiously. It is in your best interest to fill in complete image descriptions immediately.

The use of non-free images outside of the main article namespace does not constitute fair use, and is not permitted.

Local uploads vs. Wikimedia Commons

You can make a local upload to the English edition of Wikinews through Special:Upload. Local uploads should be exclusively used for fair use images. Free content should be uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons upload page, a free media repository used by all Wikimedia projects. This ensures that other language editions of Wikinews can immediately use these images without re-uploading them, as well as other Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia and Wikibooks.

Remember that you must be logged in to upload files.

Free content includes images in the public domain, under Creative Commons licenses (except for the "non-commercial" or "no derivatives" variants), under the GNU FDL, and under other free licenses. See the complete list of licenses allowed on the Wikimedia Commons and the list of free content image sources.

Rule of preference

When two images depict the same subject, and one image is free content and the other is not, use the free version, even if it is inferior in quality. Keep in mind that the goal of Wikinews is to create a free content news source that can be used by anyone for any purpose. Images under non-free licenses are an impediment to that goal.

Fair use whitelist

Any use not covered by this whitelist is not allowed. If you feel that the whitelist should be expanded, please comment on the discussion page.

Logos, publicity shots, and screen captures

By their nature, logos and publicity shots are designed to be used to refer to a person, organization, and some readily identifiable locations. Screen captures may contain copyrighted information even though the image is made on a personal computer, but may perfectly illustrate an article about software or the internet. When used this way they are fair use.

Publicity photos

Publicity photos must be tagged with the {{publicity}} template, which categorizes the images into Category:Publicity photos.

Public figures, places, and more may have photos made available for use by the media. These images are usually copyrighted and are released specifically to present the figure, location, or corporation in a positive light. They should be viewed critically for this form of bias.

Example of appropriate use: Original graphic of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin from the Canadian Government in an article about his visit to the United States.

Publicity images from the Canadian Government are copyright and licensed for restricted use, which makes them non-free. An original unaltered image in an article about the figure is appropriate.

Example of inappropriate use: The same image, with the logo of the Liberal Party of Canada added to the graphic. Or the image used in an article about politicians in which Paul Martin is not specifically named.

Copyrighted images may not be altered or defaced. Images used must be specifically relevant to the story they illustrate.

Trademarks and logos

Logos and trademarks must be tagged with the {{logo}} template, which categorizes the images into Category:Logos.

Corporate logos exist to make instant recognition of a company and its products or public image, usually with an intent to be a message, and this form of communication may be POV. Trademark law is somewhat unique, in that use of a trademark is a reasonable substitution for the corporation's name; but they may not be altered or defaced in any way.

Example of appropriate use: To illustrate an article about the joint General Motors and Toyota fuel cell project, both original trademarked logos are displayed separately.

Separate original logos used to illustrate an article about the two corporations.

Example of inappropriate use: A collage of over-lapping oil company logos to illustrate an article about a U.S. Senate debate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Altered (put together into a collage) logos of corporations which are not the focus of the article; the U.S. Senate is the focus.

Screen shots

Screen shots must be tagged with the {{screen shot}} template, which categorizes the images into Category:Screen shots.

Screen shots are images created on a user's computer from what is visible on the computer screen. The software or information visible in the screen shot may still be copyrighted, so these images are often not free. A limited number of images (for example, not every page of a website or every screen of a computer program) may fall under the Fair Use description if they are used to illustrate a newsworthy story.

Example of appropriate use: A capture of a program's splash screen or a shot highlighting a specific news worthy item in an article about the program or news item.

An image specific for the article, and not attempting to cover every element of the program, website, or other data.

Example of inappropriate use: Screen captures showing important elements of how a software works or substantial elements of a copyrighted material, like how to solve a game or much of a website.

Too much, or too general, and not being used to illustrate the article but rather to convey much of the copyrighted information through the graphics.

Breaking news situations

Breaking news images must be tagged with the {{breaking news}} template, which categorizes the images into Category:Breaking news images.

On rare occasions, when a news story is breaking and a questionably-free image is available, at least temporarily, it might be uploaded temporarily until either its license is clarified (and the image is then moved to Commons) or a better image is found.

An example of this is Nuclear waste leaks at Sellafield facility on Cumbrian coast, England, which was a breaking lead article story. Its primary images were drawn from the Visit Cumbria website, which has a return-notify policy if any images are used from the site. Because the licensure was not clearly free, the images could be uploaded temporarily until they were clarified as free, or until replacement images were found.

In no case may images uploaded under this breaking news exception remain on Wikinews. They must be cleared and moved to commons, or they must be replaced with a freely-licensed image.

IRIN photographs

IRIN photographs must be tagged with the {{irin}} template, which categorizes the images into Category:IRIN.

Photographs from the IRIN photo gallery, as well as all IRIN material distributed on the IRIN web site and e-mail services, are owned by the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

IRIN materials (articles, photographs, radio broadcasts and films) may be reposted on a web site or reprinted in media services and humanitarian reports free-of-charge. The reprinting/re-posting of IRIN materials by commercial and non-commercial media services in print or on the web and their reproduction for TV or radio broadcasts is also permitted free-of-charge.

Crown Copyright

Photographs or images that are Crown Copyright must be tagged with the {{crown copyright}} template, which categorizes the images into Category:Crown copyright image.

Crown copyright protected material (other than the Royal Arms and departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium - provided it is reproduced accurately and not in a misleading context. Where the material is being published or issued to others, the sources and copyright status should be acknowledged. Where any of the Crown copyright items on this site are being republished or copied to others, the source of the material must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged.

See also

• Fair use on Wikipedia
• Fair Use in a Nutshell