AntWiki:Copyright

Contributors to Antwiki warrant that they own or created the content they are providing, or have the necessary rights, licenses or permissions to make the content available. If Antwiki becomes aware of content that violates copyright law this content will be removed immediately.

Introduction

It is the responsibility of every editor to be sure the information and files they place on Antwiki are available for use here. In cases where copyright protections exist for information being reused in Antwiki, and in assigning copyright to uploaded image files, copyrights must be clearly assigned.

Antwiki assumes, and every editor adding information and files to this website should also assume, that content posted on the website or placed on the Antwiki server can be reused anywhere else on Antwiki. This means all editors have permission to place text or images already on Antwiki on other existing or newly created Antwiki webpages.

Antwiki copyright policy as outlined here is provided to guide our editors and anyone seeking to reuse content from this website. This is not considered the final word on what or what is not acceptable (this page has been written by myrmecologist, not copyright lawyers).

Edited Content and Copyright

Every editorial act (adding text, editing existing content, uploading an image, etc.) is recorded in a log file of changes to the website. The editors name, the date and the change that is made are all noted. This makes it a simple matter to see who has added what content to the website. Any editor that is found to be ignoring or abusing copyright protections by adding content that infringes on copyright (as defined by copyright law) may have their account cancelled.

Original Text

Any original text that you create and place on an Antwiki page is, by default, assumed to be sharable under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share alike copyright. Presently only a limited number of pages are shared under this license and each specifically shows a CC BY-SA 3.0 copyright logo at the bottom of the page. Additional pages, and the text they contain, may be shared under this same license in the future.

Image and PDF Files

If you are the copyright holder of an image file or the content of a PDF file you can upload it and assign copyright to that file under any copyright you choose. If you are not the copyright holder you must determine the copyright status of the file and, if it can be shared, are responsible for attaching the proper copyright assignment to each file that you upload.

Previously Published Text

It is trivial for any editor to add text to any Antwiki webpage. With all that has been published about ants it may be enticing to some to "borrow" text by copying it from existing resources. To be clear, because it is technically easy to copy text from published and online works does not mean it is permissible. Each editor is responsible for any content they add to the website so you need to be sure about the reuse of copyrighted text before you post it to the website.

Determining Copyright

You may find the following useful in trying to sort out if you can share copyrighted material here and under what conditions (this guide refers and links to MediaWiki content, and is a derivative work found on this page here):

Where is the work from?

• It is entirely my own work.

You may assign any Copyright you wish.

• I have taken pictures of pinned ant specimens that belong to a museum.

Images that you take using your own equipment are the easiest to share, provided you are not photographing specimens you do not own. It may not be acceptable to borrow specimens from a museum, take photographs of those specimens and share them publicly unless the lending institution provides you with explicit permission to do so.

• It is text from previously published work.

If you think you can share some text from another source you can begin delving into trying to determine if this is possible by reading this.

• It is a derivative work from another WikiMedia website (Wikipedia, WikiMedia Commons, etc.) or some other similar web project.

Most text from Mediawiki sites are shared under a form of copyright that allows for reuse. Be sure to look into the specifics of each file that you would like to upload. Some of the discussion linked to in the next item are applicable and helpful in sorting out copyright from Wikimedia sites.

• It is someone else's work from Flickr or some other image hosting website.

This section from a page about sharing Flicker images on Mediawiki Commons provides some discussion of known issues and concerns with copyright and reuse of Flicker images. This discussion also applies to other websites that allow files and content to be posted under something other than an "all rights reserved" copyright.

• I am sharing something that I believe falls under the guidelines of "fair use."

This section of the MediaWiki Commons Fair Use page, and some of the following sections found there, provide some background regarding "fair use."

• I don't know who the author is, or I don't know what license applies.

If you don't know who the author is, and when the work was created, and under what circumstances (these are the source data) then we can't know the copyright status. We can't know what licenses, if any, apply to the work. If there is not clear copyright then you can't share the work here.

If none of this applies or seems to provide you with useful guidance then this page might be useful.

Assigning Copyright to Uploaded Files

There are two ways to include copyright information with an image when you are uploading the file. Both methods involve adding information that will be displayed on the Image File page.

Summary Field

You can place a copyright notice in the Summary field, either on its own or within the Information Template Permission field.

Licensing Field

This field offers a selection box where you can choose a specific copyright from a list of choices.

What Copyright to Use?

Antwiki provides for the use of Creative Commons licenses by providing a number of ready made templates. You can learn more about these and how to use them here. If instead you would like to retain full rights to your content you can simply add "Copyright (your Name)" and the year in the summary box when you upload the file.

The copyright is not displayed with the image when it shown as part of an Antwiki page but can easily be found. Simply clicking on the image will load the File Image page with its associated copyright designation.

Reuse of Content

Copyright for content within any given page may be a mix of copyrights that ranges from public domain, to shared copyright, to copyright reserved by the creator. It is thus not acceptable to copy entire pages of content and reuse this information elsewhere.

More information about attributions for shared works is found here