In most cases, people who donate images and other non-text media should do so at Wikimedia Commons, which is the media repository serving Wikipedia and its sister projects. If you are donating images or other non-text media, it is highly preferred that you follow Wikimedia Commons' media donation instructions. The following set of instructions should only be used if something on the Commons site does not suit you.
Many people give Wikipedia permission to reuse their content (text, images, video, audio, etc.). We are grateful for this. However, we receive many unclear or ambiguous statements of permission (such as "I allow Wikipedia to reuse my photos"). There is a certain way to upload media that protects both the uploader and Wikipedia users by making clear to both how shared content can be used.
We cannot use your content on the basis of such statements. This is because such statements do not tell us who may use your content under which conditions and for which purpose. For this reason, your statement of permission must tell us under which set of rules (called a "copyright license") you make your content available. We also need to know that you are authorized to release the content to us.
To do so, please copy the text below into the email from an address associated with the original publication or provide proof of identity (depending on circumstances; see below), by which you grant us permission to use your content.
I hereby affirm that CHOOSE ONE: [I, (name), am] OR [I represent (copyright holder's name), ] the creator and/or sole owner of the exclusive copyright of CHOOSE ONE: [URLs of the content] OR [attached images/text] as used here: [Exact URL of the page or file on Wikipedia], and have legal authority in my capacity to release the copyright of that work.
I agree to publish the above-mentioned content under the free license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International and GNU Free Documentation License (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts). (THIS IS THE STANDARD CHOICE; YOU MAY CHOOSE ANOTHER ACCEPTABLE FREE LICENSE, IF YOU WISH TO)
I acknowledge that by doing so I grant anyone the right to use the work in a commercial product or otherwise, and to modify it according to their needs, provided that they abide by the terms of the license and any other applicable laws.
I am aware that this agreement is not limited to Wikipedia or related sites.
I am aware that I always retain the copyright of my work, and retain the right to be attributed in accordance with the license chosen. Modifications others make to the work will not be claimed to have been made by me.
I acknowledge that I cannot withdraw this agreement and that the content may or may not be kept permanently on a Wikimedia project.
[Sender's name]
[Sender's authority (If applicable. For example, "Copyright holder", "Director", "Appointed representative of", etc.)]
[Date]
Note:
- Before you send the email, ensure that you've removed all the comments from the above template.
- Replace the template text (such as name) with your own details.
- You must clearly identify the content that you're permitting us to use. Something like "I am creator of the images used on XYZ page" is NOT sufficient. You must provide the exact URL link(s) to the content or attach the content with the email. For images, we prefer that you upload them to Wikimedia Commons with the ((permission pending)) template, and provide the URLs of the uploaded images in your email.
Type of license[edit]
In the above example, the license granted is dual: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License and GNU Free Documentation license. Under some circumstances, you may choose another license and substitute its exact name in the statement of permission:
- For images, you may choose at least one type of license from our list of free licenses. All licenses we use have similar intentions. You must state the specific license: CC-BY-SA version 4.0 or Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 4.0 are acceptably specific, just stating Creative Commons license or Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (without the version number) is not. You are not required to use dual licenses for images.
- For text, you must select a license compatible with Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (such as those listed in our copyright FAQ). It is strongly recommended that you use that particular license, as subtle nuances in other licenses may make them incompatible and create problems with your consent. If you are the contributor of the text to Wikipedia and the sole copyright holder, you must co-license the text under the GNU Free Documentation License. Otherwise, the dual license may be omitted.
- IMPORTANT: YOU MUST STATE A TYPE OF LICENSE WE CAN USE; OTHERWISE THIS DECLARATION IS NOT VALID.
Other fields[edit]
The other fields shown in bold and upper-case need to be filled out if applicable. This also helps clarify to the owner what they are agreeing to. If they are not filled out, the declaration and license will NOT be accepted. Details that you might need to include are:
- Name of the work
- Link to identify the work, if not included in the email
- Your name and your authority to sign the declaration (i.e. that you are the copyright holder, a director, their appointed representative, etc).
- Name and details of copyright holder, if different or you are acting on someone else's behalf
- Date of signing
Identification of material[edit]
Make sure to include the URL of the image or text if the work itself is not attached to your email. If the work is not online, you may wish to give ISBN or other details that would identify the specific work.
Email address[edit]
Email the permission emails to our email response team ("VRT") at permissions-en
wikimedia.org (if you are releasing text) or permissions-commonswikimedia.org (if you are releasing images, audio, or video). Do not send the email to both addresses; this will not make things any faster and will create extra work for volunteers. Please send a copy to the person (if any) you were previously in touch with so they know about it.
The email you send must come from an email address that we can recognize. For instance, if you are releasing a website or images from a website, your email address must be associated with the website or listed on the contact page of the website. If you are releasing a work that is not available online, you may be required to provide proof of your identity. If you are releasing a work where you are acting on the copyright holder's behalf, you may be required to provide proof of authorization to work on the copyright holder's behalf.
Thank you!