Conworlds:Copyrights
Except where otherwise specified, the content on the Constructed Worlds Wiki is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 4.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).
Any non-standard license used by a specific file page on Conworlds should be made clear on the page. The Constructed Worlds Wiki allows the uploading of user-copyrighted content; in order to reserve copyright over your work, please use the appropriate template.
As the Constructed Worlds Wiki is hosted in Canada as of July 2023, all mention of copyright follows the specifications of Canadian copyright law. The Constructed Worlds Wiki respects the holders of copyright in other countries, and if you believe that your copyright is being violated in some way on the wiki, please let a bureaucrat or administrator know as soon as possible (a full list can be found at Conworlds:Administrators).
Licenses
Content hosted on the Constructed Worlds Wiki can be under any of the following licenses. If there is a specific license that you do not see on this list but is mentioned on any content or file page, then defer to the usage of that license as specified by the page and contact a bureaucrat or administrator to add that license to this master list. If a license is not specifically mentioned by a page, it is assumed to be under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 4.0 (Unported).
Creative Commons
Attribute – the content may be used so long as attribution to its author is given.
Attribute-Share Alike – the content may be used so long as attribution to its author is given and the content is shared under similar circumstances as the original license (i.e., any derivative work must also be under the same or equivalent free license).
- CC-BY-SA 1.0
- CC-BY-SA 2.0
- CC-BY-SA 2.5
- CC-BY-SA 3.0
- CC-BY-SA 4.0 – this is the Constructed Worlds Wiki's default license.
Universal Public Domain Declaration – this is a special declaration which releases the content into the Public Domain through the legal framework provided by Creative Commons.
For more Creative Commons licenses, please see their website.
GNU Free Documentation
- GNU Free Documentation License – the content is released under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Public Domain
Released by author
- Public Domain by author – the content was released into the Public Domain by its author (who is NOT the uploader/poster).
- Public Domain by self – the content was released into the Public Domain BY THE UPLOADER/POSTER.
Released by passage of time
- Public Domain following death of author + 70 years – this is the standard of Canadian copyright law (under most circumstances) in which content can be considered in the Public Domain.
- Public Domain following death of author + 100 years – this is the standard of United States copyright law (under most circumstances) in which content can be considered in the Public Domain.
Copyright not possible
- Public Domain due to simplicity – the content is in the Public Domain because it is not original enough to merit copyright.
Rights reserved
- All rights reserved – the content is uploaded to the Constructed Worlds Wiki by the copyright holder, who reserves all rights. Please note that if you are using this license for your own work on Conworlds that other users may still use this work ON CONWORLDS SOLELY for the purposes of non-commercial user-generated content (see the hyperlink in the following bullet for the relevant text of the Canadian Copyright Act).
- Non-commercial user-generated content – the copyrighted content is uploaded to the Constructed Worlds Wiki by a non-copyright holder for the purposes of use in non-commercial user-generated content.
Editing on the Constructed Worlds Wiki
To grow the commons of free knowledge and free culture, all users contributing to Constructed Worlds Wiki projects by default agree to grant broad permissions to the general public to re-distribute and re-use their contributions freely for any purpose including commercial use. Such use is allowed where attribution is given and the same freedom to re-use and re-distribute applies to any derivative works. By editing Constructed Worlds Wiki without specifying any licensing, you agree to license any text you add under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 4.0 (Unported).
Under these default 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.)
If you do not wish for your text content to be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 4.0 (Unported), you MUST specify so on the content or file page that your work is hosted as. This means that you can reserve all rights to your work on the Constructed Worlds Wiki so long as you properly add the requisite license template in the summary section of the file page or in the footer of the text content page. If you wish to use another license, the Constructed Worlds Wiki will respect the terms of this license; however, please recognize that under the terms of section 29.21 of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada, your content hosted on the Constructed Worlds Wiki can be used in-wiki by any user who is using it for non-commercial, user-generated content (please use the hyperlink to see the full text of the terms under Canadian law).
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 or with section 29.21 of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada.
It is preferred that you do not add work which you do not hold the copyright to, or which is not available under these terms, to Constructed Worlds Wiki.
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 copying within Constructed Worlds Wiki), it is sufficient to give attribution in the edit summary, which is recorded in the page history, when importing the text.
Non-text files
Freely licensed or public domain non-text files are strongly preferred on Constructed Worlds Wiki.
Non-text media on Constructed Worlds Wiki should not be assumed to be available under CC-BY-SA 4.0 (Unported). Please view the media description page for details about the license of any specific media file. Copyright information must be added to the image description page of every uploaded image. If you are uploading files to Constructed Worlds Wiki, you should cite the source of the file, attribute the authors, and note any copyright information, where applicable.
Under the terms of section 29.21 of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada, copyrighted non-text content can be hosted on the Constructed Worlds Wiki IF AND ONLY IF the content is being used "solely for non-commercial purposes" and in a way that "does not have a substantial adverse effect, financial or otherwise, on the exploitation or potential exploitation of the existing work or other subject-matter — or copy of it — or on an existing or potential market for it."
In compliance with Section 29.21, this means that the Constructed Worlds Wiki cannot be used for the following purposes:
- The hosting of full-length copyrighted audio or video files which can be easily downloaded,
- The hosting of entire visual artworks (including, but not limited to, drawings, photographs, and 3D models) which are otherwise only available for download via purchase, and
- The hosting of copyrighted software or programs (or any form of digital intellectual property) which is not already available for free download elsewhere.
Failure to comply
Failure to comply with this policy may result in the deletion of the offending content or an editing ban, as the administrators see fit.