Wikipedia: Standard GFDL violation letter
From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.
| Part of the Style and how-to series |
The following is a general letter that can be used to contact users of Wikipedia content asking them to give Wikipedia credit and/or include a GFDL notice. Note: This letter was adapted from the text located at User:MyRedDice/Abacci Letter.
Note that while these letters are part of Wikipedia (and thus subject to the GFDL) you may wish to remove the GFDL notice at the bottom of the letter as that notice may be confusing. Alternatively, rather than restating it in the letter, you can make reference to the notice at the bottom being the required notice under the GFDL, thereby (in a rather slick manner) leaving the GFDL notice in, but making it look like it is the required text that one is requesting to put on the web site though, obviously it will be functioning in both capacities (example and license notice).
Some cautionary notes:
- Many uses of Wikipedia content will be covered by fair use, remember that wholesale copying is often not covered by fair use.
- Sometimes text will be separately submitted by its author to Wikipedia and to another website. Sometimes the other website came first -- check the article's talk page and history.
- Only one of the copyright owners can sue -- in most cases, this will not be you.
| Contents |
Letter for website that acknowledges Wikipedia as a source
Dear {Website owner's name here},
We're delighted to see that your website, {web page here}, uses content from Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/), the free encyclopedia. This is just the sort of application that we at Wikipedia wish to promote. We're also glad to see that you have included a link back to the source Wikipedia article, as we've suggested on our copyrights page (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights).
However, we'd like to point out that to use content from Wikipedia you should also include a GFDL notice. One way of doing this would be to add the text "This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license", and provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.
Thanks for your assistance,
{Your name here}
----
This message is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
GFDL: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
URL of source: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Standard_GFDL_violation_letter
Letter for website that doesn't acknowledge Wikipedia as a source
Dear {Website owner's name here},
We're delighted to see that your website, {web page here}, uses content from Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/), the free encyclopedia. This is just the sort of application that we at Wikipedia wish to promote.
However, we'd like to point out that when using content from Wikipedia you should include a link back to the source Wikipedia article ({give link here}), as we've suggested on our copyrights page (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights). Additionally, you should also include a GFDL notice. One way of doing this would be to add the text "This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license", and provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.
Thanks for your assistance,
{Your name here}
----
This message is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
GFDL: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
URL of source: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Standard_GFDL_violation_letter
GFDL Violation Letter Followup
(To be sent after not less than, but not a lot more than a month after the first - ideally, one month and less than a week after)
Dear {Website owner's name here},
This is in regard with your {web page/site here} which uses Wikipedia content (http://www.wikipedia.org).
As we suggested in a prior message, your use of content from Wikipedia automatically makes you a Licensee of that material, according to the Wikipedia Copyrights page and the international copyright laws. As a Licensee of the GNU Free Documentation Licence (GDFL), you are required to abide by that respective license, which in turn means you must perform the following steps:
- You must include links to the article(s) in Wikipedia you copied on the pages containing the copied/modified material;
- You must include a visible GFDL notice on every page using Wikipedia content, similar to the one at the bottom of this message.
This is the second message we have sent you; it appears that your violation of our copyright has not changed since we sent our first letter. Please make sure you follow these steps now.
For more information on your rights and obligations as a Licensee of the GNU FDL, see http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
Thank you,
{Your name here}
----
This message is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
GFDL: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
URL of source: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Standard_GFDL_violation_letter
GFDL Violation Letter Followup (public domain version)
Dear insert name of site owner,
We've previously contacted you about your web site insert site name and URL here, which uses content licensed to the Wikipedia under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation Licence (GFDL). To use that content without copyright infringement you must either comply with the requirements of the GFDL or use the more convenient approximation described on the Wikipedia Copyrights page by doing both of the following:
- Include a readily readable link to the article in the Wikipedia from which the content came.
- Include a readily readable link to the GFDL, such as a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html .
A notice of this form is suggested, for the article called Bar:
This article is licensed under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation License</a>. It uses material from the <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar">Wikipedia article "Bar"</a>.
Please promptly change your site to comply with the requirements and let us know that you have done so or tell us your schedule for doing so, so that we can let the copyright holders know that no further action is necessary.
Thank you,
insert your name here
zh:Wikipedia:GFDL侵权fr:Wikipédia:Message standard de violation de la GFDL
