Commons talk:Licensing

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to Commons:Licensing.

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For discussions of specific copyright questions, please go to Commons:Village pump/Copyright. Discussions that do not relate to changes to the page Commons:Licensing may be moved, with participants notified with the template {{subst:moved to VPC|Commons talk:Licensing}}.

For old discussions, see the Archives. Recent sections with no replies for 60 days may be archived.

Other archives

Seven 2006/2007 discussions organized as subpages, incl. comments added in 2014:

• ADRM
• Review of license templates
• U.S. patents
• Ecoport copyleft
• Museums Bilder (in German)
• Explaining why Derivative Work and Commercial Use must be allowed
• Which countries' copyright laws determine copyright status?

Explicit permission from photographer

If I were to gain explicit permission from a photographer to use their photo of an individual on a BLP would it be allowed even if the original photo is not under the permitted CC licensing protocols? Robertclarke32 (talk) 20:18, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

@Robertclarke32: No. We need a free license. Permission to use in Wikimedia/Wikipedia is not enough. Yann (talk) 08:22, 17 April 2025 (UTC)

But if you can convince them to license the photo with a free licence, such as CC-BY-SA-4.0, then it can indeed be uploaded. They can still give different licence term elsewhere (but anybody is allowed to copy the image from here under the free licence). –LPfi (talk) 15:15, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

@Robertclarke32: you may find Commons:Uploading works by a third party useful, especially the later sections (skim till it starts to look relevant). - Jmabel ! talk 23:52, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

PD-Germany-§134 can't be imported to commons even if CC0

I don't know where else to post this but there are a lot of portraits (and some other media) on German Wikipedia that are hosted under w:de:Vorlage:Bild-PD-§-134 (Template:PD-Germany-§134 on commons), a template that, in my understanding, primarily effects images that have left copyright according to the referenced law. Despite this, images with the template cannot be ported to commons at all. I would ask anyone, especially from dewiki, to check how this can be fixed so that images that clearly left copyright can be ported to commons for use on other wikis. Thank you. Frijfuhs (talk) 18:41, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

@Frijfuhs: what specific tool is refusing to transfer these? - Jmabel ! talk 21:16, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

I always just use the "Export to commons" button on the file's Wikipedia page which redirects to Special:ImportFile with the respective URL attached. Frijfuhs (talk) 21:21, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

There are probably ways around the problem, but please be aware that any of these images published for the first time after 1929 is still protected by US copyright and therefore not (yet) suitable for Wikimedia Commons. --Rosenzweig τ 21:52, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

"Rule of thumb"

A general rule of thumb is that if the creator of a work has been deceased for more than 70 years, their works are in the public domain in the country the creator was a citizen of and in the country where the work was first published. The U.S. is a pretty large exception to this "rule of thumb"; I would think the sentence should have that qualification. - Jmabel ! talk 17:06, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

This does not state anywhere what license applies to the text in Commons

So what is it? - Jmabel ! talk 03:29, 20 October 2025 (UTC)

@Jmabel: "all unstructured text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply" per the footer.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 03:42, 20 October 2025 (UTC)

Seems to me this project page should explicitly, in the body of the text, include that info from the footer (also about the SDC being CC-zero). - Jmabel ! talk 12:47, 20 October 2025 (UTC)

 Support. Both should also indicate version numbers.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 20:21, 20 October 2025 (UTC)

Upload free files

Can I upload files from pxhere.com? Umarxon III (talk) 16:32, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

@Umarxon III: Looks OK as long as they are in Commons' scope. We really don't need (for example) one more image of an unidentified rocky shoreline. Usually even on CC-zero and public domain images, we try to be clear about whose work it is, which doesn't seem possible from that site. And, of course, we may already have many of the more useful images they have. But if you can accurately describe and categorize what the image represents, and it's in scope and not redundant to what we already have, I would trust the site's claim of CC-0 licensing. - Jmabel ! talk 03:15, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

Request for Guidance on Uploading My Original PDF File

Hello,

I am a new user on Wikimedia Commons, and I recently attempted to upload a PDF file that is my own original work. However, it appears that the automated Abuse Filter (No. 281) prevents new users from uploading PDFs.

My file is entirely self-created, not copied from any external source, and I am willing to release it under a free license (CC BY-SA 4.0) to make it available for public use on Commons. Could you please guide me on how to proceed with uploading this PDF or verify my eligibility to upload it?

If any additional verification or permission submission (such as VRT) is required, I am happy to comply.

Thank you for your time and assistance. Best regards, Lucas wright Lucsa246 (talk) 19:50, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

The reason the abuse filter is there is because PDF files are rarely appropriate; the primary use of PDF files is to upload scans of public domain material that originally released as print or PDF. There is little reason to upload an entirely self-created PDF file.--Prosfilaes (talk) 23:21, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

@Lucsa246: What is the nature of the content of the file that you want to upload? And, to follow up more specifically on what Prosfilaes said, licensing is not the reason you had a problem uploading. - Jmabel ! talk 03:17, 23 October 2025 (UTC)