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TechWiki:Copyrights
Whenever you edit a page on the Tech wiki, you see the following notice: Please note that all contributions to Tech may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see TechWiki:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Copyright law
Copyright laws are an important part of society. The Church strives to obey all laws. Church members should do the same.
In all you do on Tech, be honest and respect Copyright laws. Remember, the Lord saw fit to protect the Book of Mormon using a Copyright (The heading to Doctrine and Covenants 14 mentions getting that copyright).
Definitions
- Copyright
- "Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work."[1]
- Copyleft
- "Copyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work. In other words, copyleft is a general method for making a program (or other work) free, and requiring all modified and extended versions of the program to be free as well."[2]
- Public Domain
- "Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all, if the intellectual property rights have expired, and/or if the intellectual property rights are forfeited. ... Works of the United States Government and various other governments are excluded from copyright law and may therefore be considered to be in the public domain in their respective countries."[3]
Use of existing works
How do you know when it is OK to copy, or reuse, something from somewhere else?
The Gospel Principles manual explains: "Copying music, movies, pictures, or written text without the permission of the copyright owners is dishonest and is a form of theft."[4] Many copyright owners are very generous in licensing, or giving permission to use, their works. Using material from Copyleft-licensed works is appropriate, provided you follow the terms of that license (such as attributing where you got it from). If something that might fit well in the Tech wiki is in the Public Domain, feel free to reuse it's contents on the Tech wiki. It's still a good idea to say where you got the material, even if it is in the Public Domain. Please, cite your sources.
In the Terms of Use, you have agreed to indemnify the church if you post something that breaks copyright law.
Reuse of content from the Tech wiki
References
Additional Resources
- Wikipedia's policy about copyrights is very informative. It can help you to understand some of the ramifications of copyright laws.
- FamilySearch Wiki:Copyrights details the FamilySearch wiki's policies on Copyrights.