Wikipedia:Copyright problems

"WP:CP" redirects here. For other uses, see WP:CP (disambiguation).

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This page is for listing and discussing possible copyright problems involving text on Wikipedia. Listings typically remain for at least five days before review and closure by a copyright problems clerk or administrator. During this time, interested contributors are invited to offer feedback, rewrite infringing content, or request copyright permission.

Listed pages appear in the bottom section of the page. For additional guidance, see below.

To add a new listing, go to today's section.

Copyright owners: If you're concerned that something you've found on Wikipedia is in breach of copyright, you may request immediate removal by following these instructions.

How to list an article

Copyright problems handles articles where the copyright status is disputed or complex cases of infringement. You should list an article if one of the following applies:

• All revisions of an article have copyright violations (copyvio), and speedy deletion does not apply.
• The removal of copyrighted content has been contested.
• Removal or reversion is complicated or involves a majority of the article.
• You cannot determine whether the text originated from the source or Wikipedia. Do not blank the article in this case.
• The article is eligible for presumptive deletion.
• Other complex situations not listed here or in the section below.

If the article needs to be listed,

1. Place one of the following above the infringing text:
   • {{subst:copyvio|url=insert URL here}}
   • {{subst:copyvio|identify non-web source here}}
2. Place {{subst:Copyvio/bottom}} below the last infringing text.
3. Go to today's section and add the following template to the bottom of the list:

   {{subst:article-cv|PageName}} from [insert URL or identify non-web source here] ~~~~

   Put the page's name in place of "PageName". If you do not have a URL, enter a description of the source. A pre-filled version can be copied from the top of the copyvio template after substituting it. If yours is the first listing of the day, please add a header to the top of the page, using the page for another date as an example.
4. Warn the contributor of the listing at their talk page, unless advised not to. The template on the now blanked page supplies a notice you may use for that purpose.

What not to list here

• Blatant infringement. Articles that are entirely copyvio can be handled through speedy deletion if it meets the criteria. You should not blank or list the article here if you tag for G12.
• Non-extensive obvious copyvio. If the copied content is not extensive, you can remove, rewrite, or revert the page to before the text was added. You should place {{Copyvio-revdel|url=copied source|start=diff of copyvio insertion|end=diff before copyvio removal}} on the article afterwards and warn the contributor of the material to the problem, unless advised not to. The template {{Uw-copyright}} may be used for this purpose.
• Requests for revision deletion. These should be handled by placing {{Copyvio-revdel|url=copied source|start=diff of copyvio insertion|end=diff before copyvio removal}} on the article.
• Files. For files that are clear copyright violations, follow the procedure for speedy deletion; otherwise list at Files for Discussion. If the file is on the Commons, they can be handled through Commons speedy deletion or Deletion requests.
• Individual editors. Contributors who repeatedly post copyrighted text or files after appropriate warnings will be blocked from editing to protect the project; see 17 United States Code § 512. If one contributor verifiably inserts multiple copyright violations and systematic review is needed, please file a request at Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations.
• Copyright violations without a source. If you cannot find a source of where something could be copied from, do not list the article here. The content may be removed for other reasons, like being unreferenced or violating our biographies of living persons policy.

What text can be reused?

Further information: Wikipedia:Copy-paste

Under the United States law that governs Wikipedia, copyright is automatically assumed as soon as any content (text or other media) is created in a physical form. An author does not need to apply for or claim copyright, for a copyright to exist. One of the following must be present to reuse the content on Wikipedia:

• Explicit statement by the author, stating that the work is either in the public domain or compatibly licensed
• Public domain due to age, source, or lack of originality
• Fair use under our guidelines for non-free content, where the text used is brief and clearly marked with full attribution

If none of the above are present, the text cannot be reused.

Even when the text can be reused, it must be attributed or it will be considered as plagiarism.

Responding to listed articles

Copyright owners and people editing on their behalf or with their permission, please see below.

Any contributor is welcome to help investigate articles listed for copyright concerns and remove {{copy-paste}} or {{close paraphrasing}} tags when the problem is addressed or disproven. Only administrators, copyright clerks, and VRT agents should remove {{copyvio}} tags and resolve listings.

Copyright problems is run by volunteers and it usually takes a few days before listings are first investigated.

You can assist in the following ways:

• Providing information on the copyright status of the article
• Obtaining or verifying claims of permission
• Rewriting or removing infringing content without removing {{copyvio}}.

Providing information on copyright statuses

Not every article listed here is a copyright violation. The content may be on Wikipedia first, public domain, compatibly licensed, or below the threshold of originality. Editors can provide information about licensing or public domain status under listings here or on the talk page of the article. A link or a clear explanation is very helpful when a clerk or administrator evaluates the article.

Obtaining/verifying permission

Sometimes material was placed on Wikipedia with the permission of the copyright owner. The owner may be willing to give permission and proper license. Any contributor can write to the owner of copyright and check whether they gave or will give permission. See Wikipedia:Example requests for permission. If a compatible license is placed online at the point of original publication, please provide a link to that under the listing.

More details about the permissions process can be seen below and at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.

Rewriting or removing content

If an article verifiably has copyvio, the content must be removed or rewritten entirely. If the article is blanked, the rewrite takes place at Talk:PAGENAME/Temp so that the new material can be copied over the old. The listing will link to the specific temporary page. You can directly rewrite on articles tagged for {{close paraphrasing}} or {{copy-paste}}, and remove the tags when the rewrite is complete.

The article should not be copied over without first removing copyvio. Other content from the article can be used, if there is no reason to believe that it may be a copyright issue as well. If the content is copied from an inaccessible source like a book or cannot be verified, please remove all text added by the contributor. If you copy any text from the old article, please leave a note on the listing or in your edit summaries of the rewrite. Reviewing clerks or administrators will then preserve the history of the old article.

Please review Wikipedia:Copy-paste and its linked guidelines as necessary to ensure the rewrite is compliant with policy. Repairing plagiarism from permissible sources is usually as simple as supplying proper attribution.

Copyright owners who submitted their own work to Wikipedia (or people editing on their behalf)

If you submitted work to Wikipedia which you had previously published and your submission was marked as a potential infringement of copyright, you must do one of the following to resolve the problem:

• Link to a note permitting reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA) and the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts) at the site of the original publication; or
• Send an email from an address associated with the original publication to permissions-en@wikimedia.org or a postal message to the Wikimedia Foundation, ideally using the email template at WP:CONSENT.

See also Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.

Emails are handled by volunteers and take time to log permission. Do not worry if the content is deleted; it will be restored if usable permission is logged. Your email will receive a response whether the permission is usable or not. If you have not received a response to your letter within two weeks, it is a good idea to follow up.

Please keep in mind that content previously published elsewhere may not meet Wikipedia's specific guidelines and policies. If you are not familiar with these policies and guidelines, please review especially our core policies. This will prepare you to deal with any other issues with the text that may arise.

Should you choose to rewrite the content rather than release it under the requisite license, please see above.

Clerks and patrolling administrators

Copyright clerks

For a more complete description of clerks and their duties, as well as a list of active clerks, please see Wikipedia:Copyright problems/Clerks.

Copyright clerks are experienced editors on Wikipedia, especially with copyright policies and their enforcement. On this board, they are trusted to evaluate and close listings and request administrative actions when necessary.

Copyright problems administrators

For a more complete description of administrators on Wikipedia, please see Wikipedia:Administrators.

Any administrator may work the copyright problems board. This may involve evaluating listings personally or completing requests by clerks. Clerks are trusted in their work and their requests may be implemented without double-checking, although any administrator is welcome to review requests and discuss with the clerks in question.

Closing listings

Listings can be processed at any time by anyone, but are not formally closed until a clerk or administrator verifies that all problems are resolved. Pages listed for presumptive deletion stay open for a minimum of 7 days before being processed.

For advice for resolving listings, see Wikipedia:Copyright problems/Instructions (VRT agents, see section there).

{{CPC}} may be used to denote resolutions of listings by administrators, clerks and VRT agents.

Listings of possible copyright problems

Update this page

Older than 7 days

Below are articles that have been listed here for longer than 7 days. They will be processed at any time by clerks or administrators (see WP:CPAA). When every issue on a day is clear, the day may be removed.

3 May 2025

• Manshead CE Academy (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.facebook.com/bedspolice/posts/1121072743400272. Stickymatch 13:32, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Sennecaster (Chat) 19:50, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

• Oswald Mosley (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://escholarship.org/content/qt99w0p17j/qt99w0p17j.pdf?t=ppzxy7. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 14:48, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 18:18, 17 May 2025 (UTC)

• 2012 Dual Universal Suffrage (Hong Kong) (history · last edit · rewrite) Earwig is really unhappy about stuff pulled from https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr06-07/english/panels/ca/papers/ca0716-gppr200707-e.pdf. This is my first time listing stuff here; @Moneytrees and Sennecaster: how badly did I mess up this listing? Thanks :) HouseBlaster (talk • he/they) 21:11, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

  Other than adding the "Subst:copyvio" template, no issues @HouseBlaster : ))) Moneytrees🏝️(Talk) 00:57, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

  @Dbeef has forwarded this to some zhwiki folks experienced in copyright since this is getting messy Sennecaster (Chat) 21:23, 5 October 2025 (UTC)

  Hello, thanks for @Dbeef 's invitation and I am sorry for the late response.

  • Regarding the diff in question, Most of the text is from Hong Kong Basic Law, and a few parts are from Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Interpretation of Basic Law Annex I and Annex II, and Sino-British Joint Declaration.
  • According to the copyright law of China, "this Law shall not be applicable to: (1) laws, regulations, resolutions, decisions and orders of state organs; other documents of legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and their official translations". The Hong Kong Basic Law and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Interpretation are Chinese national law and decisions of state organs, respectively, so they are not protected by copyright law. The Sino-British Joint Declaration and also the other two are edicts of a government and are in the public domain in the US per {{PD-EdictGov}}.
  • I am not sure if these texts are official translations, since I couldn't find some of them in the green paper published by the government or in the essay, e.g. Annex I, Article 7 and Annex II, Article 3.

  SCP-2000 08:12, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

26 July 2025

• Roman Katsman (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://web.archive.org/web/20170202000401/http://www.academicstudiespress.com/browse-catalog/nostalgia-for-a-foreign-land?rq=katsman. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:04, 26 July 2025 (UTC)
• Park of Friendship, New Belgrade appears to, from a non-Serbian speaker's persepctive, to be an unattributed translation of it's Serbian equivilent. The paragraph lengths seem to match up, the primary contributor to the English article only ever editted this article, all in quick succession, and primarily used the Serbian Wikipedia.
  I 1. Don't know if this is a translation and 2. Don't know if the author only translated what they added or what others before them added, but this is something to perhaps look into. I can do stuff! (talk) 20:36, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

  Issue resolved. Attributed. The4lines |||| (talk) 15:27, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

• MNAT1 (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://omim.org/entry/602659. 174.138.212.166 (talk) 01:52, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. MER-C 16:44, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

20 November 2025

• Pablo Herrán (history · last edit · rewrite) from [1]. Very closely paraphrased from the source. See Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/Peripatetic The4lines |||| (talk) 04:31, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article deleted due to copyright concerns. ^Complex/_Rational 15:55, 27 November 2025 (UTC)

• Te Matatini (history · last edit · rewrite) from Category:Articles with close paraphrasing from February 2025. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 20:11, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Tenshi! (Talk page) 21:14, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

• Angevin kings of England (history · last edit · rewrite) from Category:Articles with close paraphrasing from March 2025. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 20:11, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

  See also Wikipedia:Good article reassessment/Angevin kings of England/1 and Wikipedia:Good article reassessment/Angevin kings of England/2 by the tagger. Tenshi! (Talk page) 15:31, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

• Bruxism (history · last edit · rewrite) from Category:Articles with close paraphrasing from March 2025. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 20:11, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Sennecaster (Chat) 02:43, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

• Cambridge Women's Center (history · last edit · rewrite) from Category:Articles with close paraphrasing from March 2025. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 20:11, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

  Tag removed by original tagger. The4lines |||| (talk) 06:10, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

• COMMON (user group) (history · last edit · rewrite) from Category:Articles with close paraphrasing from March 2025. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 20:11, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

  Noting that this was created by a user that has an open CCI. Tenshi! (Talk page) 20:38, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

  According to tagger, sources being paraphrased from are [2][3][4]. Tenshi! (Talk page) 15:31, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Sennecaster (Chat) 18:24, 27 November 2025 (UTC)

• Yan Xishan (history · last edit · rewrite) from Category:Articles with close paraphrasing from March 2025. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 20:11, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

23 November 2025

• University of Michigan Men's Glee Club (history · last edit · rewrite) from [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]. Page was created in 2005 based on content copied from the organisation's website. It was listed at copyright problems and then restored based on this claim of permission on the talk page. It doesn't look like any evidence of permission was ever given, and there's no sign on archived versions of the website of the content being released under a compatible license. The history section still has pretty high overlap with the source. MCE89 (talk) 04:17, 23 November 2025 (UTC)
• Latino American Dawah Organization (history · last edit · rewrite) from [10]. Page was listed at copyright problems in 2005 and restored based on this claim of copyright ownership. No sign the source was ever released under a compatible license, and the page is still substantially based on the original copied text. MCE89 (talk) 04:23, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

  Not salvageable. Tenshi! (Talk page) 23:03, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

  Article deleted due to copyright concerns. Sennecaster (Chat) 21:14, 5 December 2025 (UTC)

• Smokie (band) (history · last edit · rewrite) from [11]. Originally created as a copy of rateyourmusic.com page, then restored based on this claim of copyright ownership. Initial revisions copied from the source are still present in the page. MCE89 (talk) 04:54, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. MCE89 (talk) 06:28, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

• Roger Therry (history · last edit · rewrite) from [12]. From Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/PDH, DuAB copying. I removed some copyvio already, but the rest has been edited down. I'm worried about close paraphrasing. The4lines |||| (talk) 17:04, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article deleted due to copyright concerns. ^Complex/_Rational 22:00, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

27 November 2025

• Joseph Verco (history · last edit · rewrite) from [13]. From Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/PDH, originally copied from Dictionary of Australian Biography. Contains a few non-copyvio sentences here and there, but I'm not sure this is salvageable. MCE89 (talk) 00:44, 27 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned, revision deletion requested. Salvaged. GreenLipstickLesbian💌🧸 03:59, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

  Revision deletion completed. Tenshi! (Talk page) 16:59, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

• Evangelical Press Association (history · last edit · rewrite) from [14]. Restored after a listing at Copyright Problems in 2005 based on this claim of copyright ownership from an IP. No sign the contents were ever released under a compatible license. MCE89 (talk) 00:53, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
• Northcott Theatre (history · last edit · rewrite) from [15]. Restored at copyright problems in 2005 based on this claim of permission on the talk page. No sign that the content was ever released under a compatible license, and the history section is still largely taken from that source. MCE89 (talk) 01:53, 27 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. Saying that they're okay with Wikipedia hosting the content, even if we could verify that the IP had been in touch with the theatre, isn't sufficient. I've removed the history section. GreenLipstickLesbian💌🧸 04:23, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

• Jack Huddle (history · last edit · rewrite) from [16]. Page was restored at copyright problems in 2005 based on this claim of copyright ownership on the talk page. Couldn't find any indication that the content was ever released under a compatible license. MCE89 (talk) 01:58, 27 November 2025 (UTC)

New listings

Update this page

Some listings may not be displayed on this page due to template transclusion limits. This can be alleviated by clearing the backlog.

New listings are made on daily reports transcluded on this page and are not directly added to it. To add a new listing, please go to today's section. Instructions for adding new listings can be found at What to list here. Editors may resolve issues with listings at any time, save for presumptive deletion. See the section on responding for more information.

29 November 2025

• Crossing Time (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://lezwatchtv.com/show/fumikiri-jikan/. Wawrzec (nowe konto) (talk) 16:42, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

  Article cleaned by investigator or others. No remaining infringement. The4lines |||| (talk) 05:49, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

2 December 2025

• Carnegie Mellon University Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (history · last edit · rewrite) from [stop-phishing.com/people_external] [17]. Sophisticatedevening^(talk) 14:04, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

3 December 2025

• Servas International (history · last edit · rewrite) Any edits from Omerozkan should be checked. I've already found a bunch of vio dating back a while. Omerozkan has been warned several times but continues to add more vio. The4lines |||| (talk) 15:50, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

  I am member of Servas International and former board member.

  I am giving referances from servas page and other resources? What can I do to resolve help me Omerozkan (talk) 17:29, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

  Hello Omerozkan, the reason I removed your edits is that they were copied and pasted directly from either a copyrighted source or from the Servas website. Copying and pasting from copyrighted sources is considered a copyright violation and is not allowed on Wikipedia for legal reasons. If you or someone you know would like to release the content under a suitable licence, please follow the instructions listed at WP:DCM. Otherwise, you are welcome to re-add the information back into the article, as long as you write it in your own words. If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to ask me. The4lines |||| (talk) 23:49, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

  Mostly I used my own world and static information, vision, mision etc I wanted to repeat from the original

  use of these help to resolve? or I have to write with my own word?

  Servas International (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://servas.org/ Omerozkan (talk) 16:10, 5 December 2025 (UTC)

  Omerozkan, Unfortunately, even if the content from the Servas website is in your own words, it's still under the copyright protection of the website. This is a problem since Wikipedia's licensing requires text to be reusable under a free license. If you aren't able to release the content under a suitable licence, you will need to write it in your own words. The4lines |||| (talk) 21:20, 5 December 2025 (UTC)

• Draft:Bacus (history · last edit · rewrite) from https://www.prweb.com/releases/industry_leaders_drive_spie_photomask_technology_conference/prweb11144612.htm, https://sst.semiconductor-digest.com/2014/10/photomask-technology-speaker-says-euv-is-nearly-production-ready/, https://www.ims.co.at/en/bacus-2024-lifetime-achievement-award-for-ims-co-founder-hans-loeschner/. aaronneallucas (talk) 21:35, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

6 December 2025

• Aulanko (history · last edit · rewrite) presumptive deletion from 84.251.52.231. first edit was a redirect Sennecaster (Chat) 04:32, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Footer

Wikipedia's current date is 6 December 2025. Put new article listings in Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2025 December 6. Files should be handled by speedy deletion or Wikipedia:Files for discussion.