Copyrights

The Liverpool Wiki uses a Creative Commons Attribution-By 3.0 license for all text, most images (some exceptions), and other content on the Web site. You can learn more about Creative Commons here - http://creativecommons.org/.

The Creative Commons Attribution-By license means that every editor who puts work onto The Liverpool Wiki, whether it be text or images, gives anyone the right to do whatever he or she would like with the material. The only restriction being that if you distribute the content you must give attribution to the creators of the content or the collective "The Liverpool Wiki"/"www.liverpoolwiki.org." This means you don't need to ask permission first — you've already got permission!

Please note that in some cases we allow material (usually images) on The Liverpool Wiki that is not licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-By license, and in these cases there is an indication of strict copyright by the material, such as a note saying "Copyright The Echo" or "Provided by and Copyright Google". Usually, this occurs with images, and you must obtain permission from the individual in these cases — it was placed on The Liverpool Wiki but not necessarily allowed elsewhere.

Note that you cannot copy material verbatim from Wikipedia and place it on the Wiki. They use the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which has quite a few restrictions on what you can and cannot do with their information. Davis Wiki does not have those restrictions, and as a result, you cannot copy other people's text that they have written for Wikipedia and use it here. As an example: a newspaper, campus flier, brochure or any other publication that runs over 100 copies has fairly substantial requirements and responsibilities in order to use material from Wikipedia. Any information from Wikipedia has very strict title and ending requirements, while there is no requirement other than attribution to use material from Davis Wiki.

The Creative Commons Attribution-By 3.0 license means that every single friend, weirdo, researcher, book publisher, nerd, newspaper editor, etc. can use any content you, the editor, put on to The Liverpool Wiki for whatever purposes they want. It can be ruthlessly modified, edited, and redistributed without your permission or direct control. Your material can be used for good and it can be used for bad — anyone can use it for any purpose allowable under law provided they give credit to you or The Liverpool Wiki in their use of the content!

For usage details, just read the overview. It's simple. Just remember that 'original author' can mean the author or the collective "The Liverpool Wiki." An easy way to think about this is to pretend that every time someone asked us, "Hey, can I use X from The Liverpool Wiki?" We answer "Yes, just say who created it or note it was from The Liverpool Wiki."

Because most of our content falls under this license, you are legally responsible not to put other people's copyrighted work into The Liverpool Wiki without permission.

If you want to license your photos under a different license - such as a non-commercial creative commons license, or traditional copyright - you're certainly welcome to do that. Just specify it "Copyright My Name 200X"

Note that you cannot copy material verbatim from Wikipedia and place it on the Wiki. They use the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which has quite a few restrictions on what you can and cannot do with their information. The Liverpool Wiki does not have those restrictions, and as a result, you cannot copy other people's text that they have written for Wikipedia and use it here.

While it is always better to use Creative Commons or Public Domain maps, if you absolutely need to use a Google Earth or Google Map image to illustrate something (a aerial view of something that no longer exists, for instance), you must use the entire image, including the copyright notice, and add a caption (assuming you've thumbnailed it) that reads in part: "Provided by and Copyright Google", with the word Google a link to the service. This is the case at the end of 2008; you might want to double check if they have changed their licensing if significant time has passed.

We want to foster an environment where information and ideas can be shared and used as easily as possible by the most people for the longest period of time, and we feel this is the best way to achieve this.