Kerbal Space Program Wiki:Copyrights

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Summary: Do not submit copyrighted work without permission. Quoting is ok with proper attribution.
Disclaimer: This page only provides general guidelines and this is not legal advice. The author(s) take no responsibility.

Copyright is applied to any original creative work. It is "the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same." [1]

Submitting copyrighted work to this wiki is not allowed, with exceptions mentioned below. If you see copyright infringing content, mark them or delete them.

Fair Use

The four factors that determine if use of copyrighted work without permission is okay: [2]

  • the purpose and character of your use.
  • the nature of the copyrighted work.
  • the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and.
  • the effect of the use upon the potential market.

If you submit copyrighted material that is not covered by this article, think twice.

Quoting

If you want to quote somebody else's work, you have to attribute the author (use <ref> tags), and paraphrase if needed. Don't quote too much (one paragraph should be ok).

Quoting small amounts of text while not crediting the writer is plagiarism although it meets fair use requirements. Close paraphrasing while not putting "quote marks" may be considered plagiarism.

Quoting too much (e.g. two or more entire paragraphs) even with proper attribution and paraphrasing is risky, and it is advised to not do so.

Game screenshots

Uploading game screenshots are okay because:

  • they are used for non-commercial informational purposes only
  • the images cannot be otherwise replaced with public domain or freely-licensed content
  • game screenshots do not allow people to re-create the game

Remember to tag uploaded game screenshots with {{Copyright by Squad}}.

Other situations

Freely-licensed content

It is ok to use freely-licensed or public domain content on this wiki, given that all license terms are followed, including attribution. Content with a "No Derivatives" clause CC license is strongly not recommended, cause it will likely be edited when placed in this wiki.

Copying within the wiki

You can copy text in an article to another in this wiki, given that you explain in the edit summary where you copied the text from.

Under permission

If you asked the copyright holder, then that's good. Do what they allow you to do and that's ok.

Dealing with copyright infringing material on wiki

If you ever find any infringing material on this wiki, go ahead, use the {{Box}} template and type up a notice to mark it as a copyvio. If you decide to delete a clearly blatant copyvio, you have to mention your reason in your edit summary. Warn the user who posted such content as well on their talk page.

What not to do

It is highly advised not to do the following: (list is incomplete)

Uploading non-KSP copyrighted images

Unless you REALLY REALLY need to use other non-KSP related images, please do not upload them. They are copyrighted, and they really do not serve a purpose on this wiki.

References

  1. [1]"copyright definition", Google search. Retrieved May 2015.
  2. [2]"fair use factors", Google search. Retrieved May 2015.