Licensing

Copyright can be intimidating and confusing, but in its essence, it means that when you create something you own the copyright to it. You can control how it is used, preening other people from using it without your permission.

A **license** is a formal permission to use a copyrighted work. Licenses can be given only by the copyright owner. Sometimes they are bought and paid for; other times the copyright owner makes them available for free.

While you own the copyright to content that you create by publishing it to Fandom, by submitting the content to our network you agree to license it under a Creative Commons license.

## Fair Use (Fair Dealing)

The first option shown in licensing is Fair Use. **Fair use** is a doctrine in the law of the United States that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. **Fair dealing** is a doctrine in the law of the United Kingdom that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the owner. Fair use enables redistribution to a limited extent that would otherwise be an act of copyright infringement. When uploading images that have a Fair Use license, the four following questions need to be answered:

* What is the purpose and character of your use? (Are you using this image to gain credit or for a commercial use?)
* What is the nature of the copyrighted work? (What kind of media is this?)
* What is the amount of the portion taken? (If this media is in parts, how much did you take of it?)
* What is the potential effect of the use upon the potential market? (What will happen if you upload this on the wiki? Will you potentially benefit from this? Or are you uploading this media to promote wiki functionality?

## Self Provided Images

When you upload an image that you create, you automatically own all copyrights to it. This means that you are protected from anyone using your content without your permission, except in the special circumstances of fair use. Self provided images are the best form of images because it means that original content is being added to this wiki, sparking creativity and cultural enrichment. However, ***note that by uploading a self provided image onto the wiki, you are foregoing your copyright and agree to license your image with a Creative Commons license.*** To choose a license for your image, you must go to this link:

https://creativecommons.org/choose/.

## Creative Commons Licenses

Many images also use free licenses. **NOTE: *Just because an image is licensed under a free license doesn't mean it is not subject to copyright.*** Free licenses such as the GNU GPL and the CC-BY license, are copyleft licenses that allow others to share, and to sometimes remix the images involved. There are many Creative Commons licenses.

### CC**Ø**

The CCØ license is around the same level as a Public Domain license. The Public Domain is the place where all original work, including games, movies, and others, goes after about 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever expires first. The CCØ allows people to share, remix, adapt, and to use the work for commercial use. However, the Public Domain license is a sort of mark on which images have been moved into the Public Domain. The CCØ is a license that tells others that they can use it as if it were in the Public Domain.

### CC-BY

The CC-BY License is one of the Creative Commons Licenses. It is one of the most open licenses and allows people to redistribute, remix, and to use the image for commericial purposes. There are four versions to the CC-BY license. The CC-BY 1.0 was the oldest, and was released in 2002.