Commons:OTRS

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This project page in other languages:
Walnut.png This page in a nutshell: If a copyrighted file is uploaded by someone who is not the copyright holder, and the copyright status is not stated at the external file's source, then the copyright holder needs to explicitly grant permission for the distribution of the file under a free license. You can send permission statements to Wikimedia using the release generator.

Shortcut: COM:OTRS

WM OTRS pending logo.svgCurrent backlog in permissions-commons queue is 133 days.
OTRS Noticeboard
Main OTRS-related pages

Open-source Ticket Request System (OTRS) is a tool used by the Wikimedia projects, including Commons, to manage and archive email conversations. The main use of OTRS in relation to Commons is to verify and archive licensing permissions.

In some cases, sending email to OTRS may be required in order to provide evidence that the copyright holder has given permission to publish a file under a free license. Such evidence should be sent to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org (or a language specific address). OTRS is also used to handle email reports of copyright violations.

Emails sent to OTRS are handled by a multilingual team of trusted volunteers. Each topic is assigned a unique ticket number to keep related emails together and to ensure that correspondence can be found and re-examined at a later date. The correspondence is not visible to the public.

OTRS volunteer interface
An image that received its permission for use via OTRS

Each ticket will be reviewed by a volunteer. If there is sufficient evidence of a valid permission, the volunteer will mark the file(s) concerned as reviewed. The volunteer will also act to restore any files which may have been deleted before the permission could be verified, so when following the procedure described here, there is no need to request undeletion. If there is not sufficient evidence, the volunteer may request additional information from the correspondent. Volunteers will also act to ensure that any copyright violations that come to their attention are deleted.

The number of active Commons OTRS volunteers is quite small in relation to the number of emails received. The current backlog for tickets in English is approximately 133 days, so apologies for the delay. Experienced Commons editors are encouraged to join our team of volunteers and improve our response times.

Inquiries about the validity or status of an OTRS ticket can be made at the OTRS Noticeboard.

Emails are handled by community volunteers. The Wikimedia Foundation cannot guarantee confidential treatment of any sensitive information you include in your message, although all volunteers are required to treat it with confidentiality.

When contacting OTRS is unnecessary

If any of the following statements is one you could make with regard to the file you wish to upload, you do not need to contact OTRS:

I do not have permission to use the file and it has not been released under a free license.

Commons can only accept images that are under a free license or in the public domain. If the file does not fall in one of those two groups, please do not upload it.

I created the file myself, it hasn't been previously published, and I am the sole owner of its copyright.

Just follow the instructions found on the Commons:Upload page, unless the image/ file is of outstanding or professional quality or there is some other reason your authorship may be doubted.

The image was first published on my website, or on my own space of a shared website.

That's great! Please follow Creative Commons' instructions to adopt the free culture license of your choice. It will then be reviewed when files are uploaded by you or others. Use the Internet Archive's "Save Page Now" feature to store proof of your license statement.
Our website uses Wordpress
You can place the entire website in CC-BY-SA license in a handful of clicks.
Our website is on Blogspot
Follow the steps to update your theme.
We publish on Flickr
Follow Flickr publish steps.
We publish on YouTube
You can use CC-BY.

I found the image on Flickr where it was marked as having been released under a free license.

Commons has a procedure in place for reviewing those images. Please have a look on Commons:Flickr images.

Licensing images: when do I contact OTRS?

If any of the following statements is one you could make, then you must send an email to the OTRS system:

I have received permission from the original author (not me) to upload the file to Commons.

Please ask the copyright holder to send a permission statement to the address listed above. We require that owners make a clear statement that they release the image under a free license. To help prevent confusion or misunderstandings we prefer one of the email templates be used. Permission grants must specifically contain a free license grant and may not merely give permissions for Commons or Wikipedia. If you have already uploaded the image to Commons, follow the instructions on Template:OTRS pending.
Ampoule-electrique.png If the image has been deleted, do not recreate the deleted content but include in the correspondence a link to the deleted image or a link to your talk page in order to help the work of the OTRS volunteer.

I am the copyright owner but my file has been previously published without a free license on a medium I can't alter.

Please send us a clear statement that you wish to release your work (with a link to the original location) under a specific free license. See Commons:Email templates for the preferred form. Alternatively, add a free license to your work and place the text {{license review}} somewhere on the file description page on Commons. We will review your statement for authenticity and will let you know if we can accept it as valid.

I regularly publish my work elsewhere and want to avoid the hassle of sending permission statements for every upload I make.

Please send us a clear statement that your Commons account (or some other Commons account) is authorized to license your works, either any work or some set of works, e.g. "My images from event X, 2013-10-15". We will make a note of this for your future uploads.

I am the copyright owner and my file is being hosted on Commons without permission.

Send us an email (to commons-copyvio@wikimedia.org) with as much information as possible about the problem, including the URL of the file on Commons, the URL of the place it was originally uploaded. We will review your request and if we find the file was uploaded without proper permission, it will be marked for deletion.

If you are NOT the copyright holder

If you are not the copyright holder and the work is not in the public domain or readily available under a Commons-compatible free license, you will need to contact the copyright holder and obtain permission for his or her work to be uploaded to Commons. Please follow these steps:

  1. Before you upload the file to Commons, please identify and contact the copyright holder and ask him or her to release the work under a free license.
    Ampoule-electrique.png The copyright holder must choose one of the licenses permitted on Commons; in particular, restricting use to Wikipedia or Wikimedia projects is not acceptable. See Commons:Email templates for a recommended reply from the author.
  2. When you receive a reply, please check that the license authorized by the copyright holder is appropriate to Commons. If so, upload the image to Commons and place the tag {{subst:OP}} ("OTRS Pending") on the file description page in addition to the license chosen by the copyright holder.
  3. Following this, ask the author to forward the email with their clear statement of permission to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org, including the full header and any previously exchanged correspondence with you, and a link to the image on Commons. Make sure to ask the author to include information on the origin (source) of the file and its license.
  4. An OTRS volunteer will check the email to verify that the permission statement is sufficient and authentic, and will then replace the {{OTRS pending}} tag with {{PermissionOTRS}}.

(If you are the copyright holder writing to confirm the license for a previously published work that you have already uploaded to Commons, you should, of course, send the permission statement yourself.)

Declaration of consent for all enquiries

العربية | català | English | español | euskara | فارسی | français | Հայերեն | Bahasa Indonesia | italiano | 日本語 | norsk (bokmål) | norsk (nynorsk) | polski | русский | sicilianu | slovenščina | svenska | українська | اردو | 中文（简体）‎ | 中文（繁體）‎ | 中文（台灣）‎ | +/−


 Use the Interactive Release Generator!

If you have been directed to this page because you wish to release the rights to a file to which you own the copyright, please consider clicking on the link above rather than completing the following email template. The Interactive Release Generator is designed to make the process of releasing the rights to a file efficient and simple. The use of the following template, though still perfectly valid and certainly useful as a work of reference, is now discouraged and should only be used in exceptional circumstances. Thank you!

Send the statement to our email response team ("OTRS") at permissions-commons@wikimedia.org, and then tag the subject file(s) with {{subst:OP}}. The email message you send should come from an email address that we can recognize as somehow associated with the content being released. For instance, if you are releasing images shown on a website, your email address should be associated with the website or listed on the contact page of the website; if you are releasing images on behalf of an organization, your email address should be at an official address of the organization; if you are releasing a work that is not available online, you may be asked to privately provide evidence of your identity to the OTRS volunteer who processes your statement; if you are releasing a work for which you are acting on the copyright holder's behalf, you may be asked to provide proof of this authorization such as a forwarded email message with full Internet headers from the copyright holder designating you as their representative in this matter.

Templates to use on image pages

  • Users who have sent a permission to OTRS but haven't received confirmation yet can use {{subst:OP}} to tell others that it's in progress.
  • OTRS volunteers can use {{subst:OR|id=number}} when the permission has been received but further clarification is needed and {{PermissionOTRS|id=number}} when the permission has been accepted and archived in the Wikimedia OTRS system. This template should only used by OTRS volunteers. Unauthorized use will cause a AbuseFilter logentry and a warning will be shown. OTRS volunteers are encourage to use the PermissionOTRS gadget.

See also

On Commons
On other projects
Retrieved from "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:OTRS&oldid=309720497"