Wikipedia:Media copyright questions

Media copyright questions

Welcome to the Media copyright questions noticeboard, a place for help with image copyright tagging, non-free content, and media-related questions. For all other questions, use Wikipedia:Questions.

If you have a question about a specific image, link to it like this: [[:File:Example.png]] (Note the colons around the word File.) If a question clearly does not belong on this page, reply to it using the template {{Mcq-wrong}} and leave a note on the poster's talk page. For copyright issues relevant to Commons, questions may be directed to Common's copyright village pump.

How to add a copyright tag to an existing image

1. On the description page of the image (the one whose name starts File:), click "Edit this page".
2. From the page Wikipedia:File copyright tags, choose the appropriate tag:
   • For work you created yourself, use one of the ones listed under the heading "For image creators".
   • For a work downloaded from the internet, please understand that the vast majority of images from the internet are not appropriate for use on Wikipedia. Exceptions include images from flickr that have an acceptable license, images that are in the public domain because of their age or because they were created by the United States federal government, or images used under a claim of fair use. If you do not know what you are doing, please post a link to the image here and ask BEFORE uploading it.
   • For an image created by someone else who has licensed their image under an acceptable Creative Commons or other free license, or has released their image into the public domain, this permission must be documented. Please see Requesting copyright permission for more information.
3. Type the name of the tag inclusing the curly brackets (e.g.; {{Cc-by-4.0}}) in the edit box on the image's description page.
4. Remove any existing tag complaining that the image has no tag (for example, {{untagged}})
5. Click Publish changes.
6. If you still have questions, ask a question below below.

Click here to start a new discussion

Help on fixing Station Camp High School logo

Hello,

I uploaded File:Station Camp High School (Gallatin, Tennessee) logo.png with a free use rationale and added it to the infobox of Station Camp High School. (Since then, it looks like it might be public domain because it's a simple "SC" monogram.)

However, the JJMC89 bot removed the logo from the article and directed me to WP:NFC#Implementation. I re-read it but can't figure what issue applies here.

How do I correctly re-add the image while addressing whatever my mistake was? - RevelationDirect (talk) 03:38, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

Hi RevelationDirect. JJMC89 bot removed the file from Station Camp High School for not having a valid non-free use rationale for that particular article because you mistakenly listed Portland High School (Tennessee) as where the file was being used in the non-free use rationale you added when uploading the file: I'm assuming this was just a copy-paste mistake on your part. The file was relicensed as {{PD-logo}} after the bot had already removed the file. Since the file is no longer subject to Wikipedia's non-free content use policy, it doesn't need a non-free rationale anymore. All you need to do is add the file to the Station Camp article if that's where you want to use it. -- Marchjuly (talk) 04:30, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for the detailed answer, much appreciated! RevelationDirect (talk) 11:56, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

Uploading photos for a company that has a license from the photographer

Hello!

I have the permission from a photographer to publish his portrait photos taken of founder of an architect firm that I have written an wiki-page about. The architects have also give me their permission to publish. How to I prove this to Wikipedia Commons license?' Veronica Hejdelind (talk) 16:07, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

@Veronica Hejdelind Point the copyright holders to Commons:Volunteer_Response_Team#Declaration_of_consent_for_all_enquiries. Alternatively, suggest that they make a page with these pictures at their website with the text "The pictures on this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license", then you or anyone can upload them on Commons, giving a link to that page as a source. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:49, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

File:Powerkaiser Logo.png

{{Copyright holder|month=February|day=7|year=2026}}{{Copyright information|month=February|day=7|year=2026}} Thanawat kalakan (talk) 08:59, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

Hi Thanawat kalakan. All files uploaded to Wikipedia need to be provided with two things per Wikipedia:Image use policy#Required information: information about the file's provenance and a valid copyright license. When you uploaded File:Powerkaiser Logo.png to English Wikipedia, you failed to provide both of these things so the the file was tagged for speedy deletion per speedy deletion criterion F4 by a WP:BOT. Without this information and a copyright license, the file will end up being deleted in about seven days. If you can clarify where you found this file, someone might be able to help you figure out how it should be licensed. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:59, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

Former radio station logos

File:KEPS 1270AM logo.jpg, File:KABD logo.png, and File:WHIN logo.PNG are all former radio station logos licensed as non-free content but whose current use fails WP:NFC#cite_note-4. Does anyone feel that these could be relicensed as {{PD-logo}} so that they can be kept and moved to Commons; otherwise, they're probably going to end up being deleted. -- Marchjuly (talk) 06:50, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

Public figure: Photo is ok in one article, but not another?

My question is about this image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leon_Black_speaking_at_the_Milken_Institute_Global_Conference_in_Beverly_Hills,_California.webp

The image is on the Leon Black article, but the JJMC89 bot removed it from the Prominent individuals mentioned in the Epstein files article. When I look at the file itself, I see one banner saying the image's use is being discussed, and another banner saying *previous revisions* are no longer being used, but the *current revision* will not be deleted.

Is there something I should do, to be able to add this photo to an article? Wikipedian-in-Waiting (talk) 21:34, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

Hi Wikipedian-in-Waiting. There's not really much that can be done here because File:Leon_Black_speaking_at_the_Milken_Institute_Global_Conference_in_Beverly_Hills,_California.webp is a clear violation of non-free content use criterion #1 of Wikipedia's non-free content use policy and will end up being deleted within a few days. Someone else nominated the file for discussion at WP:FFD, but that was unnecessary since the file qualifies for speedy deletion per speedy deletion criterion F7 as "replaceable non-free use" and should have been tagged as such instead. Wikipedia's non-free content use policy is quite restrictive by design and one of this restrictions is that non-free images of living people are pretty much never allowed. So, even the use in the "Leon Black" article isn't OK. FWIW, the reason why the bot removed the file from the "Prominent individuals mentioned in the Epstein files" was for failing non-free content use criterion #10, another one of the policy's restrictions; however, even if the file's non-free use could somehow be justified for use in the article about Black, it still wouldn't be OK to use in the other article per relevant Wikipedia policy. There's pretty much no way to justify the use of any non-free image of any of the people (living or dead) mentioned in that "Prominent individuals" article per Wikipedia's non-free content use policy. -- Marchjuly (talk) 23:46, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Wikipedian-in-Waiting (talk) 01:53, 11 February 2026 (UTC)