Can I use images posted to WikiTree?

Question

I have been in contact with the person who uploaded the Clan Rose Coat of Arms images to WikiTree asking if I can upload them to Wikimedia Commons.

In his words, "The graphics are my work and posted to Wikitree; thus under the same licence as Commons." Making it sound like they are under some sort of Creative Commons license when they are posted to WikiTree. I'm not sure that's the case, though.

He went on to give me explicit permission to share them on Commons.

Not sure what WikiTree's policy would be here. Not sure which option to check when Commons asks me if I have permission to upload the images.

Are they under a Creative Commons license because they're uploaded to WikiTree or do I have to prove to Commons that I have the creator's permission?

Answer 1

Hi Kelly. As far as I know, WikiTree itself does not use any of the Creative Commons licences.

There are various different Creative Commons licences. The person you mention could select one using this tool:

https://creativecommons.org/choose/

Then he or you could upload to Wikimedia Commons specifying the chosen licence. It would be simpler if he does it. But if he gives you permission in writing, you should be able to do the upload and mention that permission somewhere.

Once the images are on Wikimedia Commons with the chosen licence, preferably checked by him, you can upload them to WikiTree citing Wikimedia Commons as source, with a link to each image page there and describing what the licence is.

For an example see this link. My comment was formatted like this:

Mary Cartwright, famous mathematician. [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_cartwright.jpg Wikimedia Commons]. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en CC BY-SA 4.0].

Comments

By the way, the Creative Commons licence he chooses needs to allow commercial use. WikiTree is a commercial site.

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Thanks Jim for the link to "Is WikiTree non-profit?" That's what I needed, but I couldn't find it. The next section, "Is our collaborative tree public domain?" was also helpful.

I was pretty sure WikiTree content wasn't under the same kind of licensing that Commons is. But now we can say it definitely isn't.

He was so nice to just send me the files & let me do whatever I want with then, I hate to bother him to attach a license to the content on WikiTree. I guess I'll just have to go through the trouble of forwarding his written permission to the moderators at Commons. It just would've been easier for me if I'd been able to check the box saying it was already licensed under Creative Commons. But it's fine. It'll all work out.

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Ok Kelly. It does seem quite complicated. I'm glad some of the points I gave were helpful.