CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Wikipedia:Multi-licensing - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy", "wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"6876d14d-e9fb-4f04-95fe-db7fa9b4fa03","wgCanonicalNamespace":"Project","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":4,"wgPageName":"Wikipedia:Multi-licensing","wgTitle":"Multi-licensing","wgCurRevisionId":1242806276,"wgRevisionId":1242806276,"wgArticleId":1177206,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Wikipedia copyright"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Wikipedia:Multi-licensing","wgRelevantArticleId":1177206,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true, "wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":9000,"wgRelatedArticlesCompat":[],"wgCentralAuthMobileDomain":false,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgDiscussionToolsFeaturesEnabled":{"replytool":true,"newtopictool":true,"sourcemodetoolbar":true,"topicsubscription":false,"autotopicsub":false,"visualenhancements":false,"visualenhancements_reply":false,"visualenhancements_pageframe":false},"wgDiscussionToolsFallbackEditMode":"source","wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q13417965","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform", "platformVersion"],"GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false,"wgGEStructuredTaskRejectionReasonTextInputEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false};RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.discussionTools.init.styles":"ready","oojs-ui-core.styles":"ready","oojs-ui.styles.indicators":"ready","mediawiki.widgets.styles":"ready","oojs-ui-core.icons":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.wikimediaBadges":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["site","mediawiki.page.ready","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips", "ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","ext.popups","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.discussionTools.init","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","wikibase.sidebar.tracking"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.discussionTools.init.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediaBadges%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cmediawiki.widgets.styles%7Coojs-ui-core.icons%2Cstyles%7Coojs-ui.styles.indicators%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.4"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="Wikipedia:Multi-licensing - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Multi-licensing"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Multi-licensing"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="ext-discussiontools-replytool-enabled ext-discussiontools-newtopictool-enabled ext-discussiontools-sourcemodetoolbar-enabled skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-4 ns-subject mw-editable page-Wikipedia_Multi-licensing rootpage-Wikipedia_Multi-licensing skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-contents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Guides to browsing Wikipedia"><span>Contents</span></a></li><li id="n-currentevents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Articles related to current events"><span>Current events</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Visit a randomly selected article [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random article</span></a></li><li id="n-aboutsite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Learn about Wikipedia and how it works"><span>About Wikipedia</span></a></li><li id="n-contactpage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="How to contact Wikipedia"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-interaction" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-interaction" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Contribute </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-introduction" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Learn how to edit Wikipedia"><span>Learn to edit</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="The hub for editors"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard" title="Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia"><span>Upload file</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikipedia.png" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikipedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Encyclopedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-tagline-en.svg" width="117" height="13" style="width: 7.3125em; height: 0.8125em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Wikipedia%3AMulti-licensing" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Wikipedia%3AMulti-licensing" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="Log in and more options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Wikipedia%3AMulti-licensing" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Wikipedia%3AMulti-licensing" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-How_it_works" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#How_it_works"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>How it works</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-How_it_works-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Controversy" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Controversy"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Controversy</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Controversy-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Controversy subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Controversy-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-The_case_for_additional_licenses" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_case_for_additional_licenses"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>The case for additional licenses</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_case_for_additional_licenses-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_case_against_multiple_licenses" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_case_against_multiple_licenses"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>The case against multiple licenses</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_case_against_multiple_licenses-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Why_it_might_not_matter" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Why_it_might_not_matter"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3</span> <span>Why it might not matter</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Why_it_might_not_matter-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Using_multiple_licenses" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Using_multiple_licenses"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Using multiple licenses</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Using_multiple_licenses-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Using_the_CC_BY-SA_license_and_GFDL_only" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Using_the_CC_BY-SA_license_and_GFDL_only"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Using the CC BY-SA license and GFDL only</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Using_the_CC_BY-SA_license_and_GFDL_only-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-List_of_terms_for_use" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#List_of_terms_for_use"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>List of terms for use</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-List_of_terms_for_use-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-namespace">Wikipedia</span><span class="mw-page-title-separator">:</span><span class="mw-page-title-main">Multi-licensing</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 4 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-4" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">4 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Mehrfachlizenzierung" title="Wikipedia:Mehrfachlizenzierung – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Wikipedia:Mehrfachlizenzierung" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Multilicence" title="Wikipédia:Multilicence – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Wikipédia:Multilicence" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Licenza_multipla" title="Wikipedia:Licenza multipla – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Wikipedia:Licenza multipla" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Multi-licensing" title="Wikipedia:Multi-licensing – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Wikipedia:Multi-licensing" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q13417965#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-project" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Multi-licensing" title="View the project page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Project page</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Multi-licensing" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Multi-licensing"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Multi-licensing"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Wikipedia:Multi-licensing" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Wikipedia:Multi-licensing" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&oldid=1242806276" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikipedia%3AMulti-licensing"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikipedia%3AMulti-licensing"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Wikipedia%3AMulti-licensing&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-commons mw-list-item"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Multi-licensing" hreflang="en"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></a></li><li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikiversity mw-list-item"><a href="https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Multi-licensing" hreflang="en"><span>Wikiversity</span></a></li><li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q13417965" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1252059228">.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain{float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);background-color:var(--background-color-base,#fff);padding:0.3em 0.6em 0.2em 0.6em;text-align:center;font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxleft{float:left;margin:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutlist{display:inline-block;border-bottom:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);margin-bottom:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain ul{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutanchordiv{position:relative;top:-3em}.mw-parser-output li .module-shortcutanchordiv{float:right}.mw-parser-output .mbox-imageright .module-shortcutboxplain{padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 1em;line-height:1.3;margin:0}</style><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:DUAL"></span><span id="WP:MULTILIC"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcuts</a></div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:DUAL&redirect=no">WP:DUAL</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:MULTILIC&redirect=no">WP:MULTILIC</a></span></li></ul></div></div> <p>All text edits to Wikipedia fall under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:CCBYSA" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:CCBYSA">Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License</a> (CC BY-SA) with the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights" title="Wikipedia:Copyrights">copyright</a> being retained by the original author; as of August 2009<sup class="plainlinks noexcerpt noprint asof-tag update" style="display:none;"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Multi-licensing&action=edit">[update]</a></sup>, most articles/edits are also dual-licensed under the <a href="/wiki/GFDL" class="mw-redirect" title="GFDL">GFDL</a>. This is a guide for using multiple licensing of one's contributions made to Wikipedia so that they are in the <a href="/wiki/Public_domain" title="Public domain">public domain</a> or licensed under alternative licenses in addition to the CC BY-SA license (and GFDL, often). A number of users have chosen to release their contributions under some other license, or even to release their contributions into the public domain. </p><p>Dual-licensing under CC BY-SA and GFDL on Wikipedia is required by the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/TOU" class="extiw" title="wmf:TOU">Terms of Use</a> for all content that is the sole creation of the contributor. Additional licenses are not required or suggested by Wikipedia, but some users—for a variety of ideological or other reasons—prefer to release their contributions under a wider range of terms. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc"/> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="How_it_works" data-mw-thread-id="h-How_it_works"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-How_it_works"></span>How it works<span data-mw-comment-end="h-How_it_works"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: How it works"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>While all articles in Wikipedia are <a href="/wiki/Derivative_work" title="Derivative work">derivative works</a> based on the first contribution made to the article, each article must be licensed under the CC BY-SA license. (Because the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="wmf:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> permit importing text authored by others or that you have yourself co-authored with others under solely the CC BY-SA license, it <i>is</i> possible to have articles or sections of articles that are singly licensed. All content that is the sole creation of the contributor must be minimally licensed under CC BY-SA and GFDL.) However, individual contributions are not by themselves derivative works because they do not contain any of the original work, as the copyright still remains with the author. It is within one's rights to license those contributions under any terms one prefers, so long as one does it in addition to also being covered under the CC BY-SA license (and, if you are the sole contributor, GFDL). </p><p><b>Example:</b> Alice and Boris are dual-licensors under the CC BY-SA license and GFDL. Alice also chooses to license her content under Incompatible License A, for instance CC BY-NC, so that it can be incorporated into non-commercial material elsewhere. Candice's content, which she coauthored and previously published elsewhere, only licenses under the CC BY-SA license. Both the CC BY-SA license and GFDL may be used in the following cases: </p> <ul><li>The initial revision started by Alice or Boris.</li> <li>Any modifications by Alice or Boris up to, but not including, a modification made by Candice.</li> <li>Possibly any changes made to the article after Candice by Alice or Boris which <b>do not include the modification made by Candice</b>.</li></ul> <p>For instance, </p> <ol><li>Alice creates an article → version available under three licenses (CC BY-SA license, CC BY-NC license, and GFDL).</li> <li>Boris makes an edit. → version available <b>only</b> under the CC BY-SA and GFDL license, <b>unless</b> Boris's edit was <b>so trivial</b> that copyright would not attach (e.g., fixing a typo)</li> <li>Alice makes an edit. → version remains available <b>only</b> under the CC BY-SA and GFDL license</li> <li>Candice imports content. → version available <b>only</b> under the CC BY-SA license, <b>unless</b> Candice's edit was <b>so trivial</b> that copyright would not attach (e.g., fixing a typo)</li> <li>Boris makes an edit. → version available <b>only</b> under the CC BY-SA license, <b>unless</b> Candice's edit <b>can be separated</b> from the rest of the article (e.g., by removing a paragraph).</li></ol> <p>One must use some common sense in determining whether Boris's and Candace's edits were trivial or separable enough that Alice's original multiple license survives into Versions 2 and beyond. Where Boris's contributions do upset the multiple license, you may not use his contributions under CC BY-NC unless he releases his contributions under that license. Where Candice's contributions upset license, you may not use her contributions under GFDL or CC BY-NC unless she releases her contributions under those licenses. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Controversy" data-mw-thread-id="h-Controversy"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Controversy"></span>Controversy<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Controversy"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Controversy"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_case_for_additional_licenses" data-mw-thread-id="h-The_case_for_additional_licenses-Controversy"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-The_case_for_additional_licenses-Controversy"></span>The case for additional licenses<span data-mw-comment-end="h-The_case_for_additional_licenses-Controversy"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: The case for additional licenses"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>To be friendly and able to use the material with other open projects which use an incompatible license other than the GFDL or CC BY-SA license.</li> <li>To make licensing of material less restrictive. For example, public domain allows totally unrestricted usage for any purpose.</li> <li>If enough people use a different compatible license, large numbers of articles will be multiple-licensed.</li> <li>To satisfy a copyright holder's ideological or philosophical opinions, such as a belief that information should be absolutely unrestricted (released into the public domain).</li> <li>It is not a policy but instead <b>totally optional</b>.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_case_against_multiple_licenses" data-mw-thread-id="h-The_case_against_multiple_licenses-Controversy"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-The_case_against_multiple_licenses-Controversy"></span>The case against multiple licenses<span data-mw-comment-end="h-The_case_against_multiple_licenses-Controversy"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: The case against multiple licenses"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>For heavily edited articles, the process of manually sifting through the rat's nest of edits to determine whether an article, or a part of an article, is available outside the CC BY-SA license becomes more error-prone as the number of edits to the article increases. This makes it more likely that an article only available under the CC BY-SA license will be erroneously labeled otherwise, and subsequently used in violation of the license.</li> <li>One could hypothesize that some ideological fanatics might systematically revert, or eliminate, changes made only under the CC BY-SA license to their favorite articles, so that they remain available under an incompatible license.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Why_it_might_not_matter" data-mw-thread-id="h-Why_it_might_not_matter-Controversy"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Why_it_might_not_matter-Controversy"></span>Why it might not matter<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Why_it_might_not_matter-Controversy"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Why it might not matter"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Even if those who multiply license their contributions can be identified, the multiple-licensed content may not be useful. For example, only the first, third and fifth words of a given sentence may be multiply licensed, while the rest are CC BY-SA and GFDL-only. Obviously, the multiply-licensed content would be of very little use.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Using_multiple_licenses" data-mw-thread-id="h-Using_multiple_licenses"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Using_multiple_licenses"></span>Using multiple licenses<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Using_multiple_licenses"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Using multiple licenses"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In general, users make their multi-licensing desires known on their user page by way of a banner or some description of their wishes (See <span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Jamesday&oldid=251952858">User:Jamesday</a></span> for a complicated example). This is often simply accomplished by adding a pre-made template. See the full selection of <b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Userboxes/Large/Licensing" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Userboxes/Large/Licensing">licensing templates</a></b> available. </p><p>The scope of a license may vary. For instance, a user may choose to license main namespace changes in one license and talk namespace changes in another. In addition, a user may consider releasing all minor changes into the public domain in order to avoid the problems that trivial changes may have in trying to release an article in a specific license. At the same time, meaningful non-minor changes can be released under a more restrictive license. In the case of the <a href="/wiki/GNU" title="GNU">GNU</a> licenses, one can specify certain restrictions, such as specifying a particular version of the license instead of any. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Using_the_CC_BY-SA_license_and_GFDL_only" data-mw-thread-id="h-Using_the_CC_BY-SA_license_and_GFDL_only"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Using_the_CC_BY-SA_license_and_GFDL_only"></span>Using the CC BY-SA license and GFDL only<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Using_the_CC_BY-SA_license_and_GFDL_only"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Using the CC BY-SA license and GFDL only"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Unless you explicitly specify otherwise, all contributions to Wikipedia are dual-licensed under the CC BY-SA license and the GFDL; therefore, if you elect not to adopt additional licenses, no action is necessary. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="List_of_terms_for_use" data-mw-thread-id="h-List_of_terms_for_use"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-List_of_terms_for_use"></span>List of terms for use<span data-mw-comment-end="h-List_of_terms_for_use"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: List of terms for use"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Creative_Commons_License" class="mw-redirect" title="Creative Commons License">Creative Commons License</a> <ul><li>Version 1.0 <ul><li>Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Draft (<i>CC BY-SA</i>) <b><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:DualLicenseWithCC-BySA" title="Template:DualLicenseWithCC-BySA">DualLicenseWithCC-BySA</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></b></li> <li>Creative Commons ShareAlike (<i>CC SA</i>)</li> <li>Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike (<i>CC NC-SA</i>)</li> <li>Creative Commons NoDerivs (<i>CC ND</i>)</li> <li>Creative Commons NonCommercial-NoDerivs (<i>CC NC-ND</i>)</li> <li>Creative Commons NonCommercial (<i>CC NC</i>)</li></ul></li> <li>Version 2.0 <ul><li>Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (<i>CC BY-SA</i>) <b><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:MultiLicenseWithCC-BySA-Any" title="Template:MultiLicenseWithCC-BySA-Any">MultiLicenseWithCC-BySA-Any</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></b> <ul><li>This license is very similar to the GFDL used by Wikipedia and is thus very popular.</li></ul></li> <li>Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (<i>CC BY-NC-SA</i>)</li> <li>Creative Commons Attribution (<i>CC BY</i>)</li> <li>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs (<i>CC BY-ND</i>)</li> <li>Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (<i>CC BY-NC-ND</i>)</li> <li>Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (<i>CC BY-NC</i>)</li></ul></li> <li>Version 3.0 <ul><li>Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (<i>CC BY-SA</i>) <ul><li>Wikipedia is already dual-licensed (or singly-licensed in the case of pages incorporating CC BY-SA content from outside sources) under this as of the June 15, 2009 <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Licensing_update" title="Wikipedia:Licensing update">relicensing</a>.</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public_domain" title="Public domain">Public domain</a> <b><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Public_domain_release" title="Template:Public domain release">Public domain release</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></b> <ul><li>Many users do not wish their contributions to be restricted in any way.</li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/CC-0" class="mw-redirect" title="CC-0">CC-0</a> <b><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:CC-0_Release" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:CC-0 Release">CC-0 Release</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></b> <ul><li>The same as the Public domain, but with fail safes in place in case Public domain isn't possible in some jurisdictions</li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/GNU" title="GNU">GNU</a> Licenses <ul><li><a href="/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License" title="GNU General Public License">GNU General Public License</a> (<i>GPL</i>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License" title="GNU Lesser General Public License">GNU Lesser General Public License</a> (<i>LGPL</i>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License" title="GNU Free Documentation License">GNU Free Documentation License</a> (<i>GFDL</i>)</li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/FreeBSD_Documentation_License" title="FreeBSD Documentation License">FreeBSD Documentation License</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/BSD_Documentation_License" class="mw-redirect" title="BSD Documentation License">BSD Documentation License</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/BSD_license" class="mw-redirect" title="BSD license">BSD license</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="See_also" data-mw-thread-id="h-See_also"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-See_also"></span>See also<span data-mw-comment-end="h-See_also"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Userboxes/Large/Licensing" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Userboxes/Large/Licensing">Wikipedia:Userboxes/Large/Licensing</a></li> <li>The full selection of <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://creativecommons.org/license/">Creative Commons Licenses</a></li> <li>Unofficial <a href="/wiki/User_talk:Ram-Man/MLFAQ" title="User talk:Ram-Man/MLFAQ">Multi-Licensing FAQ</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="References" data-mw-thread-id="h-References"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-References"></span>References<span data-mw-comment-end="h-References"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>This guide was partially based on the content of <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Guide_to_the_CC_dual-license" class="extiw" title="meta:Guide to the CC dual-license">Guide to the Creative Commons dual-license</a>.</li></ul>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&oldid=1242806276">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&oldid=1242806276</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Category</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_copyright" title="Category:Wikipedia copyright">Wikipedia copyright</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 28 August 2024, at 21:32<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy policy">Privacy Policy</a>. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.</a>, a non-profit organization.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multi-licensing&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" loading="lazy"></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-settings" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul></ul> </div><script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-wkmgf","wgBackendResponseTime":132,"wgDiscussionToolsPageThreads":[{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-How_it_works","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Controversy","replies":[{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-The_case_for_additional_licenses-Controversy","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-The_case_against_multiple_licenses-Controversy","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Why_it_might_not_matter-Controversy","replies":[]}]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Using_multiple_licenses","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Using_the_CC_BY-SA_license_and_GFDL_only","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-List_of_terms_for_use","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-See_also","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-References","replies":[]}],"wgPageParseReport":{"discussiontools":{"limitreport-timeusage":"0.021"},"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.096","walltime":"0.132","ppvisitednodes":{"value":384,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":3138,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":333,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":14,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":2,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":0,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":1167,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 89.710 1 -total"," 56.93% 51.073 1 Template:Shortcut"," 38.07% 34.157 1 Template:Asof"," 21.53% 19.316 1 Template:DMCA"," 15.89% 14.255 1 Template:Dated_maintenance_category"," 13.99% 12.549 1 Template:FULLROOTPAGENAME"," 12.36% 11.087 1 Template:Ns_has_subpages"," 4.54% 4.072 4 Template:Tl"," 4.25% 3.815 1 Template:MONTHNAME"," 1.82% 1.630 2 Template:Yesno"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.028","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":892780,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.codfw.main-647f8b45db-rth64","timestamp":"20241118155455","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> </body> </html>