Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Help desk/Archive 10 (section)

== Question about copyrights. ==

Say you take a copyrighted text, and completely change the way it is frased. Does the copyright then still apply, or could you use it here? 
[[User:S Sepp|S Sepp]] 19:27, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)
:Copyright laws are tricky. If you read something, get an idea of the concept being conveyed, and then re-write that idea in your own words, then you would not be in violation (in most cases). In order to violate copyright infringement safeguards, a work of literature would have to be "reproduced" in whole or in part for public distribution. A person cannot copyright a concept, so if all you are doing is explaining that concept in your own words, you should be fine. However, if you use phrases used in the original work and only change some of the words, you would be dangerously close to the line (too close for Wikipedia standards). [[User:Skyler1534|Skyler]][[User_talk:Skyler1534|'''1534''']] 19:45, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)
::If that's the true, then someone should re-write [[RAD Game Tools]]. Compare the text on the article with the text on the official about page [[User:Kieff|<nowiki></nowiki>]] &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] | [[User talk:Kieff|Talk]] 03:35, Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)

:::Yes, that article is a clear copyright violation, and even if it weren't, it'd be too much like advertising for Wikipedia's standards.

:::Regarding the original question, [[IANAL]]&[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia_does_not_give_legal_advice|WDNGLA]], but I think that if you rewrite factual text in your own words, it's more likely to be okay than if you were to rewrite opinions or fiction. So anything you'd be rewriting for Wikipedia will probably be safe.  Basically, don't base what you write on a copyrighted text.  But if you base what you write on knowledge that you gained from any source, including copyrighted texts, then you should be fine. [[User:Triskaideka|<nowiki></nowiki>]]&mdash;[[User:Triskaideka|Triskaideka]] 15:53, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

::::And it's good form to [[Wikipedia:Cite sources|cite sources]], as mentioned in the next question -- including a <nowiki>==References==</nowiki> section that lists the books/articles/websites you used as sources.  Firstly, this helps researchers who may be using your article as a starting point -- they not only have the basic info, they have titles they can research to find more info.  Secondly, you improve the credibility of the article (and Wikipedia in general), by showing that the facts weren't made up out of thin air.  Thirdly, if anyone has a question about copyright, they can compare your article the sources themselves to see that your work was original.  Thanks for asking -- this is a tricky point that trips up new users often.  [[User:CatherineMunro|Catherine]] | [[User_talk:CatherineMunro|talk]] 16:56, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)