Wikipedia:Example requests for permission

For more on requesting permission, and advice what to ask, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission

This page is intended as boilerplate text for requesting permission to re-use somebody else's content in Wikipedia. To do this, they must re-license it under the Creative Commons Attribution, Attribution-ShareAlike, CC0 or a compatible license. For more, read Wikipedia:copyrights. Some other licenses are permitted for images; see Wikipedia:Image copyright tags for more. It cannot be licensed under GFDL alone.

If you have a letter that has worked in requesting permission, please add it to this page, or work the text that you think was effective into the existing letters. Make sure you get the author to contact permissions-commonswikimedia.org directly or have them add that address to the recipients as a carbon copy. Just sending a copy of your request and response to permissions-commons is not sufficient.

You can also ask the author to release their work under a free license publicly, for example by changing the license on Flickr or YouTube or adding a statement to their website. If the author agrees to this, make sure you ask a license reviewer from Commons to review the image. (Note: as not all license reviewers are active users, you may want to make your request at the copyright village pump instead.) If you've uploaded the image to the Commons you can also do this by adding {{licensereview}} to the image file page. (Wikipedia currently does not have its own license reviewers.)

Due to the large number of ambiguous answers to enquiries concerning permission for reuse for an image (such as "I allow Wikipedia to reuse my photos"), it is advisable to ask the author to use the Wikimedia VRT release generator. As an alternative, you can attach a standard declaration of consent to your enquiry email. See Wikipedia requesting copyright permission, Wikipedia declaration of consent and Commons email templates.

Concise (useful for character-limited web contact forms)

To whom it concerns:

I am a volunteer editor of Wikipedia. I would like to include a photo of [] in the Wikipedia article at []. However, Wikipedia can only include such a photo if it is released under a Creative Commons "Attribution-ShareAlike" license or a similar free license listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:File_copyright_tags/Free_licenses.

If you are able and would agree to provide a freely licensed photograph (it need not be newly created) for use on Wikimedia projects, please follow the instructions at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Email_templates, or alternately, email the photo and consent text from that page to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org, and to myself at [].

I personally thank you for helping further Wikipedia's goal of public education and outreach; Wikipedia faces a limited availability of freely licensed media, and your time and generosity are tremendously appreciated.

[Signature]

Example 1

Dear <name>

I found your page at <URL> while doing research for the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, and thought your website might be appropriate for inclusion in our articles concerning <subject>.

I really liked your website! I found it very informative and useful. I'd love to use it in a project I'm involved with called Wikipedia, so I'm seeking your permission. Wikipedia https://www.wikipedia.org is a free encyclopedia that is collaboratively edited by volunteers from around the world.

I'd like to include your materials in this article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<title>. To get a sense of the freedom of Wikipedia, you could even edit this right now, even without formally registering.

We can only use your materials if you are willing to grant permission for this under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This means that anyone will have the right to share and, where appropriate, to update your material. You can read this license in full at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License

The license expressly protects authors "from being considered responsible for modifications made by others" while ensuring that authors get credit for their work. There is more information on our copyright policy at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights

If you agree, we will credit you for your work in the resulting article's references section by stating that it was based on your work and is used with your permission, and by providing a web link back to your site.

Thank you for your time; I look forward to your response.

Kindly,

<your name>

Informal (text)

Dear <AUTHOR | WEBMASTER>,

I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your <WEBSITE TITLE> at <WEBSITE URL>, which I found while researching for the free online encyclopedia "Wikipedia"; I thought that your information on the subject might be worthy of inclusion in our living and growing document.

Wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.org) is an encyclopedia that is collaboratively edited by volunteers from around the world. Our goal is to create a comprehensive knowledge base that is not only available at no charge, but is also freely distributed. It is one of many projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.

I am seeking your permission to use your text either directly, or as a reference for my original writing on the subject. I'd like to include your materials in this article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<RELEVANT_WIKIPEDIA_PAGE>. (To get a sense of the freedom of Wikipedia, you yourself can edit this page without registration, right now.)

We can only use your material if you are willing to grant permission for it to be used under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This means that although you retain the copyright and authorship of your own work, you are granting permission for all others (not just Wikipedia) to use, copy, and share your materials freely—and even potentially use them commercially—as long as they do not try to claim the copyright themselves, or try to prevent others from using or copying them freely. You can read this license in full at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License

Please note that your contributions may not remain intact as submitted; this license, and the collaborative nature of our project, also entitles others to edit, alter, and update them at will, i.e., to keep up with new information, or suit the text to a different purpose. However, the license also expressly protects authors "from being considered responsible for modifications made by others" while ensuring that those authors get credit for their work. There is more information on our copyright policy at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights

We choose the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License because it is the best available tool for ensuring that our encyclopedia is and can remain free for all to use, and for providing credit to everyone who donates text and images. It may or may not be compatible with your goals in creating the materials available on your website — that is your choice. Please be assured that if you do not grant permission, your <copyrighted?/original?> materials will not be used at Wikipedia; we have a very strict policy against copyright violations.

If you do agree to grant permission, we will credit you for your work in the resulting article's references section, by stating it was based on your work and is used with your permission, and by providing a link back to your website.

<You are obviously <very interested/an expert> in your field, and we invite your active collaboration in writing and editing articles on this subject and any others that might be attractive to you. If you are interested, please see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction for more information!>

Thank you for your time; we look forward to your reply.

Kindly,
<WIKIPEDIA AUTHOR>

---

Informal (images)

To whom it may concern:

I found your page <page name or URL> while doing research for the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, and thought your image [regarding <topic>] might be appropriate for inclusion in our articles concerning <subject>.

I am specifically seeking your permission to use this image:
<URLs>

I would like to include your image in these articles:
<Article URLs>

Wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.org/) is a free encyclopedia that is collaboratively edited by volunteers from around the world. Our goal is to create a comprehensive knowledge base that may be freely distributed and available at no charge.

Normally we ask permission for material to be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This means that although you retain the copyright and authorship of your own work, you are granting permission for all others (not just Wikipedia) to use, copy, and share your materials freely — and even potentially use them commercially — so long as they do not try to claim the copyright themselves, nor prevent others from using or copying them freely.

You can read this license in full at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License

This license expressly protects creators from being considered responsible for modifications made by others, while ensuring that creators are credited for their work. There is more information on our copyright policy at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights

We choose the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License because we consider it the best available tool for ensuring our encyclopedia can remain free for all to use, while providing credit to everyone who donates text and images. This may or may not be compatible with your goals in creating the materials available on your website. Please be assured that if permission is not granted, your materials will not be used at Wikipedia — we have a very strict policy against copyright violations.

We also accept licensing of images under other free-content licenses. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Image_copyright_tags

With your permission, we will credit you for your work in the image's permanent description page, noting that it is your work and is used with your permission, and we will provide a link back to your website. Please explicitly state under which license you grant permission.

We invite your collaboration in writing and editing articles on this subject and any others that might interest you. Please see the following article for more information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction

Thank you for your time.

Kindly,
<your name>

Concise and informal

Hello,

I'm an editor of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. I was wondering if I could use the photograph of <something> to illustrate the Wikipedia article on <topic>?

We can only use your materials if you are willing to grant permission for this under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This means that anyone will have the right to share and, where appropriate, to update your material. You can read this license in full at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License The license expressly protects authors "from being considered responsible for modifications made by others" while ensuring that authors get credit for their work. There is more information on our copyright policy at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights

If you agree, we will credit you for your work in the resulting article's references section by stating that it was based on your work and is used with your permission, and by providing a web link back to <website>.

Thank you for your time; I look forward to your response. <your name>

Formal

A little help here? Need something very professional, suitable for sending to larger organizations (news orgs, political parties, etc.), perhaps with a signable & mailable form to send back?

FT2's email to Transocean

Dear Mr. ____,

I am one of the many volunteer editors of the English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia is among the top 5 visited sites on the Internet, and its sister site Wikinews (en.wikinews.com) is a well-viewed news source.

Yesterday I wrote an initial Wikipedia article on Deepwater Horizon's Tiber find <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiber_oilfield>. The article is now awaiting review by an oil-topic expert. In the course of this, I realized we do not have a photograph of the Deepwater Horizon itself, nor any diagrams of the block 102 geology and the like. Although many images of the Horizon exist online, these are all copyrighted and therefore our in-house policies forbid us including them with any article or news report we may produce.

Wikipedia is likely to be a major website visited - more than likely the major website - outside your own, for the Horizon, and one of the major sources for information on the Tiber find. In both cases the article would benefit from a usable good quality image of the Deepwater Horizon and any other selected material relevant to these topics.

Since Wikipedia aims to be a repository of images and information that anyone can use, even in nations where generous United States "fair use" provisions are inapplicable, we can only use images that are released under a so-called "free license", which permits anyone else to use, modify, or deal commercially with the image concerned if they wish, provided there is appropriate attribution and that any modifications are released under an identical license. (Exceptions may be made if there is no possibility of such an image being available by other means, but that is not practical here - we don't have the capability to take good quality publicity photographs of the Deepwater Horizon ourselves.)

Example licenses that would permit us to use a better-quality image would be: the GNU Free Documentation License <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html> or the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode>. Be assured if you do not grant permission or provide such an image, we will not use one without permission. You are under no obligation to release any material under such licenses, but I thought that for public-relations purposes, you might want to consider it given Wikipedia's great popularity.

With your permission, we would then credit you for your work in the image's permanent description page, noting that it is your work and is used with your permission, with a permanent link back to your website for any reader of the articles in which it appears. We also invite your input in any other articles related to Transocean's rigs and operations, and any others that might interest you.

You can read more at <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing>, and a range of "frequently asked questions" can be found at <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:FAQ>. A simple form of consent can be found at <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Declaration_of_consent_for_all_enquiries>.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

FT2 Volunteer editor and administrator, Wikipedia.

the Epopt's letter to HMSO

• Note: This letter was written when Wikipedia's content was licensed under GFDL. It should be modified to specify CC BY-SA if used.

A while (or maybe a while and a half) ago, I sent this letter to HMSO. Feel free to fold, spindle, or mutilate it at will. The reply, by the way, was negative: in the opinion of HM Government, Wikipedia may not use Crown Copyright material.

Controller and Queen's Printer
HMSO
St.Clements House
2-16 Colegate
Norwich
NR3 1BQ

Dear Ms. Tullo:

I am an editor of the Wikipedia, a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate open content encyclopedia. The English-language version may be viewed on the Web at https://en.wikipedia.org/. We gather information from many sources, and government Web sites are often particularly useful. As a unique and highly visible project, we freely and publically release our work, that it may benefit mankind. To this end, we punctiliously respect copyright, and have studied the terms of the Crown copyright carefully.

We understand that we may use your material "free of charge in any format or medium provided it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context" provided that "the source of the material [is] identified and the copyright status acknowledged." Our question centers on the relation between the Crown copyright and our own. We maintain copyright over the material we create, but license its use under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which was designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for free works. You can find the license text at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html. Wikipedia is the largest documentation project to use this license.

The license stipulates that any copy of the material, even if modified, must carry the same license. Consequently, we may not inherit the Crown copyright restrictions. For example, although I might copy a work under the Crown copyright accurately, honestly, and with attribution, under the GFDL a third party must be allowed to create derivative works which may be altered deceptively.

We wish to copy material from the Web sites of Her Majesty's Government and relicense it under the GFDL. We would be grateful if you could provide us with the official position of the Stationery's Office on this matter.

I can be contacted by email at [email address], by telephone at [telephone number] (I am in time zone UTC-7 — please call in your late afternoon), and by post at:

[name]

[postal address]

[city], [state/province abbreviation] [zip/postal code]

[country code]

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
<full name>

---

Generalized Formal Letter

This is a modification of the Epopt's letter above. Changes have been made to make it less specific to the particular situation that inspired the original letter, and more applicable to other cases.

Name or Title
Address

Dear <NAME>:

I am an editor of Wikipedia, a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate encyclopedia by open editing. We gather information from all types of sources, but the web sites of government bodies, institutes of higher learning, and other non-profit organizations are often particularly useful. The English-language version may be viewed on the Web at https://en.wikipedia.org/. As a unique and highly visible project, we freely and publicly release our work, that it may benefit humankind. To this end, we deeply respect copyright, and are careful to prevent any infringement.

We would like your permission to include resources created by your organization in our encyclopedia. Specifically, we are interested in copying <TITLE>, accessible at <URL>. In order for us to do so, it would be necessary for you to license your work under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA). You can find the license text at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License

If you licensed one or more of your documents under this license, you would retain full copyright. However, we would be licensed to distribute the material, as would future users of it. We would distribute your work free of charge. However, future commercial distribution could occur. This is because users of our encyclopedia are authorized by the CC BY-SA to distribute it, or any part of it, for a fee.

The license does stipulate that any copy of the material, even if modified, must carry the same license. This guarantees that if licensed in this manner, no copy of your work could be made proprietary. That means that no one who distributes the work can ever restrict future distribution.

Please notify me if you are interested in licensing <TITLE>, or all of your copyrighted material, under the CC BY-SA. I can be contacted by email at [email address], by telephone at [telephone number] (I am in time zone <TIME ZONE> — please call (preferred time in time zone of reader)), and by post at:

[name]

[postal address]

[city], [state/province abbreviation] [zip/postal code]

[country code]

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
<full name>

---

Another proposition

This is concise and in British English. Please do comment.

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing to you on behalf of the Wikipedia project <https://www.wikipedia.org/>, an endeavour to build a fully-fledged multilingual encyclopaedia in an entirely open manner, to ask for permission to use your copyrighted material.

Your organisation has on its website content which would undoubtedly enhance communication with our target audience; in order to do so, I should like to ask for your authorisation to use such content, namely the [photograph, illustration, etc] located at [URL], under the terms of Wikipedia's licence.

Wikipedia licenses all its content under the licence developed for purposes of free documentation by the Creative Commons, the text of which can be found at <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode>. It should be borne in mind that if you choose to allow Wikipedia to use the stated [photograph, illustration, etc], it will remain copyrighted to you; however, the said licence stipulates that third parties must be permitted to reuse the licensed work so long that they retain the licence of this work and any derivatives from it. Consequently, you may wish to consider carefully whether you are prepared to compromise some of your rights granted to you by copyright law by licensing your work as suggested.

That said, allow me to reiterate that your material will be used to the noble end of providing a free collection of knowledge for everyone; naturally enough, only if you agree. If that is the case, please copy the form at <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Declaration_of_consent_for_all_enquiries> into the email by which you grant us permission to use your content, and make any necessary amendments before sending the email to our email response team ("VRT") at permissions-enwikimedia.org

We shall greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours Faithfully, <name surname>

(alternatively, the salutation can be 'Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. Surname' if the surname of the person to whom the letter is being sent is known, in which case the complementary closing must be 'Yours Sincerely,' as opposed to 'Yours Faithfully,')

---

Formal request for high-quality publicity image

Note: this is intended for use where a free image is available, and thus used, that may be unflattering to the subject.

Dear <Mr./Ms./etc.> <last name>:

I am one of the many volunteer editors of the English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia is among the most-visited sites on the Internet, ranking near the top ten according to the estimates of Alexa Internet (alexa.com), and it is likely that many people visit our article about you (<insert link to article here>) each day. Unfortunately, our article currently makes use of an image of you that might be considered unflattering due to its comparatively low quality.

I am aware that there are many publicity images of you available, but since Wikipedia aims to be reproducible even for profit and even in nations where generous United States "fair use" provisions in copyright law are inapplicable, we cannot use an image that is not released under a so-called "free license". Essentially, the copyright holder of any image that we use must irrevocably permit anyone else to use it, modify it, or sell it, with the only permissible requirements being that the author be named and that any modifications be released under an identical license. (Exceptions may be made if there is no image available that meets these criteria, but that is not the case here.)

Example licenses that would permit us to use a better-quality image would be: the GNU Free Documentation License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode). You are under no obligation to release any material under such licenses, but I thought that for public-relations purposes, you might want to consider it given Wikipedia's great popularity.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, <name>

Semi-formal

Neutrality's semi-formal letter for images

• Note: This letter was written when Wikipedia's content was licensed under GFDL. It has been modified to specify CC BY-SA.

Dear (Mr./Mrs./Ms./Dr./Prof./etc.) (----):

I am an (editor/administrator) of Wikipedia (wikipedia.org), a multilingual project to create a complete, accurate, and open-content encyclopedia. Volunteers from around the world collaboratively edit Wikipedia, which is one of many projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation (wikimediafoundation.org). We depend on (photography/art/diagrams/charts) to clearly illustrate our articles.

I enjoyed your (excellent/informative/colorful) (drawings/images/art/photographs/whatever) at your website (----). However, we can only use your material if you are willing to grant permission for it to be used under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA for short). This means that although you retain the copyright and authorship of your own work, you are granting permission for others to use, copy, and share your materials freely, and even potentially use them commercially, so long as they do not try to claim the copyright themselves, or try to prevent others from using or copying them freely (e.g., "share-alike"). You can read this license in full at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License

Please do note that your contributions may not remain intact as submitted; this license, as well as the collaborative nature of our project, also entitles others to edit, alter, and update them at will, i.e., to keep up with new information, or suit the text to a different purpose. However, the license also expressly protects authors "from being considered responsible for modifications made by others."

If you do agree to grant permission for use, we will credit you, state the image was based on your work and is used with your permission, and provide a link back to your website.

You are obviously an expert (photographer/graphic artist/videographer/whatever). I hope you will consider accepting our request.

Warmest Regards, <real name>

---

Semi-formal, Polite, Concise

Comments welcome.
Dear <Mr./Ms./Dr.> <insert last name>: I am one of the many volunteer editors of Wikipedia (wikipedia.org), a Web-based collaboration.

I respectfully request your permission to use your excellent <drawing/image/art/photograph/whatever>, <attached, or at your website, <add link here>>, as Wikipedia content. Wikipedia is a multilingual open-content encyclopedia that strives for complete and reliable content. Volunteers from around the world collaboratively create content, but Wikipedia depends upon <article/photography/art/diagram/chart>, such as yours, to clearly illustrate that content.

It is to that noble end that I make this request. However, for Wikipedia to use your material, you must agree to the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (often referred to as CC BY-SA). In essence, CC BY-SA allows you to retain the copyright and authorship of your work, but grants permission for others to use, copy, and share your materials freely, and even potentially use them commercially, so long as they do not try to claim the copyright themselves, or try to prevent others from using or copying them freely (e.g., "share-alike"). You can read the complete license at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License

If you grant permission for use, we will credit you for your work, <and> state that it is used with your permission <<if applicable>, and provide a link back to your website>.

I sincerely appreciate your consideration of this matter. Please advise me of your decision <by mail, email, telephone, etc.> and I will gratefully forward it to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Thank you, and I hope you will consider accepting this request.

Sincerely,
<real name>

<date>

Commons/Flickr

Further information: WP:REQUESTFLICKR

Commons 1

Designed to be copied from the wikitext to preserve vertical formatting in a text email message
To whom it may concern:

I found your beautiful website <URL> while doing research for free online image repository Wikimedia Commons (which stores images for the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, among other projects of the Wikimedia Foundation), and thought your image <URL> (in the highest resolution you have) might be appropriate for inclusion in our article concerning your <figurehead> at <URL>.

I am specifically seeking your permission to use this image: <URL> (in the highest resolution you have)

I would like to include your image in this article: <URL>

Wikipedia <https://www.wikipedia.org/> is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization, that is collaboratively edited by volunteers from around the world. Our goal is to create a comprehensive knowledge base that may be freely distributed and available at no charge.

The Wikimedia Commons is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. Like Wikipedia, it is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. It provides a common resource repository to all the various Wikimedia sister projects in any language.

Storage of your image would be on Wikimedia Commons <https://commons.wikimedia.org>, to facilitate use in multiple Wikipedias and other projects.

Normally, we ask permission for images, sound and other multimedia files to be used under the terms of a Creative Commons License. This means that although you retain the copyright and authorship of your own work, you are granting permission for all others (not just Wikipedia) to use, copy, and share your materials freely — and even potentially use them commercially — so long as they do not try to claim the copyright themselves, nor prevent others from using or copying them freely.

You can review all of the most current Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia compatible licenses in full at the "cc" links on <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Creative_Commons_copyright_tags>.

Since your web site is in English, I would recommend the license at <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Cc-by-sa-4.0>, which has its deed at <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/>.

This license expressly protects creators from being considered responsible for modifications made by others, while ensuring that creators are credited for their work. There is more information on our licensing and copyright policy at <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing> and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights>.

We choose the Creative Commons licensing for images, sound and other multimedia files because we consider it the best available tool for ensuring our projects can remain free for all to use, while providing credit to everyone who donates for images, sound and other multimedia files in a less cumbersome manner than the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which we also accept and was designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for free works and can be found at <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html>. This may or may not be compatible with your goals in creating the materials available on your website. Please be assured that if permission is not granted, your materials will not be used at Wikimedia Commons — we have a very strict policy against copyright violations.

With your permission, we will credit you for your work in the image's permanent description page, noting that it is your work and is used with your permission, and we will provide a link back to your website. Please explicitly state under which license you grant permission.

We invite your collaboration in writing and editing articles on this subject and any others that might interest you. Please see articles <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Welcome> and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction> for more information.

We also invite your permission for use of all of your images, perhaps by changing your legal notice at <URL> according to <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requesting_copyright_permission#Declaration_of_consent_for_all_enquiries>

Thank you for your time.

Kindly, <name>

Commons Flickr 1

Designed to be copied from the wikitext to preserve vertical formatting in a text email message
To whom it may concern:

I found your beautiful Photostream <URL> while doing research for free online image repository Wikimedia Commons (which stores images for the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, among other projects of the Wikimedia Foundation), and thought your image <URL> (in the highest resolution you have) might be appropriate for inclusion in our article concerning the subject <subjectname> at <URL>.

I am specifically seeking your permission to use this image: <URL> (in the highest resolution you have)

I would like to include your image in this article: <URL>

Wikipedia <https://www.wikipedia.org/> is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization, that is collaboratively edited by volunteers from around the world. Our goal is to create a comprehensive knowledge base that may be freely distributed and available at no charge.

The Wikimedia Commons is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. Like Wikipedia, it is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. It provides a common resource repository to all the various Wikimedia sister projects in any language.

Storage of your image would be on Wikimedia Commons <https://commons.wikimedia.org>, to facilitate use in multiple Wikipedias and other projects.

Normally, we ask permission for images, sound and other multimedia files to be used under the terms of a Creative Commons License. This means that although you retain the copyright and authorship of your own work, you are granting permission for all others (not just Wikipedia) to use, copy, and share your materials freely — and even potentially use them commercially — so long as they do not try to claim the copyright themselves, nor prevent others from using or copying them freely.

You can review all of the most current Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia compatible licenses in full at the "cc" links on <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Creative_Commons_copyright_tags>.

I would recommend the license at <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:CC BY-sa-4.0>, which has its deed at <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/>. You could also change the license in Flickr to an Attribution Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0) or Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) license by clicking on "All rights reserved" at <URL> (those are the only two licenses which both Flickr and Wikimedia Commons use).

These licenses expressly protect creators from being considered responsible for modifications made by others, while ensuring that creators are credited for their work. There is more information on our licensing and copyright policy at <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing> and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights>.

We choose the Creative Commons licensing for images, sound and other multimedia files because we consider it the best available tool for ensuring our projects can remain free for all to use, while providing credit to everyone who donates for images, sound and other multimedia files in a less cumbersome manner than the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which we also accept and was designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for free works and can be found at <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html>. This may or may not be compatible with your goals in creating the materials available on your Flickrstream. Please be assured that if permission is not granted, your materials will not be used at Wikimedia Commons — we have a very strict policy against copyright violations.

With your permission, we will credit you for your work in the image's permanent description page, noting that it is your work and is used with your permission, and we will provide a link back to your website. Please explicitly state under which license you grant permission.

We invite your collaboration in writing and editing articles on this subject and any others that might interest you. Please see the articles <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Welcome> and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction> for more information.

We also invite your permission for use of all of your images, perhaps by changing your Photostream's license en masse by selecting all at <https://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/>, dragging up, and then clicking "Permissions / Change licensing"; or by sending permission via <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Volunteer_Response_Team>.

Thank you for your time.

Kindly, <name>

Short Flickr image request

Subject: Request for permission to use on Wikipedia

Hello. I am a volunteer editor from Wikipedia. I am working on the ARTICLE NAME article which currently has no pictures. I am emailing you to request that you license one of your images (http://www.flickr.com/photos/84138477@N00/864735486/ REPLACE WITH YOUR CASE) under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license (CC BY-SA), a license which permits others to reuse your image as long as they provide proper attribution to you. Your credit would be attached to the image, along with a link back to either your Flickr profile or other website of your choice. The contents of the CC BY-SA license can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

The Wikipedia article can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARTICLE NAME

If you are willing to contribute your image under the terms of CC BY-SA, you can change the license by going to the image's Flickr page and under the "Taken" date, clicking on the currently applied license and selecting "Attribution-ShareAlike". Wikipedia accepts only freely-licensed pictures like those with Creative Commons "Attribution" and "ShareAlike" licenses. Unfortunately we cannot accept the "NonCommercial" or "NoDerivs" variants.

Thank you for your time,
NAME (Real name preferably)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YOUR USERPAGE

Note: I use this on Flickr to request that users change their license to CC-BY-SA. Having a Flickr user send you the declaration of consent through Flickr mail may not be enough proof for VRT, but having them change the license is enough proof. After they have changed the license, you can use F2ComButton to transfer the image to the Commons. Sometimes they will reply and change the license, sometimes they will reply and refuse to change it, and sometimes you get no response (usually from inactive Flickrers). --Odie5533 (talk) 17:21, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

The template has been updated, Flickr uses 2.0 CC not 4.0 for instance and instructions how to change the license. Make sure all factors such as these are up to date when you use it. Ugog Nizdast (talk) 13:02, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

A lengthier version of this and advice for requesting permission from Flickr users can be found at WP:REQUESTFLICKR.

A really short Flickr request (well, the initial one is)

Everybody is in a hurry now. Many people don't want to spare the time to read through a licensing request that's 500+ words long, and some have told me they prefer not to click on hyperlinks "cold". The approach I've developed starts with a Flickr message of only about 150 words.

The first message is simply a "will you or won't you?" question. Only if the photographer agrees do I send the second message with the necessary licensing detail. By then they are committed to reading and digesting it.

Detail in the first message is minimal – you'll see I don't even describe Wikipedia: everyone has come to know what Wikipedia is. But I do include two statistics that people are usually amazed by: the number of English Wikipedia articles (i.e., more than 6 million) and the number of visits to the Wikipedia page on which I'll link their image (I get this by clicking "Page information" under the "Tools" heading in the page sidebar, then noting "Page views in the past 30 days" in the top table).

Subject: Would you be willing to have your image published in Wikipedia?

Hello [firstname],

I am one of the many volunteers who write and edit articles in Wikipedia, of which there are now more than 6 million in the English language alone. I do this because I'm inspired by the aim of founder Jimmy Wales "to democratise knowledge".

I have been looking for an image of a ____________ for a while to illustrate Wikipedia's article on ______________. Good images of ____________ are rare; yours titled [their filename] would be ideal for this article, which was read by ____ readers during the past month.

If you were to agree to make your photo available under specified conditions, the easiest way to do that is to change your copyright notice on the Flickr page from "All rights reserved" to one of the licences accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation. I can give you more information about that, including the simple process involved, if/when you reply in the affirmative.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

[my Flickr name]

---

If the reply is in the affirmative, I send the following message. Note that I repeat the file name in case they forget it from my first message. The content under the final heading " File name on Wikimedia Commons" is to increase the chance that a downloader will attribute the copyright holder – it's a personal preference only.

---

Hello [firstname],

Thank you very much for getting back and agreeing to my request that you license your photo titled [their filename] so that I can upload it to Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia's media repository. I'm delighted!

Here's how to change your copyright licence. It only involves choosing which licence you prefer, then invoking your decision with two clicks.

CHOOSING YOUR LICENCE

At present you have "All rights reserved" shown for the photo. Wikimedia Commons accepts images under either of two licences or a Public Domain Declaration. Under all three options the image would be attributed to you, and you would retain ownership of copyright.

The option of a Public Domain (CC0) Declaration is discussed at https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ – but I'm assuming you won't choose this. Please let me know if that's not so.

The licences accepted by Wikimedia Commons, developed by the not-for-profit Creative Commons organisation (https://creativecommons.org), are:

• Attribution ("CC BY"): this licence lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build on your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. Wikipedia says most people choose this. More info: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
• Attribution–Share Alike ("CC BY-SA"): this contains the same provisions but also requires anyone who modifies your work to licence their new creation under the identical terms. More info: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

STATING THE LICENCE

1. In Flickr, go to your image's page. You'll see the "© All rights reserved" link just below the bottom right of your photo.

2. Click on the link. A pop-down menu will show all the Flickr licensing options.

3. Choose "Attribution" (or " Attribution-ShareAlike" if you prefer that). That's all you need to do.

Anyone who clicks the link that previously read "© All rights reserved " – now showing "Some rights reserved" – will be taken to the Creative Commons page detailing the licence you have chosen.

Please let me know when you have changed the licence so I can upload the image to Wikimedia Commons.

FILE NAME ON WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

You'll be attributed as the copyright owner on the image's page in Wikimedia Commons. As a personal preference, I would also like to include your name in the file title. Along with a more comprehensive description (which is Wikimedia Commons's preference), the file title I have in mind would be:

"[My longer title], [year photo taken] ([photographer's first name + surname]).jpg".

Are you happy to have your name included in this way?

I really appreciate your willingness to license the photo.

Best wishes,

[my Flickr name]

---

If they don't respond, I send a polite hastener 3 or 4 weeks later. Once I've sent the second message, if they haven't let me know they have changed the licence within, say, a week, I check the Flickr page to see whether it has been changed. If so, I send a brief thank-you message. If the image file size was on the small side, only then do I ask whether they have a bigger one.

The final step I take is to send the photographer a message with a link to the Wikimedia Commons page and, if I have already inserted it into an article, the Wikipedia page. I don't tell them this beforehand – just in case I forget. It's another opportunity to show appreciation.

Of those who get back (about 95%), so far all (more than 30) have agreed to license their image.

---

Other

Bowen Panoramic Permission

• DECLARATION OF CONSENT

Dear Sir or Madam: I hereby assert that I am the creator and/or sole owner of the exclusive copyright of WORK "Bowen Panoramic of Front Entrance."

I agree to publish that work under the free license Own work, all rights, released (Multi-license GFDL, CC-Y all versions).

I acknowledge that I grant anyone the right to use the work in a commercial product and to modify it according to their needs, provided that they abide by the terms of the license and any other applicable laws.

I am aware that I always retain copyright of my work, and retain the right to be attributed in accordance with the license chosen. Modifications others make to the work will not be attributed to me.

I acknowledge that I cannot withdraw this agreement, and that the content may or may not be kept permanently on a Wikimedia project.

The image of Bowen High School is copyright 2003 by Donald W. Larson www.timeoutofmind.com and used with his written permission.

‍—‌June 15, 2010

Signature Date

Donald W. Larson

NAME OF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER

cc: Paul David Wilson

See also

• Commons:Volunteer Response Team for guidance specific to media
• Building Wikipedia membership
• Requesting copyright permission, especially the section on what to do once permission is confirmed.
• Declaration of consent for all enquiries
• Help:Form I & Affidavit (Current stage Needs Peer review and improvement)