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WikiPaintball:Copyrights

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WikiPaintball copyrights explains the copyright and licensing arrangements governing material published on WikiPaintball.

WikiPaintball is an independent, collaborative encyclopaedia dedicated to documenting and preserving the history of paintball worldwide.

WikiPaintball has adopted the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-SA 4.0) as its standard licence for original encyclopaedia article text.

This licence allows information to be shared, reused and developed by others while requiring appropriate attribution and the continued availability of adaptations under compatible open licensing terms.

The licence applies only to material that its rights holders have authorised for release under these terms. Photographs, logos, historical documents and other third-party materials may have separate copyright conditions.

Content licence

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Original WikiPaintball article text is intended to be published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence unless otherwise stated.

The full licence is available at:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Under this licence, users may:

  • Copy and redistribute licensed material in any medium or format.
  • Share licensed material with others.
  • Adapt, translate, modify and build upon licensed material.
  • Use licensed material for educational, personal or commercial purposes.

These permissions are subject to the licence's conditions.

The licence does not apply automatically to content whose rights holders have not authorised its use under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Licence requirements

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Anyone reusing WikiPaintball material under CC BY-SA 4.0 must comply with the applicable licence conditions.

Attribution

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Users must provide appropriate credit to the original contributors, retain required notices, identify the licence and provide a link to the licence.

Where reasonably practicable, attribution should also identify the source article.

For collaboratively edited WikiPaintball articles, a link to the original article and its revision history can help identify the contributors whose work is being reused.

Attribution must not imply that WikiPaintball or its contributors endorse the reuse.

ShareAlike

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If a user adapts CC BY-SA 4.0 material and distributes the adaptation, they must make the adaptation available under CC BY-SA 4.0 or another licence permitted by the original licence's compatibility provisions.

This requirement applies to adaptations covered by copyright and does not automatically extend to every independent work included alongside the material.

Indicating changes

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Users who modify licensed material must indicate that changes were made and retain required notices of previous modifications.

No additional restrictions

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Users must not impose additional legal terms or technological restrictions that prevent recipients from exercising the rights granted by the applicable Creative Commons licence.

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Contributors retain any copyright they hold in their original contributions.

Publishing original material under CC BY-SA 4.0 does not transfer ownership of copyright to WikiPaintball.

Instead, the licence grants the public permission to reuse the licensed material under its published terms.

The licence is non-exclusive, meaning that a rights holder may also make their own work available under other terms.

Permissions already granted under CC BY-SA 4.0 are irrevocable while users comply with the licence conditions.

Contributing to WikiPaintball

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By saving an original textual contribution after receiving notice of the applicable licensing terms, contributors agree to publish that contribution under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.

Contributors must have the authority to grant this licence.

Contributors should submit only:

  • Text they created and have the right to license.
  • Material already available under a compatible licence, with the necessary attribution and notices.
  • Material in the public domain.
  • Material whose inclusion is otherwise lawful and is clearly distinguished from CC BY-SA licensed content.

Contributors must not submit third-party copyrighted text under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless they have the necessary rights or authorisation.

Publication under this licence permits other contributors to edit, correct, reorganise and expand the material in accordance with WikiPaintball's editorial policies.

Existing articles and earlier contributions

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Adoption of CC BY-SA 4.0 does not automatically change the copyright status of material published before the licence was introduced.

Existing material may be made available under CC BY-SA 4.0 where the necessary rights are held or permission has been obtained.

Where earlier text was contributed by another rights holder under different terms, appropriate permission or another valid legal basis is required before representing that text as CC BY-SA 4.0.

Material whose licensing status has not been established should be reviewed and, where necessary, clearly identified or excluded from the site's general licensing claim.

Reusing WikiPaintball articles

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WikiPaintball encourages the lawful reuse of its licensed encyclopaedia content.

Users may reproduce an article, translate it, incorporate it into another publication or adapt it for another project, subject to the licence conditions.

An appropriate attribution should ordinarily identify:

  • The WikiPaintball article.
  • WikiPaintball and the relevant contributors, including a link to the article history where appropriate.
  • The CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
  • Whether the material has been modified.

For example: 

Text adapted from WikiPaintball,
[Article title], licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).

See the original article and its
revision history for contributors.

Changes have been made.

This is an illustrative attribution. Actual attribution must satisfy the applicable licence requirements and preserve any additional required notices.

Third-party content

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Not everything displayed on WikiPaintball is necessarily available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Articles may refer to or contain material owned by other rights holders.

Examples include:

  • Historical photographs.
  • Team logos.
  • Manufacturer trademarks and artwork.
  • Tournament posters.
  • Scanned magazine pages.
  • Historical advertisements.
  • Maps and illustrations.
  • Quotations from copyrighted publications.
  • Other material published with specific permission or under an applicable legal exception.

Such material retains its own copyright status.

The WikiPaintball article-text licence does not automatically grant permission to reproduce independently protected third-party material.

Historical sources

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WikiPaintball relies on historical publications, tournament results, manufacturer information, archived websites and other documentary records.

Contributors may use verified factual information from these sources when preparing original encyclopaedia articles.

However, facts and the original copyrighted expression used to describe them are not necessarily subject to the same protections.

Contributors should research the source, identify the relevant facts and write independently.

Copying substantial passages from another publication without an appropriate legal basis is not permitted.

Providing a citation does not automatically authorise copying copyrighted material.

Historical magazines and archived websites

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Many important records of paintball history survive in magazines, archived websites, equipment catalogues and historical publications.

These are valuable research resources.

However, their age or availability through an online archive does not automatically place them in the public domain.

Contributors should normally summarise relevant information in their own words and cite the original source.

Reproducing entire articles, scanned pages or other substantial copyrighted material requires an appropriate legal basis.

Tournament results and historical databases

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Tournament results may be used to document factual information about paintball competitions.

Relevant information includes:

  • Tournament dates.
  • Event locations.
  • Team participation.
  • Competition divisions.
  • Final placements.
  • Published match scores.
  • Season standings.

Contributors should cite the relevant records and reproduce factual information accurately.

However, compilations and databases may be subject to copyright or other legal protections, including database rights.

The adoption of CC BY-SA 4.0 does not authorise the unrestricted copying of protected third-party databases.

Photographs and other media

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Photographs, illustrations and other uploaded files must have an identifiable and lawful basis for publication.

Images are not automatically released under CC BY-SA 4.0 merely because they appear within a WikiPaintball article.

Each file may be subject to its own licence, permission or copyright exception.

The copyright holder may be the photographer, an employer, a publisher or another party, depending on the circumstances.

Owning a physical photograph or appearing in a photograph does not necessarily establish ownership of its copyright.

Where media is published, its copyright and reuse conditions should be identified wherever practicable.

Logos and trademarks

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Team logos, manufacturer branding and tournament emblems may be protected by copyright, trademark law or both.

WikiPaintball may identify and discuss trademarks for historical and encyclopaedic purposes.

Such references do not imply endorsement, sponsorship or affiliation.

The CC BY-SA 4.0 licence does not grant trademark rights.

Reproduction of protected logos or artwork must have an appropriate legal basis.

Public-domain material

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Material that is genuinely in the public domain may be reused without copyright permission.

However, public-domain status must be established rather than assumed.

A work does not automatically enter the public domain because:

  • It was published decades ago.
  • The original business has closed.
  • Its author is unknown.
  • It has no visible copyright notice.
  • It appears in an online archive.
  • It has been widely reproduced elsewhere.

Copyright duration and applicable exceptions vary between jurisdictions.

Content from Wikipedia and other wikis

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WikiPaintball is independent of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Material from Wikipedia and other collaborative encyclopaedias may be available under Creative Commons or other licences.

Reuse must comply with the specific licence governing the original material.

Contributors must preserve required attribution, links and notices.

WikiPaintball's use of CC BY-SA 4.0 does not mean that material from every other wiki can be copied without additional conditions.

Where possible, WikiPaintball articles should be independently researched and written using original historical sources.

Artificial intelligence

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Artificial intelligence may assist with researching and drafting WikiPaintball articles.

However, contributors must ensure that AI-assisted content is suitable for publication and does not unlawfully reproduce protected material.

AI-generated text should not be assumed to be copyright-free or independently verified.

Contributors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality and lawful publication of their submissions.

See WikiPaintball:Using AI to write articles.

Obtaining permission

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Where permission is required, contributors should obtain it from the appropriate rights holder.

Permission should identify the material concerned and explain how it may be used.

Permission to display material on WikiPaintball does not necessarily authorise its release under CC BY-SA 4.0.

If material is intended to be freely reusable under CC BY-SA 4.0, the rights holder must have authorised that licensing arrangement.

Permissions should be documented wherever practical.

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WikiPaintball respects the intellectual property rights of others.

Rights holders who believe their material has been reproduced unlawfully may report the issue to WikiPaintball administrators.

A useful report should identify:

  • The WikiPaintball page concerned.
  • The material believed to infringe copyright.
  • The original work.
  • The claimant's rights or authority to act.
  • Relevant supporting information.

Credible complaints will be reviewed and appropriate action taken where necessary.

Administrators may remove or restrict access to disputed material while the issue is examined.

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If material is discovered to have been published without the necessary rights or permission, appropriate corrective action should be taken.

This may include:

  • Rewriting copied text independently.
  • Replacing copied material with a factual summary.
  • Adding missing licence information.
  • Obtaining permission from the rights holder.
  • Removing material that cannot lawfully remain.
  • Reviewing affected page histories where necessary.

Removing material from the current article does not necessarily remove it from historical revisions.

Licence information

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Standard article-text licence:

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Licence summary:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Full legal code:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

The official Creative Commons licence governs the rights and obligations associated with licensed material.

This policy explains how WikiPaintball applies its licensing arrangements but does not replace or modify the legal terms of CC BY-SA 4.0.

Final principle

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WikiPaintball exists to make verified paintball history accessible and useful to future generations.

Open licensing allows that knowledge to be shared, improved and preserved beyond a single website.

WikiPaintball encourages the free sharing of historical knowledge while respecting the copyright of its contributors and source creators.

See also

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