Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria exemptions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From the non-free content criteria policy, non-free images may be used only in the article namespace. If used outside article space, they are not covered under the fair use doctrine. They should never be used on templates (including stub templates and navigation boxes), portals, user pages, categories, Help, MediaWiki, or the Project namespaces. They should be linked, not inlined, from talk pages when they are the topic of discussion. This is because it is the policy of the Wikimedia Foundation to allow an unfree image only if no free alternative exists and only if it significantly improves the article it is included on. All other uses, even if legal under the fair use clauses of copyright law, should be avoided to keep the use of unfree images to a minimum. Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis if there is a broad consensus and so long as doing so is not in direct conflict with the Wikimedia Foundation's licensing policy.

The MediaWiki software allows for the hiding of images in category galleries by the use of the __NOGALLERY__ code. Whenever possible, use of this tag should be encouraged so as to comply with copyright.

To that end, some administrative pages / categories that include or transclude non-free images exist as a necessity to creating or managing the encyclopedia, and are listed in Category:Wikipedia non-free content criteria exemptions as exemptions to the non-free content guideline. A large number of these are categories of non-free images by their copyright status or policy compliance status.