 | This is an explanatory essay about the Wikipedia:Copyright violation policy and the Wikipedia:Plagiarism guideline. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: If possible, try to respect the moral rights of authors and artists to have their work presented without distortion and with appropriate attribution. |
Like other aspects of copyright law, Wikipedia recognizes the legal and philosophical basis of the moral rights of creators with respect to creative and artistic works. Wikipedia's article on moral rights explains:
| “ | Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and, to a lesser extent, in some common law jurisdictions. They include the right of attribution, the right to have a work published anonymously or pseudonymously, and the right to the integrity of the work. The preserving of the integrity of the work bars the work from alteration, distortion, or mutilation. Anything else that may detract from the artist's relationship with the work even after it leaves the artist's possession or ownership may bring these moral rights into play. Moral rights are distinct from any economic rights tied to copyrights. Even if an artist has assigned his or her copyright rights to a work to a third party, he or she still maintains the moral rights to the work. | ” |