This is an information page. It is not an encyclopedic article, nor one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect differing levels of consensus and vetting. |
This page in a nutshell: Even free images may still have restrictions independent of their copyright status, but they are still considered free. |
Some materials on Wikipedia may be subject to additional legal restrictions when they are used in particular circumstances or in particular ways. These limitations may arise from laws related to trade dress, trademarks, patents, currency, personality rights, political censorship, or any of many other legal causes which are entirely independent from the copyright status of the work.
Wikipedia's content policies discourage or outright forbid content which is not sufficiently unrestricted for reuse. However, non-copyright related restrictions are not considered relevant to Wikipedia's freeness requirements,[1] and the content policies are accordingly limited to regulating copyright related obligations.