All rights reversed
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All rights reversed is a phrase that indicates a release of a publication under copyleft licensing status.[1] It is a pun on the common copyright disclaimer "All rights reserved", a copyright formality originally required by the Buenos Aires Convention of 1910. However Arnoud Engelfriet writes that "[t]he phrase ['All rights reversed'] by itself is not enough; a license must explicitly state the rights that are granted".[2]
"All Rights Reversed" (sometimes spelled rites) was used by author Gregory Hill in his Discordian text Principia Discordia.[3]
In 1984 or 1985, programmer Don Hopkins sent Richard Stallman a letter labeled "Copyleft—all rights reversed". Stallman chose the phrase to identify his free software method of distribution.[4] It is often accompanied by a reversed version of the copyright symbol.[5] That said, the use of the reversed copyright symbol is considered legally risky by the Free Software Foundation.[6]
References
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