all rights reversed

{{Short description|Pun indicating a release under copyleft licensing status}}

{{Distinguish|All rights reserved}}

{{About|the phrase|the song by the Chemical Brothers|We Are the Night (album){{!}}We Are the Night}}

{{use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Use American English|date=July 2021}}

Image:Copyleft.svg symbol. Unlike the copyright symbol, it has no legal meaning.]]

All rights reversed is a phrase that indicates a release of a publication under copyleft licensing status.{{cite book |last=Sandredv|first=J. |year=2002 |title=Managing Open Source Projects: A Wiley Tech Brief |publisher=Wiley |isbn=9780471189176 |quote="Free Software Foundation uses the term copyleft, which means all rights reversed."}} 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".{{cite web |url= http://www.iusmentis.com/copyright/allrightsreserved/ |title= The phrase "All rights reserved" |access-date=2007-12-27 |last= Engelfriet |first= Arnoud |year= 2006 |work= Ius mentis| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080101091757/http://www.iusmentis.com/copyright/allrightsreserved/| archive-date= 1 January 2008 | url-status= live}}

"All Rights Reversed" (sometimes spelled rites) was used by author Gregory Hill in his Discordian text Principia Discordia.{{cite book |title= Principia Discordia |last= Hill |first= Gregory |year= 1965 |quote=Ⓚ All Rites Reversed - reprint what you like}}

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.{{cite book |title= Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution |last= Stallman |first= Richard |year= 1999 |publisher= O'Reilly Media |isbn= 1-56592-582-3 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781565925823/page/59 59] |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781565925823/page/59 }} It is often accompanied by a reversed version of the copyright symbol.{{cite book |title= Open Source: A Multidisciplinary Approach |last= Muffatto |first= Moreno |year= 2006 |publisher= Imperial College Press |isbn= 1-86094-665-8 |pages= 40 }} That said, the use of the reversed copyright symbol is considered legally risky by the Free Software Foundation.{{cite web|title=What is Copyleft?|url=http://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html|url-status=live|access-date=2017-05-06|publisher=Free Software Foundation|quote=It is a legal mistake to use a backwards C in a circle instead of a copyright symbol. Copyleft is based legally on copyright, so the work should have a copyright notice. A copyright notice requires either the copyright symbol (a C in a circle) or the word “Copyright”. A backwards C in a circle has no special legal significance, so it doesn't make a copyright notice. It may be amusing in book covers, posters, and such, but be careful how you represent it in a web page!|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006133153/http://www.gnu.org:80/licenses/copyleft.en.html |archive-date=October 6, 2015 }}