All rights reversed is a phrase that indicates a release of a publication under
copyleft
Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...
licensing status. 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 "
e phrase
All rights reversed'by itself is not enough; a license must explicitly state the rights that are granted".
"All Rights Reversed" (sometimes spelled ''rites'') was used by author
Gregory Hill in his
Discordian text ''
Principia Discordia
The ''Principia Discordia'' is the first published Discordianism, Discordian religious text. It was written by Greg Hill (Malaclypse the Younger) with Kerry Wendell Thornley (Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst) and others. The first edition was printed ...
''.
In 1984 or 1985, programmer
Don Hopkins sent
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman ( ; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
a letter labeled "Copyleft—all rights reversed". Stallman chose the phrase to identify his
free software
Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...
method of distribution. It is often accompanied by a reversed version of the copyright symbol. That said, the use of the reversed copyright symbol is considered legally risky by the Free Software Foundation.
References
{{Discordianism
Copyleft
Discordianism
English phrases