Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Consolidated list R

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Copyright rules by territory

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
P Q R Sa-Sl So-Sy T U V W X Y Z

This page gives overviews of copyright rules in different countries or territories. It is "transcluded" from individual pages giving the rules for each territory.

Text transcluded from
COM:Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of the Republic of the Congo relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in the Republic of the Congo must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both the Republic of the Congo and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from the Republic of the Congo, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

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Middle Congo was formerly part of the French colony of Equatorial Africa. The Republic of the Congo was established on the 28th of November 1958 and gained independence from France in 1960.

The Republic of the Congo has been a member of the Berne Convention since 8 May 1962, the Bangui Agreement since 8 February 1982 and the World Trade Organization since 27 March 1997.[1]

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 24/82 of July 7, 1982 on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of the Republic of the Congo.[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.[2] All earlier provisions contrary to this Law, in particular Law No. 57-298, of March 11, 1957, and Ordinance 30-70, of August 18, 1970, shall be repealed.[24/82 Art. 103]

General rules

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Under the 1982 law,

  • The standard term of protection in the author's life + 50 years.[24/82 Art. 61]
  • For joint works, protection is for the last surviving author's life + 50 years.[24/82 Art 62]
  • Anonymous or pseudonymous works are protected for 50 years since the date of creation.[24/82 Art 63]
  • A photographic work is protected for 25 years since its creation.[24/82 Art 65]
  • A cinematographic work is protected for 50 years since the date of its creation.[24/82 Art 64]
  • "Laws, decisions of courts or of administrative bodies and official translations thereof" are not eligible for copyright protection.[24/82 Art.14]

Public domain and folklore: not free

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See also: Commons:Paying public domain

Under the 1982 law, on the expiry of the terms of protection the authors' works shall fall into the public domain. The right of exploitation of works in the public domain shall be administered by the professional body of authors.[24/82 Art.84] The public performance and reproduction of such works shall require authorization from that body. The authorization shall be granted, in the case of a profit-making event, against payment of a royalty calculated on the gross revenue from exploitation. The product of such royalties shall be devoted to cultural and social ends for the benefit of Congolese authors.[24/82 Art.85]

Folklore shall belong originally to the national heritage. Folklore means all literary and artistic productions created on the national territory by authors presumed to be Congolese nationals or by Congolese ethnic communities, passed from generation to generation and constituting one of the basic clements of the national traditional cultural heritage.[24/82 Art.15] Works of national folklore shall be protected without limitation in time.[24/82 Art.16] The public performance, or reproduction by any means whatsoever, of national folklore, with a view to exploitation for profit-making purposes shall be subject to prior authorization against payment of a fee. The revenue from such fees shall be used for cultural and social purposes of benefit to Congolese authors.[24/82 Art.18]

Currency

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OK. Bank of Central African States, which issues Central African CFA franc used in the Republic of the Congo, is based in Cameroon. Article 3c of the main IP law of Cameroon, the 2000 Copyright law, explicitly excludes banknotes and coins from copyright protection.

Please use {{PD-CA-CFA-franc}} for Central African CFA franc images.

See also: COM:CUR Cameroon

Freedom of panorama

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 Not OK: Incidental use only for photography. Free use in film and television. Under the 1982 law, the following uses of a protected work, either in the original language or in translation, shall be permissible without the author's consent.[24/82 Art.33]:

  • For the purposes of reporting on a current event by means of photography, cinematography or communication to the public, the reproduction or making available to the public, to the extent justified by the informatory purpose, of any work that can be seen or heard in the course of such current event.[24/82 Art.33(3)]
  • The reproduction of works of art and of architecture, in a film or a television broadcast, and the communication to the public of the works so reproduced, if those works are permanently located in a place where they can be viewed by the public or are included in the film or in the broadcast only by way of background or incidental to the main subject.[24/82 Art.33(4)]

See also

[edit]

Citations

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  1. a b Republic of the Congo Copyright and Related Rights (Neighboring Rights). WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization (2018). Retrieved on 2018-11-04.
  2. Law No. 24/82 of July 7, 1982 on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights. Republic of the Congo (1982). Retrieved on 2018-11-04.
Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer
Text transcluded from
COM:Romania

Romania

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Romania relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Romania must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Romania and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Romania, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

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Romania has been a member of the Berne Convention since 1 January 1927, the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 6 March 2002.[1]

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 8 of March 14, 1996 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Romania.[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.[2] The 1996 law was not retroactive:

  • Legal acts concluded under the former legislation shall produce all their effects according to that legislation, with the exception of clauses that provide for the transfer of the utilization rights in any future works that the author might yet create.[8/1996 Art.149(1)]
  • The duration of the economic rights in works created by authors deceased before the entry into force of this Law and for which the term of protection, calculated according to the procedures of the prior legislation, has not expired shall be extended up to the limit of the term provided for in this Law. Such extension shall come into effect only since the entry into force of the present law.[8/1996 Art.149(3)]

General rules

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Under Law No. 8 of March 14, 1996 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights,

  • The economic rights last for the author’s lifetime, and after his death for 70 years, regardless of the date on which the work was legally disclosed to the public.[8/1996 Art.25(1)]
  • The person who, after the copyright protection has expired, legally discloses for the first time a previously unpublished work enjoys protection for 25 years from the first legal disclosure to the public.[8/1996 Art.25(2)]
  • The term of the economic rights in works legally disclosed to the public under a pseudonym or without a mention of the author’s name is 70 years from the date on which they were disclosed to the public.[8/1996 Art.26(1)]
    • Where the author’s identity is revealed to the public before the term mentioned above expires, or the pseudonym used by the author leaves no doubt about his identity, the provisions of Article 25 (1) shall apply.[8/1996 Art.26(2)]
  • The term of the economic rights in works of joint authorship shall be 70 years from the death of the last surviving co-author.[8/1996 Art.27(1)]
    • Where the contributions of the co-authors are distinct, the term of the economic rights in each such contribution shall be 70 years from the death of the author thereof.[8/1996 Art.27(2)]
  • The term of the economic rights in collective works shall be 70 years from the date of disclosure of the works. Where disclosure does not occur for 70 years following the creation of the works, the term of the economic rights shall expire 70 years after the said creation.[8/1996 Art.28]
  • The terms above are calculated from 1 January of the year following the author’s death or the date on which the work was disclosed to the public, as the case may be.[8/1996 Art.32]

The previous law on authors' rights in Romania was Decree no. 321 of June 18, 1956, published on June 27, 1956.[3] It had much shorter copyright terms (see articles 6 and 7). The earlier copyright law was the law on authors' rights from June 28, 1923, itself modified by the law no. 596 from July 24, 1946, the decree no. 19 from February 16, 1951, the decree no. 428 from November 13, 1952, and the decree no. 591 of December 17, 1955.

The 1923 law had a copyright term of 30 years after the author's death if heirs existed, the 1956 law had a general term of 50 years after the author's death or 50 years from publication for works created by a legal entity. Shorter terms in the 1956 law existed for authors of entries in encyclopedias and dictionaries (20 years from publication), and for photographers (5 years from publication for individual artistic photos, 10 years for a series of such). These terms were not extended by the new law for works that were already in the public domain, putting the work of any author who died before January 1st, 1946 in the public domain. However, it's been more than 70 years since then, so newer works may also be in the public domain.

Not protected

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Under Law No. 8 of March 14, 1996 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights, the following shall not benefit from the legal protection accorded to copyright:[8/1996 Art.9]

(a) ideas, theories, concepts, scientific discoveries, proceedings, functioning methods or mathematical concepts as such and inventions, contained in a work, whatever the manner of the adoption, writing, explanation or expression thereof;
(b) official texts of a political, legislative, administrative or judicial nature, and official translations thereof;
(c) official symbols of the State, public authorities and organizations, such as armorial bearings, seals, flags, emblems, shields, badges and medals;
(d) means of payment;
(e) news and press information;
(f) simple facts and data.

Also, the photographs of letters, deeds, documents of any kind, technical drawings and other similar papers do not benefit from protection.[8/1996 Art.85(2)]

[edit]
  • {{PD-RO-exempt}} – for: (a) the ideas, theories, concepts, scientific discoveries, procedures, working methods, or mathematical concepts as such and inventions, contained in a work, whatever the manner of the adoption, writing, explanation or expression thereof; (b) official texts of a political, legislative, administrative or judicial nature, and official translations thereof; (c) official symbols of the State, public authorities and organizations, such as armorial bearings, seals, flags, emblems, shields, badges and medals; (d) means of payment; (e) news and press information; (f) simple facts and data; (g) the photographs of letters, deeds, documents of any kind, technical drawings and other similar papers.
  • {{PD-RO-photo}} – for: (a) photographs series taken before 1986; (b) photographs taken before 1991.
  • {{PD-RO-1956}} – for: (a) encyclopedias, dictionaries, corpora issued before 1976; (b) artistic photographs series taken before 1986; (c) artistic photographs taken before 1991.
  • {{PD-Romania}} – for: works which have expired in Romania prior to 1996 (usually prior to 1946) under the terms specified in the 1956 law
  • {{PD-user-ro|username}} – for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are Romanian Wikipedia users.

Currency

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OK Article 9(d) of the Romanian copyright law of March 14, 1996 excludes means of payment from copyright.

Use {{PD-money-Romania}} to tag reproductions of Romanian currency.

Freedom of panorama

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 Not OK, non-commercial only. Under Law No. 8 of March 14, 1996 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights,

  • The following uses of a work already disclosed to the public shall be permitted without the author’s consent and without payment of remuneration, provided that such uses conform to proper practice, are not at variance with the normal exploitation of the work and are not prejudicial to the author or to the owners of the exploitation rights:[8/1996 Art.33(1)]
  • ... the reproduction, to the exclusion of any means involving direct contact with the work, distribution or communication to the public of the image of an architectural work, work of plastic art, photographic work or work of applied art permanently located in a public place, except where the image of the work is the main subject of such reproduction, distribution or communication, and if it is used for commercial purposes;[8/1996 Art.33(1)(f)]

Wikimedia Commons does not allow content that is restricted to non-commercial uses only, see Commons:Licensing#Acceptable licenses for more information.

Note

"Copyright protection expires 70 years after the death of the original author (who is defined as the creator or designer) here. On January 1st of the following year (ie. January 1 of the 71st Year), freely licensed images of the author's 3D works such as sculptures, buildings, bridges or monuments are now free and can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. The lack of Freedom of Panorama is no longer relevant here for states with no formal FOP since the author's works are now copyright free."

Stamps

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Public domain use {{PD-RO-exempt}}.

According to the Romanian Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights Law no. 8/1996 of 14 March 1996 with further amendments Chapter 3 Article 9 "means of payment" shall not benefit from the legal protection accorded to copyright; therefore images of stamps are deemed to be in the public domain. Further, the Romanian law on postal services from 6 March 2013 defines postal stamp as "paper of value issued and put into circulation exclusively under the authority of the state, as an attribute of its sovereignty",[4] implying that Romania postal stamps are "official symbols of the State, public authorities and organizations", which are not protected by the Romanian copyright.

See also

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Citations

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  1. a b Romania Copyright and Related Rights (Neighboring Rights). WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization (2018). Retrieved on 2018-11-13.
  2. Law No. 8 of March 14, 1996 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights. Romania (1996). Retrieved on 2018-11-13.
  3. DECRET nr.321 din 18 iunie 1956 privind dreptul de autor (in Romanian). Retrieved on 2019-03-29.
  4. [1]
Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer
Text transcluded from
COM:Russia

Russia

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of the Russian Federation relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Russia must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both the Russian Federation and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Russia, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

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The Russian Federation has been a member of the Berne Convention since 13 March 1995, the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 5 February 2009 and the World Trade Organization since 22 August 2012.[1]

Since January 1, 2008, intellectual property rights are regulated by Part IV of the Civil Code and the Implementation act for Part IV of the Civil Code.[2][3] This new law replaced all previous IP laws in Russia. The same law applies to the works from the former Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR, 1917-1991, the main republic of the Soviet Union, 1922-1991), because the Russian Federation is the direct legal successor of the RSFSR since 1991 (when the RSFSR was renamed to the Russian Federation). Copyrights of works originating from other 14 former Soviet republics may be claimed by the corresponding post-Soviet states.

Durations

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According to article 1256 of Book IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation No. 230-FZ of December 18, 2006, a work is non-copyrighted in Russia if it was published on territory of the Russian Empire (Russian Republic) except for territories of the Grand Duchy of Finland and Congress Poland before 7 November 1917 and was not re-published for 30 days following initial publications on the territory of Soviet Russia or any other states.

According to article 1281 of Book IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation No. 230-FZ of December 18, 2006 and articles 5 and 6 of Law No. 231-FZ of the Russian Federation of December 18, 2006 (the Implementation Act for Book IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), a work is in the public domain in Russia if:

  • The author died:
    • (a) before January 1, 1950 or
    • (b) between January 1, 1950 and January 1, 1954, did not work during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) and did not participate in it.
  • The work was originally published anonymously or under a pseudonym:
    • (a) before January 1, 1943 and the name of the author did not become known during 50 years after publication, counted from January 1 of the year following the year of publication, or
    • (b) between January 1, 1943 and January 1, 1954, and the name of the author did not become known during 70 years after publication, counted from January 1 of the year following the year of publication.
  • The work is a film (a video fragment or a single shot from it):
    • (a) which was first shown before January 1, 1943 or
    • (b) which was created by legal entity between January 1, 1929 and January 1, 1954, provided that it was first shown in the stated period or was not shown until August 3, 1993.
  • The work is an information report (including photo report), which was created by an employee of TASS, ROSTA, or KarelfinTAG as part of that person’s official duties between July 10, 1925 and January 1, 1954, provided that it was first released in the stated period or was not released until August 3, 1993.

If the author was subjected to repression and rehabilitated posthumously, countdown of copyright protection is to begin not from the death date, but from the rehabilitation date. If the work was first published posthumously, the copyright term is counted from the date of that first publication, unless the author was later rehabilitated, in which case it runs again from that later rehabilitation date.

Before 2008 Russian copyright legislation was based on the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (1993)[4] and copyright term was 50(54) years. In 2004 copyright term was extended to 70(74) years non-retroactively, and then in 2008 70(74) years term became retroactive (if 50 years term had not been expired till January 1, 1993).

[edit]

PD tags

See also: PD Russia license tags

Since January 1, 2008, intellectual property rights are regulated by Russian law 230-FL of 2006: Part IV of the Civil Code, together with the Russian law 231-FL of 2006: Implementation act for Part IV of the Civil Code. This new law replaced all previous IP laws in Russia.

  • In general, {{PD-Russia}} applies.
  • {{PD-RusEmpire}} for works that was published on territory of the Russian Empire (Russian Republic) except for territories of the Grand Duchy of Finland and Congress Poland before 7 November 1917 and wasn't re-published for 30 days following initial publications on the territory of the Soviet Russia or any other states.
  • {{PD-Russia-1996}} - This work is in the public domain both in Russia and USA because:
    • The author died before January 1, 1942.
    • The author died between January 1, 1942 and January 1, 1946, did not work during the Great Patriotic War (Eastern Front of World War II) and did not participate in it.
    • The work was originally published anonymously or under a pseudonym before January 1, 1943 and the name of the author did not become known during 50 years after publication.
    • The work was originally published anonymously or under a pseudonym between January 1, 1943 and January 1, 1946, and the name of the author did not become known during 70 years after publication.
    • The work is non-amateur cinema or television film (or shot, or fragment from it), which was first shown between January 1, 1929 and January 1, 1946.
  • {{PD-RU-exempt}} for state symbols and signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs) of Russian Federation.
  • {{PD-Brockhaus&Efron}} – for images from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890–1907).

For works first published not only in the RSFSR but in one of the other SSRs too, or simultaneously in various republics of Soviet Union, see the corresponding successor state of the Soviet Union. For instance, for a Soviet work first published in the Ukrainian SSR, see the entry Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Ukraine:Copyright tags. ({{PD-Ukraine}}, in this case.)

Creative Commons tags

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Currency

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OK Russian currency is not copyrighted. Monetary items, together with other state symbols, are explicitly excluded from copyright by article 1259(6) of Part IV of the Civil Code of Russia (which covers intellectual property rights). Drafts for such items, however, are copyrighted by their authors. When a public body adopts such a draft and turns it into an official symbol, the resulting official symbol is not copyrighted and may be reproduced without mentioning the original author(s) of the draft. (See article 1264.)

Monetary items were already excluded from copyright in the 1993 legislation, which was in effect until the end of 2007. See article 8 of the 1993 law, as amended in 2004.

Please use {{PD-RU-exempt}} for images of Russian currency.

Freedom of panorama

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Article 1276 of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states:[5]

  • Free Use of Work Permanently Situated in Places Open for Free Attendance
    1. It is allowed without the consent of the author or other right holder and without paying a fee to reproduce and distribute produced copies, to transmit on air or through a cable, to bring to public knowledge works of fine arts or photographic works which are permanently located in a public place, except if the image of the work is the main object of use or the image of a work is used for the purpose of deriving profit.
    2. It is allowed to freely use by way of reproduction and distribution of produced copies, transmission on air or through a cable, bringing to public knowledge in the form of images the works of architecture, town-planning and landscape arts located in a public place or visible from that place.

The FoP exceptions for works of architecture, urban development, and garden and landscape design, which were added under consultation with Wikimedia Russia, have taken effect with the Civil Code amendments as of October 1, 2014.[6]

Concerning non-architectural artwork, there is still a copyright exception for non-commercial use, but non-commercial use only is not allowed on Commons and unfortunately, we don't have sufficient number of court decisions to clarify the situation.

  • An important court decision states that the copying of a showcase photo is not a creation of a 3D-object in 2 dimensions. See discussion at Commons:Форум/Архив/2010#Судебное решение о фотографиях трёхмерных объектов.
  • A recent court case (2019–21) regarding a Yekaterinburg sculpture used commercially by a postcard company concluded in the Supreme Court, which overturned the decisions of the lower courts and returned the case to the court of first instance that denied the sculptor's copyright infringement claim. The latter court ruled that the monument was only reproduced in one of the postcards in a set, making it not the main subject of the entire postcard set.[7]

Before January 1 2008, freedom of panorama was regulated by the similar (but not the same) article 21 of Copyright Law of Russia.[8]

Copyright protection expires 70 years after the death of the original author (who is defined as the creator or designer) here. On January 1st of the following year (ie. January 1 of the 71st Year), freely licensed images of the author's 3D works such as sculptures, or monuments are now free and can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. The lack of Freedom of Panorama is no longer relevant here for states with no formal FOP since the author's works are now copyright free."

It is not clear if copyrighted buildings in Crimea are subject to the Russian or the more restrictive Ukrainian law. Following the Commons precautionary principle, images of knowingly unfree Crimean buildings should not be uploaded to Commons. See Commons:Village_pump/Copyright/Archive/2014/09#Buildings_in_Crimea. Nevertheless, photographic work created in Crimea before February 19, 1954 is the subject of the Russian law.

Stamps

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Public domain use {{PD-RU-exempt|stamps}}

Pursuant to Article 1259.6 of Part IV of the Civil Code (No. 230-FZ) of the Russian Federation dated 8 December 2006, official symbols and signs (flags, emblems, orders, banknotes, and the like), as well as symbols and signs of municipal formations are not copyrighted. Pursuant to Article 2 of Federal Law No. 176-FZ of the Russian Federation On Postal Service dated July 17, 1999, official signs of postage include "postage stamps and other signs put on mail that give evidence that postage has been paid".

Article 1.1 of Official Postage Signs and Special Postmarks Regulations, put into force on 26 May 1994 by Order 115 of the Ministry of Communication of the Russian Federation, defines the official postage signs concretely and labels postage stamps, souvenir and miniature sheets, stamped envelopes, and postal stationery cards as the postage signs. Even works still under copyright can be used by the Russian post, without altering the copyright status of the work used.[9]

A copyrighted painting can be used on an envelope or such and {{PD-RU-exempt}} will apply, without turning the painting into a Public Domain work. Prerequisite is that the Russian post acquired permission from the copyright-holder. We can safely assume that the Russian post has come to an agreement with the copyright-holder of such work.

Tuva stamps

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Public domain use {{PD-RU-exempt}}.

From 1921 to 1944, Tuva constituted a sovereign, independent nation under the name of Tannu Tuva, officially, the Tuvan People's Republic, or the People's Republic of Tannu Tuva. The independence of Tannu Tuva, however, was recognized only by its neighbors: the Soviet Union and Mongolia.[10] Since 1944 Tuva has been part of the Russian Federation.

Threshold of originality

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Automatic camera works

Public domain use {{PD-RU-exempt-autocam}}

OK A photowork or a videowork made by automatic camera (Russian: автоматическая камера, not to be confused with automated camera: автоматизированная камера) is not the subject of copyright, because such work is made by technical tool without creative human activity. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Part 80 of Session Resolution No. 10 of April 23, 2019 on Application of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

Examples

  • Any photowork or videowork made by automatic camera for administrative violation record (for example, by automatic camera for driving offense record[11]). The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Part 80 of Session Resolution No. 10 of April 23, 2019 on Application of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation
Simple creative works

 Not OK Simple result of creative work (creative human activity) is copyrightable. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Part 80 of Session Resolution No. 10 of April 23, 2019 on Application of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

Examples

  • Simple black square as geometric shape is uncopyrightable as itself. However Black Square by Kazimir Malevich was copyrightable because this painting was the result of creative work in recognized art style - suprematism, and it is in Public Domain because of copyright term expiry, not because of result simplicity.
Logos

 In doubt There is no clear precedent in Russian courts for the threshold of originality for simple logos.

Signatures

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OK. Signature used for expression of will, for identification, or in similar cases is a legal or technical tool, it is not work of science, literature, or art, so it is not copyrightable.
 Depend on case. Signature used for other purposes can be protected depending on its creativity.

See also

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Citations

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Text transcluded from
COM:Rwanda

Rwanda

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Rwanda relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Rwanda must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Rwanda and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Rwanda, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

[edit]

Germany colonised Rwanda in 1884 as part of German East Africa. After World War I Germany ceded the territory to Belgium, which administered it as part of the territory of Ruanda-Urundi. Burundi and Rwanda became independent countries in 1962.

Rwanda has been a member of the Berne Convention since 1 March 1984 and the World Trade Organization since 22 May 1996.[1]

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 31/2009 of 26/10/2009 on the Protection of Intellectual Property as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Rwanda.[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.[2] The law is retroactive: "Repeal of former provisions contrary to this Law ... the Law No 27/1983 of November 15th, 1983 governing the copyrights ... and any other former legal provisions contrary to this Law are hereby repealed".[31/2009 Article 294]

General rules

[edit]

According to the Law No. 31/2009,

  • Subject to contrary provisions of this Law, the economic rights shall be protected during the life of the author and for fifty years (50) after his or her death.[31/2009 Article 217]
  • For a work of joint authorship, the economic rights shall be protected during the life of the last surviving author and for 50 years after his or her death.[31/2009 Article 218]
  • For a work published anonymously or under a pseudonym, the economic rights shall be protected for 50 years from the date on which the work was first lawfully published; for 50 years from the date on which the work was made; for 50 years from the end of the year in which the work was lawfully made available to the public.[31/2009 Article 219]
  • For a collective work, audiovisual work or work published after death of the author, the economic rights shall be protected for 50 years from the date on which the work was first lawfully published; for 50 years from the date on which the work was made; for 50 years from the end of the year in which the work was lawfully made available to the public.[31/2009 Article 220]
  • For a work of applied art, the economic rights shall be protected for 25 years from the end of the year in which the work was made.[31/2009 Article 221]

Every period concerning the duration of protection of copyrights shall run to the end of the calendar year in which it would otherwise expire.[31/2009 Article 217]

Pubic domain and expressions of folklore: not free

[edit]

See also: Commons:Paying public domain

The works of the public domain are part of the national culture and heritage. The use, for profit making purposes, of work of the public domain shall be made in return for payment of royalties in the conditions determined by the empowered authority. A part of funds equal to twenty five per cent (25%) collected in accordance with this article is reserved to activities of creative works promotion.[31/2009 Article 202]

"Expression of folklore" is a group-oriented and tradition-based creation of a community or individuals developed and perpetually exercised on the territory of Rwanda, reflecting the expectation of the folk arts of such a community. These are: folktales, folk poetry, and folk riddles; folk songs and instrumental folk music; folk dances and folk plays; productions of folk arts in particular, drawings, paintings, carvings, sculptures, pottery, terra-cotta, mosaic, woodwork, metalware, jewelry and indigenous textiles.[31/2009 Article 6(11)] Expressions of folklore are part of the national culture and heritage. The use, for profit making purposes, of work derivative from Rwandan national folklore shall be made in return for payment of royalties in the conditions determined by the empowered authority. A part of funds equal to twenty five per cent (25%) collected in accordance with this article is reserved to activities of creative works promotion.[31/2009 Article 201]

Freedom of panorama

[edit]

 Not OK, non-commercial purpose only if the work is the main subject of the image.

  • There shall be permitted without authorization of the author and without payment of remuneration, to reproduce, to broadcast or to communicate by cable to the public a picture of work of architecture, of work of fine arts, a photographic work and a work of applied art that is permanently located on place opened to the public, except if the picture of this work is the main topic of such a reproduction, broadcasting or communication and if it is used for commercial purposes.[31/2009 Article 210]

Citations

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  1. a b Rwanda Copyright and Related Rights (Neighboring Rights). WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization (2018). Retrieved on 2018-11-05.
  2. Law No. 31/2009 of 26/10/2009 on the Protection of Intellectual Property. Rwanda (2009). Retrieved on 2018-11-05.
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Copyright rules by territory

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