Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Consolidated list U

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:Uganda

Uganda

Copyright rules: Uganda Shortcut: COM:UGANDA
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Photograph	Creation + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-Uganda}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	UGA
Treaties
Berne convention	28 April 2022
WTO member	1 January 1995
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	28 April 2022
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Uganda relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Uganda must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Uganda 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 Uganda, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom. Beginning in 1894, the area was ruled as a protectorate by the United Kingdom. Uganda regained independence on 9 October 1962.

Uganda has been a member of the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995, and became a member of the Berne Convention and WIPO Copyright Treaty since 28 April 2022.

The United Kingdom copyright act was introduced in Uganda in January 1953, and was not subsequently updated to reflect changes in UK law. The 1953 law formed the basis for the Copyright Act of 1964. The 1964 act was replaced by the 2006 act, effective 4 August 2006. As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, 2006 as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Uganda. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.

General rules

A work first published in Uganda will be in the public domain if its copyright protection has expired in Uganda by virtue of the non-retrospective Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Bill 2006, or if it entered the public domain prior to the commencement of that law by virtue of the previous Copyright Act 1964.

Under the 1964 Act,

• Unpublished literary, musical works were protected for 50 years after the end of the year in which the author dies.
• Published literary, musical or artistic work was protected the later of the following-(a) the end of the year in which the author dies; (b) 50 years after the end of the year in which the work was first published.
• For unpublished cinematograph film or gramophone record, 50 years after the record, if first published 50 years after the end of the year in which the work was first published, 45 years after the end of the year in which the work was first published.
• For broadcasts, 50 years after the end of the year in which the broadcast was made.

Under the 2006 act,

• The economic rights of the author are protected during the life of the author and 50 years after the death of the author.^{[2006 Section 13(1)]}
• The economic rights in a work of joint authorship are protected during the life of the last surviving author and 50 years after the death of the last surviving author.^{[2006 Section 13(2)]}
• Where the economic rights in a work are owned by a corporation or other body, the term of protection is 50 years from the date of the first publication of the work.^{[2006 Section 13(3)]}
• For a work published anonymously or under a pseudonym, the economic rights are protected for 50 years from the date of first publication, if the author does not become known.^{[2006 Section 13(4)]}
• For an audio-visual work, sound recording or broadcast, the economic rights are protected until the expiration of 50 years commencing from the date of making the work or from the date the work is made available to the public with the consent of the author.^{[2006 Section 13(5)]}
• For a photographic work, the economic rights are protected for 50 years from the date of making the work.^{[2006 Section 13(7)]}

Not protected

Ideas, concepts, procedures, methods or other things of a similar nature shall not be protected by copyright under this Act.^{[2006 Section 6]}

There is no copyright in the following works:^{[2006 Section 7]}

• enactments, including Acts, statutes, decrees, statutory instruments and other laws made by the Legislature or other authorised bodies;
• decrees, orders and other decisions by courts of law for the administration of justice and any official translations from them;
• reports made by committees or commissions of inquiry appointed by the Government or any agency of the Government;
• news of the day, namely, reports of fresh events or current information by the media whether published in a written form, broadcast, internet or communicated to the public by any other means.

Copyright tags

• {{PD-Uganda}} – for works meeting one of the following criteria:

a) photographic works 50 years after creation;

b) computer programs, audio-visual works or sound recordings 50 years after publication

c) literary, musical or artistic works published before January 1st, 1954, whose author died before Jan 1st, 2004;

d) other works 50 years after the author's death.

Currency

 Not OK. Bank of Uganda owns the copyright in its banknotes and coins. Under section 120(373) of the Penal Code, it is a criminal offence for any person to reproduce banknotes or coins to any degree without the prior consent in writing of the Bank of Uganda.

Freedom of panorama

OK {{FoP-Uganda}}

According to the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2006, a work of art or architecture may be used in a photograph, an audiovisual work or a television broadcast without infringing the author's copyright and without the author's consent where the work is permanently located in a public place; or is included in the background or is otherwise incidental to the main object in the photograph, audiovisual work or television broadcast.^{[2006 Section 15(1)(g)]}

"Public place" is defined under the law as "any building, or conveyance to which for the time being the public are entitled or permitted to have access, with or without payment which may include cinema, concert, dance or video halls, bars, clubs, sports grounds, holiday resorts, circuses, restaurants, counter vehicles, banks or other commercial establishments."^{[2006 Section 2(1)(g)]}

See also

• Uganda
• Category:License tags of Uganda

Citations

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:Ukraine

Ukraine

Copyright rules: Ukraine Shortcut: COM:UKRAINE
Durations
Standard	Life + 70 years
Anonymous	Publish + 70 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	No
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-Ukraine}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	UKR
Treaties
Berne convention	25 October 1995
WTO member	16 May 2008
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	6 March 2002
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Ukraine relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Ukraine must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Ukraine 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 Ukraine, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

In the past, Ukraine was controlled at different times in whole or part by Kievan Rus', Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Austria. After World War I, Ukraine became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in December 1922. During the dissolution of the USSR, on 24 August 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence.

Ukraine has been a member of the Berne Convention since 25 October 1995, the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 6 March 2002 and the World Trade Organization since 16 May 2008.

As of 2023 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed "Law of Ukraine No. 2811-IX of December 1, 2022, on Copyright and Related Rights" as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Ukraine. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. The law repeals the "Law of Ukraine No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993, on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended up to October 27, 2016)" and its successor "Law No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993, on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended up to April 26, 2017)", both of which are also available in the WIPO database.

General rules

Under Law No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993 as amended up to April 26, 2017),

• Copyright in a work arises from the fact of its creation and takes effect from the date of creation.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(1)]}
• Copyright is valid throughout the life of the author and for 70 years after his death, except as provided below.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(2)]}
• For works published anonymously or under a pseudonym, copyright expires 70 years after the work was released. If the pseudonym adopted by the author leaves no doubt as to the identity of the author or the author is revealed no later than 70 years after the publication of the work, copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(3)]}
• Copyright in collaborative works is valid for life and 70 years after the death of the last co-author.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(4)]}
• Copyright in works of posthumously rehabilitated authors is valid for 70 years after their rehabilitation.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(6)]}
• Copyright in a work first published within 30 years after the author's death is valid for 70 years from the date of its lawful publication.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(7)]}
• Persons who first publish an unpublished work after its copyright protection expires enjoy protection for 25 years from the time when the work was first published.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(8)]}
• Calculation of the terms of copyright starts from 1 January of the year following the relevant event.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(9)]}

Copyright protection under the 1993 act applied to all works where the copyright had not expired before the act became effective.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Final.4]} A Ukrainian or Ukrainian SSR work is in the public domain in Ukraine if it was published before 1 January 1951, and the creator (if known) died before that date. This is the effect of the copyright term extension from 50 to 70 years in 2001.

A Ukrainian or Ukrainian SSR work that is in the public domain in Ukraine according to this rule is in the public domain in the U.S. only if it was in the public domain in Ukraine before 1 January 1996, e.g. if it was published before 1 January 1946 and the creator died before this date, and no copyright was registered in the U.S. This is the combined effect of the retroactive 1993 law, Ukraine's joining the Berne Convention in 1996, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

Not protected

Under Law No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993 (as amended up to April 26, 2017), protection does not extend to:^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.10]}

• Daily news or current events that constitute regular press information
• Works of folk art (folklore);
• Official documents issued by government authorities of a political, legislative or administrative nature (laws, decrees, regulations, court decisions and state standards, etc.) and their official translations;
• State symbols of Ukraine, government awards; symbols and signs of government, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations; symbols of territorial communities; symbols and signs of enterprises, institutions and organizations;
• Banknotes;
• Timetables of vehicles, broadcasts, schedules, telephone directories and other similar databases that do not meet the originality criteria.

Copyright tags

• {{PD-Ukraine}} is in effect towards works first published before January 1, 1951, and the creator (if known) died before that date). This is the effect of the retroactive Ukrainian copyright law of 1993 and the copyright from 50 to 70 years in 2001.). The final conclusion is #.4 in Chapter VI Ukrainian Copyright Law:

#.4. It shall be established that as from the day on which this Law enters into force, the terms of copyright protection, stipulated in Article 28 of this Law and parts 1 and 2 of Article 44 of this Law, shall apply in all cases where the 50-year period of copyright validity after the author's death or the period of validity of related rights has not expired prior to the date of entry into force of this Law.

A Ukrainian or Soviet work that is in the public domain in Ukraine according to this rule is in the public domain in the U.S. only if it was in the public domain in Ukraine in 1995, e.g. if it was published before 1945 and the creator died before that year, and no copyright was registered in the U.S. This is the combined effect of the retroactive Ukrainian copyright law, Ukraine's joining the Berne Convention in 1995, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

• {{PD-UA-exempt}} for daily news or details of current events that constitute regular press information; works of folk art (folklore); official documents of a political, legislative or administrative nature (laws, decrees, resolutions, court awards, State standards, etc.) issued by government authorities within their powers, and official translations thereof; State symbols of Ukraine, government awards; symbols and signs of government authorities, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations; symbols of territorial communities; symbols and signs of enterprises, institutions and organizations; bank notes; transport schedules, TV and radio broadcast schedules, telephone directories and other similar databases that do not meet the originality criteria and to which the sui generis right (a particular or special right) is applicable. Also for representation of an civil award or decoration of the government of Ukraine.
• {{PD-UAGovDoc}} for official documents of a political, legislative or administrative nature (laws, decrees, resolutions, court awards, State standards, etc.) issued by government authorities within their powers, and official translations thereof.
• {{PD-UAGov-Money}} for unit of currencies issued by Ukraine.
• {{PD-UAexMilitary}} for works of a Ukrainian military or Ministry of Defense if it is symbol or sign of government authorities, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations.

Currency

OK Ukrainian currency is not copyrighted. Monetary items, together with other state symbols, are explicitly excluded from copyright by article 10 of Copyright law of Ukraine.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.10(e)]}

Please use {{PD-UAGov-Money}} for Ukrainian currency images.

Freedom of panorama

 Not OK, non-profit use only. {{NoFoP-Ukraine}}

A freedom of panorama exception was added in the Law of Ukraine No. 2811-IX of December 1, 2022, on Copyright and Related Rights, under Article 22(10). It is now permissible "creation of images of works of architecture and fine arts permanently located in places accessible to the public on the street, provided that such actions do not have independent economic value."

The condition "provided that such actions do not have independent economic value" seems to imply that images of such works in public spaces should not be made for the purpose of making profit. Regardless of the clarity of the condition, it still does not fit the licensing requirements of Wikimedia Commons, which only allows content that is licensed for any uses, including commercial uses. Non-commercial content is not allowed. See also Commons:Village pump/Copyright/Archive/2023/05#NEW copyright law of Ukraine.

Before 2023, Law of Ukraine No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993, on Copyright and Related Rights (with latest version from 2017) did not contain a freedom of panorama exception. It is claimed, though, that article 21(4) of the old law implied some kind of "freedom of panorama" (claim was repeated here):

• ...it shall be permitted without the consent of the author (or other copyright holder) and with mandatory indication of the author's name and of the source of borrowing: ... to reproduce, in order to highlight current events by means of photography or cinematography, to carry out public notification or other public communication of the works seen or heard in the course of such events to the extent justified by the informational purpose.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.21(4)]}

This, however, is limited to "informational purposes" and to "current events". It is not general freedom of panorama but a "fair use"-like provision for news reporting.

Indeed, four separate court rulings during 2007–09 affirmed the lack of commercial freedom of panorama in Ukraine, all involving exploitations of Vasyl' Borodai's (1917–2010) 1982 sculpture Monument to the Founders of Kyiv by four different entities during late 1990s and early 2000s. According to Shtefan (2019), "all these cases went to trial and in each case the courts came to the conclusion that the author's rights were not respected." (article, page 23)

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 in Ukraine since the author's works are now in the public domain.

However, there's also a consensus that utilitarian buildings such as the New Safe Confinement (cf. a 2021 deletion request) are not considered copyrightable.

Stamps

use {{PD-UA-exempt}}.

According to the Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine on Copyright and Related rights, all Ukrainian stamps are in the public domain. They are defined as "state signs" in the Law of Ukraine On Postal Service (4 October 2001) :

• Postage stamp means a state sign manufactured according to the procedure set forth by legislation, with specified face value and state, serving as the tool of payment for postal services provided by the national operator.

See also

• Україна
• Category:License tags of Ukraine
• Category:Stamps of Ukraine
• Category:Ukrainian FOP cases
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Soviet Union

Citations

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:United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

Copyright rules: the United Arab Emirates Shortcut: COM:United Arab Emirates
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Collective	Publish + 50 years
Posthumous	Publish + 50 years
Applied art	Publish + 25 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	No
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-United Arab Emirates}} {{PD-United Arab Emirates stamp}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	ARE
Treaties
Berne convention	14 July 2004
WTO member	10 April 1996
URAA restoration date‌*	10 April 1996
WIPO treaty	14 July 2004
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in the United Arab Emirates must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both the United Arab Emirates 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 United Arab Emirates, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

The emirates that now make up the UAR became a British protectorate in 1819 as the Trucial States. The United Arab Emirates became independent on 2 December 1971.

The UAR has been a member of the the World Trade Organization since 10 April 1996 and the Berne Convention and WIPO Copyright Treaty since 14 July 2004.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Federal Law No. 7 of 2002 Concerning Copyrights and Neighboring Rights as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of the United Arab Emirates. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. The Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization holds a copy of Federal Law No.(32) of the year 2006 Amending the Federal Law No.(7) of the year 2002 concerning copyrights and neighboring rights.

The 2002 law replaced Federal Law No. 40 of 1992 on the Protection of Intellectual Works and Copyright. WIPO also holds a copy of the earlier 1992 law. Under the 2002 law,

• The Federal Law No. 40 of the year 1992 and any other provision contrary to the provisions of this law, are hereby cancelled.^{[7/2002 Article 48]}
• The applied regulations and decisions shall be valid as long as they do not contradict with the provisions of this law until the new regulations and the implementing decisions are issued, and entered into force.^{[7/2002 Article 49]}

General rules

Under the former Federal Law No. 40 of 1992,

• Copyright was valid during the author's lifetime and for 25 calendar years after his death.^{[7/2002 Article 20]}
• Copyright was valid for 25 calendar years from date of publication for the following works^{[7/2002 Article 20]}:
  • Cinema films and works of the applied arts.
  • Works made by legal persons.
  • Works published under a pen name, or without mentioning the author's name.
  • Works published for the first time after the death of their author.
• The period of copyright for photographic works was 10 calendar years from the date of publication.^{[7/2002 Article 20]}
• The period of copyright for works of joint authors was counted from the death date of the last surviving author.^{[7/2002 Article 20]}

Under Federal law No. 7 of 2002, which is retroactive, as amended in 2006:

• The economic rights of the author are protected through his lifetime and for 50 years beginning from the first day of the calendar year following the death.^{[7/2002 Article 20.1]}
• The economic rights of the joint authors shall be protected through their lifetime and fifty years beginning from the first day of the calendar year following the death of the last surviving author.^{[7/2002 Article 20.2]}
• Collective works except applied arts are protected for 50 years beginning from the first day of the next calendar year of the first publication if the author is a legal person, but if the author is a natural person, the period will be calculated according to the rule stipulated in (1) and (2) of this article.^{[7/2002 Article 20.3]}
• The economic rights of works published for the first time after the death of their author expire after 50 years starting the first day of the next calendar year of its first publications.^{[7/2002 Article 20.3]}
• The economic rights of the works published anonymously or pseudonymously shall be protected for 50 years from the first day of the next calendar year of the first publication, unless the author becomes known in this period.^{[7/2002 Article 20.4]}
• The economic rights of the authors of the applied art works shall expire after 25 years of its first publication, starting the first day of the next calendar year.^{[7/2002 Article 20.5]}

In order to be hosted on Commons, public domain works must be out-of-copyright in both the United States and their source country. Emirati photographs are currently in the public domain in the United States if their protection period had expired in the United Arab Emirates prior to the URAA date of restoration (10 April 1996).

Not protected

Under Federal Law No. 7 of 2002 protection does not extend to:

• Mere ideas, procedures, methods of work, mathematical understandings, principles, and abstract facts, but extends to creative expression in any of them.^{[7/2002 Article 3]}
• Official documents, whatever their original language or the language they are translated to, such as the texts of laws, regulations, decisions, international agreements, judgments, arbitrators’ awards and the decisions of the administrative committees having judicial competence.^{[7/2002 Article 3(1)]}
• News, events and current facts, which constitute merely media news.^{[7/2002 Article 3(2)]}
• Works transferred to public property.^{[7/2002 Article 3(3)]}

Copyright tags

• {{PD-United Arab Emirates}} – photographic works 25 years after creation or published before 1992.
• {{PD-United Arab Emirates stamp}} – postage stamps 50 years after publication year or issued before 1977.

Currency

 Not OK Banknotes and coins are not exempted from copyright law in the United Arab Emirates, and so are protected in the same way as other works of applied and plastic art or drawings, with respect to reproduction and to the time period of copyright protection.

Freedom of panorama

 Not OK {{NoFoP-UAE}}

Note: Please tag Emirati no-FoP deletion requests: <noinclude>[[Category:United Arab Emirates FOP cases/pending]]</noinclude>

There is no usable FoP provision in the copyright law of the UAE (Federal Law #1 of 1972, Federal Law #15 of 1980, Federal Law #40 of 1992, and Federal Law (32) 2006). UAE copyright law as of 2006 discusses an FoP like provision, but it is restricted to "broadcasts".

• The author must not prohibit a third person from performing one of the following acts ... Presenting fine arts, applied and plastic arts or architectural works in broadcasting programmes, if such works are permanently present in public places.^{[7/2002 Article 22.7]}

See Commons talk:Freedom of panorama/Archive 6#Update: UAE FoP situation under dispute for a discussion on FoP in the UAE.

Note: "Copyright protection expires 50 years after the death of the original author (who may be the architect, sculptor, or muralist) of a public artistic work of the United Arab Emirates. On January 1st of the following year (ie. January 1 of the 51st Year), freely-licensed images of the author's sculptures, buildings, murals, or monuments are now free and can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. The lack of Freedom of Panorama is no longer relevant here for sovereign states with no formal FOP legal rights since the author's works are now copyright free."

Stamps

The 2002 UAE law states that such works as stamps are protected for 50 years starting from 1 January of the publication year. Yet the 1992 law gave a 25 years copyright protection (starting from the publication date). This means that all UAE postage stamps printed before 1977 are in public domain. Stamps issued after that year should wait 50 years.

One may tag Template:PD-United Arab Emirates stamp to any such image.

See also

• United Arab Emirates
• Category:United Arab Emirates FOP cases
• Category:Stamps of the United Arab Emirates

Citations

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:United Kingdom

United Kingdom

Copyright rules: the United Kingdom Shortcut: COM:UK
Durations
Standard	Life + 70 years
Anonymous	Create/Publish + 70 years
Government	Crown copyright
Other
Freedom of panorama	For 3D works and "works of artistic craftsmanship"
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-old-auto}} {{PD-UKGov}} {{PD-UK-unknown}} {{PD-UK-posthumous-non-photo-1996}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	GBR
Treaties
Berne convention	5 December 1887
Univ. Copyright Convention	27 September 1957
WTO member	1 January 1995
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	14 March 2010
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of the United Kingdom relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in the United Kingdom must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both the United Kingdom 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 United Kingdom, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

United Kingdom has been a member of the Berne Convention since 5 December 1887, the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 14 March 2010.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (Chapter 48, incorporating amendments up to the Digital Economy Act 2017) as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of United Kingdom. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. An up-to-date version of the Act is also available in structured form on legislation.gov.uk.

Prior to 1988, copyright was governed by the Copyright Act 1956.

A November 2023 Appeal Court judgement (THJ v Sheridan, 2023) clarified that no new copyright is created in making a photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain artwork, and that this has been the case since 2009.

Summary

• Standard copyright term: Life + 70 years
• Crown copyright:
  • 50 years from first commercial publication, but
  • works except engravings created prior to 30 June 1957: 50 years from creation
• Anonymous works
  • Photographs created before 30 June 1957: 70 years after creation if unpublished, 70 years after publication if published within 70 years of creation

General

As with the European Union, the basic copyright term in the United Kingdom is life of the author plus 70 years. The author must be a natural person and cannot be a corporation. There are a number of details which must be taken into account, however. Works in the United Kingdom fall into two categories for the purposes of copyright duration: government works and non-government works. The former are covered by Crown copyright and Parliamentary copyright and their special duration rules, and the latter by ordinary copyright duration rules.

Crown copyright

Chart for determining expiry of Crown copyright

Crown copyright works have a basic term of protection of 50 years from date of commercial publication. For Crown works created before the entry into force of the Copyright Act 1956 on 30 June 1957 other rules apply. Crown copyright photographs created prior to 30 June 1957 have a copyright term of 50 years from creation. Published Crown copyright engravings created prior to 30 June 1957 have a copyright term of 50 years from commercial publication. Unpublished Crown copyright engravings of the period come out of copyright at the end of 2039. Crown artistic works other than engravings and photographs created prior to 30 June 1957 have a copyright term of 50 years from creation.

Further special rules apply to Crown artistic works created between 30 June 1957 and the entry into force of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 on 1 August 1989. Published engravings created in this period are still out of copyright 50 years after commercial publication. Unpublished engravings created in this period come out of copyright at the end of 2039 as before. Published photographs are out of copyright 50 years after publication. Unpublished photographs come out of copyright at the end of 2039. Other artistic works come out of copyright 50 years after creation.

Tim Padfield has prepared a flowchart that summarizes these durations.

Crown copyright sound recordings follow the same rules as other sound recordings below.

Ordnance Survey OpenData licence

The Ordnance Survey OpenData licence has been designed to be compatible with Creative Commons BY 3.0 and appears to be okay.

Open Government Licence

Some works published from 2010 are available under the UK Open Government Licence (OGL). The first version was meant to be compatible with the CC BY 3.0 licence, the latest version 3 with the CC-BY-4.0 licence. Three versions of the OGL exist. The following templates are available:

• {{OGL}} for OGL version 1
• {{OGL2}} for OGL version 2
• {{OGL3}} for OGL version 3.

The OGL3 licence does NOT cover personal data, logos, military insignia, patents etc. A list is found on the template.

Non-Commercial Government Licence

The government also publishes a licence called Non-Commercial Government Licence. This is unacceptable by the Wikimedia Commons as it disallows the commercial reproductions. This licence was intended for use in a small handful of extremely limited circumstances and has not been widely adopted in government. See also Commons:Deletion requests/File:Canoe Slalom - Kynan Maley.jpg.

Parliamentary copyright

Parliamentary copyright was created by the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988 and its duration rules are the same as for Crown copyright materials created after 30 August 1989. Some Parliamentary material is covered by the Open Parliament Licence (with exceptions). The OPL serves the same function in the system of Parliamentary copyright as the Open Government Licence (OGL) does for Crown Copyright.

Copyright on sound recordings

If the source material is out of copyright, sound recordings leave copyright after 70 years from first publication.

Sound recordings created before 1 June 1957 had a copyright duration of 50 years from creation (section 19, Copyright Act 1911), so they are all now in the public domain. Sound recordings first published between 1 June 1957 and 31 October 1963 had a copyright duration of 50 years from publication (section 12, Copyright Act 1956), so those are also in the public domain. Copyright was extended to 70 years from publication in 2013, so the next recordings to enter the public domain will do so in 2034.

Ordinary copyright

Chart for determining expiry of UK copyright

For ordinary copyright works the largest distinction is between those with a known author and those with a pseudonymous or anonymous author. There are also distinctions in copyright term between artistic works and sound recordings. The commencement dates for the Copyright Act 1957 and the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988 are also crucial. For a summary of these rules see the flowchart. This means that some works whose copyright expired before the 1988 act came into force were brought back into copyright.

Known author

If the work was created after 30 August 1989 and has a known author copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author. If the work is a photograph with a known author taken before 30 June 1957 then copyright also expires 70 years after the death of the author. If the work is a non-photograph artistic work with a known author which was created prior to 30 August 1989 then several scenarios can apply:

1. If the work was published during the author's lifetime then copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author.
2. If the work was published before 30 August 1989 and the author died more than 20 years before publication then copyright expires 50 years after publication.
3. If the work was published before 30 August 1989 and the author died less than 20 years before publication then copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author.
4. If the work was not published before 30 August 1989 and the author died after 1968 then copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author.
5. If the work was not published before 30 August 1989 and the author died before 1969 then copyright expires at the end of 2039.

Unknown author

Commons:Anonymous works:United_Kingdom If the author is unknown then the basic time period to bear in mind is 70 years. If the work has an unknown author and was created after 30 August 1989, copyright expires either 70 years after creation or, if during that period the work is made available to the public by being published, 70 years after publication. If the work is a photograph with an unknown author taken before 1 June 1957 then copyright expires 70 years after creation or, if during that period the work is made available to the public, 70 years after that. If the work was created before 1969 with an unknown author, then several scenarios may apply:

1. If the work was published before 30 August 1989 then copyright expires 70 years after that first publication.
2. If the work is unpublished and was first made available to the public after 1968 then copyright expires 70 years after the work was first made available to the public.
3. If the work is unpublished and has never been made available to the public then copyright expires at the end of 2039.
4. If the work is unpublished and was first made available to the public before 1969 then copyright expires at the end of 2039.

Typographical copyright

If scanning a copyright-expired work from a British publication, typographical copyright must be borne in mind. This subsists for 25 years from creation of the publication and covers the typographical arrangement of the publication. It does not exist in the United States.

Publication right

One related right to copyright that must be borne in mind in the United Kingdom is publication right. This applies to ordinary copyright works but does not apply to Crown copyright works. If the copyright of an unpublished work has expired (virtually impossible before 2040) then the first publisher of that work is entitled to publication right over that work. Publication right has the same rules as copyright but only lasts for 25 years. It does not exist in the United States.

Database right

If scanning material from a publication from 1982 or later database right must also be borne in mind. This right normally lasts 15 years from creation or substantial amendment of the database. Many books count as databases due to their systematic arrangement of information. Under transitional provisions works created from 1982-1997 are also covered by database right until the end of 2012, ie 15 years after the passage of the original legislation. It does not exist in the United States.

Commissioned works

The rule on commissioned works in the United Kingdom is provided by the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) website.

Accordingly, the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act of 1988 empowers the exclusive rights of the authors. This means, unless there is a signed agreement or deed assigning the copyright to someone else, the copyright in a commissioned work since August 1, 1989 is retained by the author or the person who created or designed the work. There may be some exceptions to this rule, however. For example, the commissioner holds the copyright if they may have "an implied licence to use the work", at least for the purposes of commission, and if the artist made the work while employed.^{[clarification needed]}

The copyrights in the commissioned works made prior to 1 August 1989 are generally held by the commissioners.

• For commissioned works created from 1 June 1957 to 31 July 1989, copyright stays with the commissioner, per the Copyright Act 1956. "Commissioning" is defined here as "the payment or agreement to pay for a work with money or something of equivalent value." This means, the copyright in a work made by an artist while employed remains with the employer (the commissioner). Works made by artists under employment by a newspaper, magazine, or periodical owner, but solely for the purpose of publishing in the said publications, are likewise covered. In cases of other uses of commissioned works, the artists retain the ownership of copyright.
• The Copyright Act 1911 applies to commissioned works made from 1 July 1912 to 31 May 1957. It had provisions identical to those at the Copyright Act 1956.
• For commissioned works made prior to 1 July 1912, the 1862 Fine Arts Copyright Act governs, stating that copyright of a painting, drawing, or photograph done for or on behalf of another person "for good and valuable consideration" belongs to the commissioner.

Copyright tags

The following are copyright tags/ templates for UK works. If you are uploading a UK-based work to Commons, please find the corresponding tag and add it to the licensing information for the item you are uploading (copy and paste, if you like). When you then save the file, these tags will expand to produce and appropriate text for that kind of license.

• {{PD-UK-unknown}} – old UK images of unknown authorship where copyright has expired
  • {{PD-Britannica}} – images from the 12th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica or earlier.
• {{PD-UKGov}} – UK Crown copyright images where copyright has expired (typically works created prior to 1974)
  • {{OldOS}} – Ordnance Survey maps published in the UK over 50 years ago.
  • {{OS OpenData}} – Ordnance Survey maps published in the UK.

The UK's Open Government Licence (OGL) is a simple set of terms and conditions that facilitates the re-use of a wide range of public sector information free of charge. Since 2010, almost all information owned by the UK Crown is offered for use and re-use under the Open Government Licence. The licence is also used by other bodies, including local government.

• {{OGL}}
• {{OGL2}}
• {{OGL3}} – The latest version

The Open Parliament License (OPL) facilitates the free use of material made available by the House of Commons or the House of Lords in which copyright or database right subsists. Almost all material produced by Parliament and its committees is governed by the Open Parliament License.

• {{OPL}}

Cheque

OK in some cases. The design of standard UK cheques is below threshold of originality. However, many cheques include logos, watermarks, and other features that are sufficiently original to be protected by copyright; these cheques can not be uploaded to Commons.

Currency

 Not OK. UK banknotes are fully protected by copyright. The Bank of England owns the copyright on its banknotes, and all banknotes carry a © notice. No images of these banknotes may be uploaded to Commons. Those that are will be deleted.

Coin designs are copyrighted by the Royal Mint.

Publishing images of coins is not prohibited by the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. Its Section 19 refers only to "imitation British coins", defined as "any thing which resembles a British coin in shape, size and the substance of which it is made". The implication here is that images cannot resemble the substance of the real coins. However, since such images may only be published with the official consent of the Royal Mint, none of these images is allowed on Commons.

The Royal Mint's copyright on coin designs is an instance of Crown Copyright. Sculptures subject to Crown Copyright which were created more than 50 years ago are now in the public domain: use {{PD-UKGov}}. Images of British coins with designs created more than 50 years ago are permissible provided that the author of the work containing the coins is willing to release his / her copyright to the reuse of the image, which is a separate copyright concern and must also be addressed.

The Bank of England is not a government department, so its banknotes follow the usual rules of copyright: usually 70 years from the death of the author ({{PD-old-70}}) or 70 years from publication where the author is unknown ({{PD-UK-unknown}}).

Scottish and Northern Irish banks will retain their own copyright on banknotes independent of the Bank of England; however, in the United Kingdom, it is a criminal offence under s18(1) of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 "to reproduce on any substance whatsoever, and whether or not on the correct scale, any British currency note or any part of a British currency note." The term "British currency note" is defined as something which "has been lawfully issued in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland", "is or has been customarily used as money in the country where it was issued", and is payable on demand" - this includes Scottish and Northern Irish banknotes, as well as those issued by the Bank of England.

De minimis

Section 31 of the UK Copyright, Designs and patents Act 1988, as subsequently amended in 2003, states that:

• Copyright in a work is not infringed by its incidental inclusion in an artistic work, sound recording, film, or broadcast.

"Artistic work", as defined within the act, includes photographs.

Freedom of panorama

OK for 3D works

OK for 2D "works of artistic craftsmanship"

 Not OK for 2D "graphic works" {{FoP-UK}}

Section 62 of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is broader than the corresponding provisions in many other countries, and allows photographers to take pictures of

• buildings, and
• sculptures, models for buildings and works of artistic craftsmanship (if permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public).

without breaching copyright. Such photographs may be published in any way.

Note that under UK law, "works of artistic craftsmanship" are defined separately from "graphic works". Graphic works are defined in Section 4 as any painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart or plan, any engraving, etching, lithograph, woodcut or similar work. The freedom provided by Section 62 does not apply to graphic works - such as a mural or poster - even if they are permanently located in a public place. These cannot be uploaded to Commons without a licence from the copyright holder.

The courts have not established a consistent test for what is meant by a "work of artistic craftsmanship", but one of the standard reference works on copyright, Copinger and Skone James, suggests that for a work to be considered as such the creator must be both a craftsman and an artist. Evidence of the intentions of the maker are relevant, and according to the House of Lords case of Hensher v Restawile [1976] AC 64, it is "relevant and important, although not a paramount or leading consideration" if the creator had the conscious purpose of creating a work of art. It is not necessary for the work to be describable as 'fine art'.

In Hensher v Restawile, some examples were given of typical articles that might be considered works of artistic craftsmanship, including hand-painted tiles, stained glass, wrought iron gates, and the products of high-class printing, bookbinding, cutlery, needlework and cabinet-making.

Other works that have been held (by courts in common law jurisdictions outside the UK) to fall under this definition include hand-knitted woollen sweaters, fabric with a highly textured surface including 3D elements, a range of pottery and items of dinnerware. The cases are, respectively, Bonz v Cooke [1994] 3 NZLR 216 (New Zealand), Coogi Australia v Hydrosport (1988) 157 ALR 247 (Australia), Walter Enterprises v Kearns (Zimbabwe) noted at [1990] 4 EntLR E-61, and Commissioner of Taxation v Murray (1990) 92 ALR 671 (Australia).

The word "building" is quite broadly defined by section 4(2), and includes "any fixed structure, and a part of a building or fixed structure".

The practical effect of the broad Freedom of Panorama provisions in the UK and in other countries with similar laws is that it is acceptable to upload to Commons not only photographs of public buildings and sculptures but also works of artistic craftsmanship which are on permanent public display in museums, galleries and exhibitions which are open to the public. According to Copinger and Skone James, the expression "open to the public" presumably extends the section to premises to which the public are admitted only on licence or on payment. Again, this is broader than 'public place', which is the wording in many countries.

The Design and Artists Copyright Society and Artquest provide further information on freedom of panorama in the United Kingdom.

Stamps

. British stamp designs published before 1st October 1969 were "Crown Copyright", which expired after 50 years and put the stamps in the public domain. (See Crown copyright.) This also applies to the stamps of the various territories of the British Empire prior to their independence.

In 1969, the Post Office was established as a non-Crown body. Since then, the copyright of new British stamps has been held by the Post Office or Royal Mail in its own right, so in general no stamp may be uploaded.

Threshold of originality

OK for Lego bricks (see w:Interlego v Tyco Industries).

 Not OK for most logos. The level of originality required for copyright protection in the United Kingdom is very low.

In determining whether a work is protected, typographical copyright, publication rights and database rights need to be considered.

These images are eligible for copyright protection:

• en:File:EDGE magazine (logo).svg (uploaded as free in the US only on en.wikipedia.org): British courts have ruled it eligible for copyright protection, with the judge finding:

[The defendants] submitted that the claimant can have no copyright in its EDGE logo because it is not original over the Franklin Gothic typeface. I do not accept this submission. The stretching of the font was combined with the distinctive slash and projection on the middle bar of the "E". What is required for artistic originality is the expenditure of more than negligible or trivial effort or relevant skill in the creation of the work: see Copinger and Skone James on Copyright 16th Ed at 3-130 and Ladbroke v. William Hill [1964] 1 WLR 273 at 287. The claimant's logo is original within this test.

— Mrs Justice Proudman, in: Future Publishing Ltd v The Edge Interactive Media Inc & Ors [2011] EWHC 1489 (Ch) at [10]

Digital copies of images

In 2014 (updated 2015) the UK's Intellectual Property Office issued an advice notice, which said, in part:

... according to established case law, the courts have said that copyright can only subsist in subject matter that is original in the sense that it is the author's own 'intellectual creation'. Given this criterion, it seems unlikely that what is merely a retouched, digitised image of an older work can be considered as 'original'. This is because there will generally be minimal scope for a creator to exercise free and creative choices if their aim is simply to make a faithful reproduction of an existing work.

Under section 6 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, this decision remains generally binding on UK courts.

This was restated in a November 2023 Appeal Court judgement (THJ v Sheridan, 2023) which confirmed that no new copyright is created in making a photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain artwork, and that this has been the case since 2009. According to the judgement, the previously used "skill and labour" test had been replaced by the "author’s own intellectual creation" test.

Signatures

 Not OK for a typical signature. The level of originality required for copyright protection in the United Kingdom is very low, and it is easily arguable that personal signatures are entitled to copyright protection. Under United Kingdom law, a signature may be protectable as a graphic work (a type of artistic work). Artistic works are protected regardless of artistic merit. There are various sources that point in that direction, including the following:

• The practitioners' text Copinger and Skone James on Copyright mentions, at para. 2-23, an unreported decision that a signature combined with an (apparently copyrighted) shield device can be accorded artistic copyright.
• Professor Charles Oppenheim of de Montfort University: "graphic works, photographs, sculptures and collages are protected regardless of artistic merit. Your signature is an artistic work, as you always suspected" See presentation of Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).
• Sallie Spilsbury, Media Law, 2000, p. 439: An individual's signature may be protected under law as an artistic work. If so, the unauthorised reproduction of the signature will infringe copyright. The name itself will not be protected by copyright; it is the appearance of the signature which is protected.
• Alan Story LLM, in "Owning Diana: From People's Princess to Private Property" accepts it is that possible ("though debatable") that there may be copyright in Diana's signature as an original artistic work. This is of interest, in that Story accepts this even though he is writing from an anti-protectionist angle.
• The E. Chambré Hardman Archive Copyright Clinic page states that "Somebody’s signature is also thought of as an artistic work, rather than a literary work."

Unless further legal commentary or caselaw to the contrary becomes available, the UK position is that typical personal signatures are arguably entitled to protection under local law, and generally UK signatures should be deleted under the precautionary principle. However, if the signature is extremely simple (eg a scribbled line or two), it will not be copyright even in the UK.

Computer-generated works

Unlike most countries, the United Kingdom provides a special limited term of copyright protection for computer-generated works of 50 years from creation, with the author being "the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken".

See also

• United Kingdom
• Category:License tags of the United Kingdom
• Category:Stamps of the United Kingdom
• Category:United Kingdom FOP cases

Citations

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:United Nations

United Nations

Copyright rules: United Nations Shortcut: COM:UNITED NATIONS
Durations
Other
Common licence tags	{{PD-US-no notice-UN}} {{PD-UN-doc}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	~
Treaties
Univ. Copyright Convention	24 July 1971

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

General rules

According to shop.un.org as of 2019,

• Permission is required to reuse content from any and all United Nations’ online platforms and databases (namely, legal and statistical databases).
• With regard to treaties and conventions, while each individual text is in the public domain, the online UN Treaty Collection is proprietary.
• Use and display of the United Nations emblem is highly restricted and essentially limited to the organization’s activities. You may not use any trademark, official mark, official emblem, flag or logo of the United Nations, or any of its other means of promotion or publicity, to represent or imply an association or affiliation with the United Nations without the United Nation’s prior written consent.
• UN photos cannot be altered, sold, redistributed or used to create derivative works.

Rules for certain types of documents

The United Nations' basic policy towards copyrighting as set forth in administrative instruction ST/AI/189/Add.9/Rev.1 of 26 March 1985 was not to seek copyright with the intention of thus facilitating dissemination as widely as possible of the ideas in United Nations publications. Under ST/AI/189/Add.9/Rev.2 of 17 September 1987, the United Nations would still not seek copyright for official records, documents and public information material, but did seek protection for all recurrent publications, studies or reports.

United States status

Under the Second Protocol of the Universal Copyright Convention (Paris text), protection under U.S. copyright law is expressly required for works published by the United Nations, by UN specialized agencies and by the Organization of American States.^{[17 USC Sec. 104 (b.5)]}

Copyright tags

• {{PD-US-no notice-UN}}: Work is excerpted from an official document of the United Nations published in the United States prior to 17 September 1987.
• {{PD-UN-doc}}: Published by the United Nations without a copyright notice, was left in the public domain in order to disseminate "as widely as possible the ideas (contained) in the United Nations Publications". It falls into one of the following categories outlined in Administrative Instruction ST/AI/189/Add.9/Rev.2 (paragraph 2):
  • Official records (proceedings of conferences, verbatim and summary records, periodic supplements, compilations of resolutions, etc.)
  • United Nations documents issued with a UN document symbol
  • Public information material designed primarily to inform the public about United Nations activities (not including material that is offered for sale)
• {{PD-UN-map}}: United Nations maps.
• {{PD-LN}}: Official records of the League of Nations, transferred to the United Nations when the league dissolved in 1946.

See also

• United Nations
• Category:Postage stamps of the United Nations

Citations

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:United States

United States of America

US copyrights for works first published in US, excluding audio works

Year of first publication Note: publication is not creation	Copyright duration
Before 1929 During 1929–63: without notice, or with notice but not renewed within 28 years of first publication During 1964–77: without notice From 1978 to March 1, 1989: without notice and without registration within 5 years of first publication	Work has entered US public domain
During 1929–63: with notice and renewed During 1964–77: with notice	Copyrighted for 95 years after first publication
From 1978 to March 1, 1989: pre-1978 creation with notice, or without notice but registered within 5 years of first publication From March 2, 1989 to 2002: pre-1978 creation	If author is known, copyrighted until the later of either 70 years pma or Dec 31, 2047 If author is unknown or corporate authorship, the earlier of 95 years after first publication or 120 years after creation, but not earlier than Dec 31, 2047
From 1978 to March 1, 1989: post-1977 creation with notice, or without notice but registered within 5 years of first publication From March 2, 1989 to 2002: post-1977 creation Unpublished before 2003 (i.e. first published after 2002)	If author is known, copyrighted for 70 years pma If author is unknown or corporate authorship, the earlier of 95 years after first publication or 120 years after creation
pma: post mortem auctoris, or "after the author's death"

Copyright rules: the United States Shortcut: COM:US
Durations
Standard	Life + 70 years (works published since 1978 or unpublished works)
Anonymous	Publish + 95 years / Create + 120 years (whichever is shorter, published since 1978)
Government	Federal, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico: public domain Other states: copyrighted
Other
Freedom of panorama	For buildings
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-USGov}} {{PD-US-expired}} {{PD-1996}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	USA
Treaties
Berne convention	1 March 1989
Univ. Copyright Convention	16 September 1955
WTO member	1 January 1995

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of the United States relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons.

General rules

• Anything (other than sound recordings) published before January 1, 1929 is in the public domain. For a definition of "publication" see e.g. Copyright Office circular 1: Copyright Basics, page 7. This modern definition is only valid for 1978 and later, as the 1909 Copyright Act did not explicitly define it, though the concepts were similar.
• Anything published before January 1, 1964 and whose copyright was not renewed is in the public domain (search the Copyright Renewal Database, Stanford University for books, The Online Books Page for magazines).
• Anything published before January 1, 1978 with no copyright notice ("©", "Copyright" or "Copr.") plus the year of publication (may be omitted in some cases) plus the copyright owner (or pseudonym) is also in the public domain.
• Anything published in or after 1978 but before March 1, 1989 with no copyright notice is in the public domain unless the work's copyright was registered within 5 years of the work's initial publication.
• Works which were first published outside the US (and not subsequently republished in the US within 30 days) on or after January 1, 1929 may be copyrighted in the US by virtue of the URAA (Uruguay Round Agreements Act) even if the work's US copyright previously expired due to a failure to comply with US copyright formalities (copyright renewal and inclusion of a copyright notice.) In general, such works had their US copyright restored if the work was out of copyright in the US due to noncompliance with US formalities but still under copyright in its country of origin on the URAA date. (For most countries, the URAA date is January 1, 1996.) Works first published in the US are not affected by the URAA.
• The US copyright situation for sound recordings (including those published before 1929) is a special case. Recordings fixed on or after February 15, 1972 are subject to the same copyright rules as other works. Under the Music Modernization Act, which was signed into law in October 2018, recordings fixed prior to February 15, 1972 are subject to a copyright term that depends on when the recording was first published.
• Recordings that were published prior to 1947 are copyrighted for a period of 100 years after first publication. Recordings that were published from 1947 through 1956 are copyrighted for a period of 110 years after first publication. Recordings that were published after 1956 and first fixed prior to February 15, 1972 will enter the public domain on February 15, 2067. These copyright terms for pre-1972 recordings apply regardless of any formalities (copyright notice, registration with the US copyright office, or copyright renewal.)
• Works created after January 1, 1978 are protected for 70 years after the death of the creator. If the work was a "work for hire", copyright persists for 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter.
• Works created before 1978 and first published after or in 1978 are protected for the earlier of 95 years from publication or registration for copyright or 120 years from creation (for anonymous or corporate works) or 70 years after death of the creator for known authors; if it was published in 1978–2001, that copyright is extended to December 31, 2047 if it's shorter. (Thus no works first published with permission of the copyright holder between 1978 and 2001 in the US are out of copyright.)

US copyright law applies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, but does not apply in American Samoa. According to the US Copyright Office 17 U.S.C. § 101 (defining use of the term "United States" in the Copyright Act of 1976): "The 'United States', when used in a geographical sense, comprises the several States, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the organized territories under the jurisdiction of the United States Government." Of the organized territories, the United States Copyright Office says that: "US federal copyright law applies in the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands but not in American Samoa."

Full details of US Copyright Law (Title 17) are published by the US Copyright Office.

Works by the US Government

A work by the US federal Government is in the public domain. This applies certainly within the United States; it may, however, not apply in other jurisdictions. See the CENDI Copyright FAQ list, 3.1.7, the US Government's own statement to that effect, but also this discussion.

Example of public domain work created by NASA, a US federal government agency

• Images on government or government agency websites are not necessarily public domain; always look for copyright notices or similar. Especially the images on the favorite website "Astronomy Picture of the Day" are in most cases not within the public domain but copyrighted by their individual authors (so please do not upload images from there to Wikimedia Commons). Images on certain military websites (e.g. AKO) frequently are creations of military members in their individual capacities (e.g. soldiers on patrol using their personal cameras). These images may not be in the public domain, but they are very hard to distinguish from works of military photographers, and they rarely contain copyright information. Voice of America may sometimes use photos which are copyrighted by agencies like AP and Getty Images. As an exception to the rule, images submitted by individuals to the National Weather Service are public domain, as required as part of the photo submission process.
• This does not include governments of the individual states. The work of most state and local governments are subject to copyright, but there are some exceptions.
  • More specifically, most works by government agencies in California and Florida are in public domain, except specified agencies as stated.
  • Edicts of state and local governments, including judicial opinions, administrative rulings, legislative enactments, public ordinances, and similar official legal documents, are also ineligible for copyright protection as per Template:PD-US-GovEdict, making them in US public domain.
• This does not include government-funded corporations like Amtrak.
• This does not include works of employees of the USPS, as exempted in 1976 [5]. In particular, the USPS holds exclusive copyright to all US postage stamp designs since 1978 [6] (older US stamps are all considered public domain).
• This also does not include works commissioned by the US Government, but produced by contractors; in this case, the copyright may have been assigned to the US Government (for instance, the copyright of the official Ada programming language manual was assigned to the US Department of Defense).
• Some US government agencies may work in cooperation with other agencies or corporations; this is in particular the case of NASA, which operates the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in cooperation with Caltech, and operates a number of space projects in cooperation with foreign agencies such as ESA and CNES. Only materials solely produced by NASA are in the public domain. The other agencies may hold copyright on some material, including material published on NASA sites (in these cases there will be copyright notices— please look for them to determine copyright status).
• The government sometimes publishes images with statements about non-copyright restrictions (like the White House photostream). This does not affect copyright.
• Commercial use of some federal images, such as identifying insignia or identification, is prohibited however. Fraudulent use (such as wearing military decorations without authorization) is also banned. However, restrictions of this nature are not within the scope of Commons policy.
• The United States Army Institute of Heraldry—the official custodian of such images has addressed this issue with its Copyright statement, which informs the reader as to how to meet any commercial needs under this statute.

Edicts of Government

• Edicts of government are always public domain in whole or in part and applies to such works whether they are federal, state, or local as well as to those of foreign governments. This includes judicial opinions, administrative rulings, legislative enactments (laws, statutes), public ordinances, regulations, and similar official legal documents. In this case, the idea (the edict) and its expression (the text of the edict) are inseparable, as to change the legal text would be to change the law itself. Edicts of government may or may not overlap with works by the US Government.

Copyright tags

• {{PD-US}} – US work that is in the public domain in the US for an unspecified reason, but presumably because it was published in the US before 1929.
• {{PD-US-expired}} – published anywhere (or registered with the US Copyright Office) before 1929 and public domain in the US (preferred over {{PD-US}}).
• {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.
• {{PD-US-not renewed}} – US work published and copyrighted in the United States between 1929 and 1963, with its copyright not renewed.
• {{PD-US-no notice}} – US work published in the US between 1929 and 1978 but without a copyright notice.
• {{PD-US-no notice advertisement}} – advertisement published in the US between 1929 and 1978 in a collective work without a copyright notice specific to the advertisement.
• {{PD-US-1978-89}} – published in the United States between 1978 and March 1, 1989 but with neither copyright notice nor registration within 5 years.
• {{PD-US-unpublished}} – for works that were never published anywhere before 2003 and whose author died before 1954 or, if the author's year of death is unknown or inapplicable, were created before 1904.
• {{PD-US-record-expired}} – for sound recordings that were first published before January 1, 1924.
• {{PD-Edison Records}} – for public domain sound recordings from Edison Records.
• {{PD-EdictGov}} – for all edicts of government, which are in the public domain in the United States.
• {{PD-US-Codes-and-Standards-as-Statutory-Law}} – for US standards and codes that have become edicts of government when adopted, thereby losing copyright protection.
• {{PD-US-Medical imaging}} - medical imaging created in the United States without any particular originality or creativity to make it copyrightable.

See also #US States and Territories

US Government agencies

Shortcut

• COM:USGOV

• {{PD-USGov}} – for images created by the US Federal Government that are ineligible for copyright.

Judicial Branch

• {{PD-USGov-Judiciary}} – for federal Court case documents.

Legislative Branch

• {{PD-USGov-Congress}} – for public domain images from the United States Congress.
  • {{PD-USGov-Congress-AOC}} – for public domain images from the Architect of the Capitol.
  • {{PD-USGov-Congress-Speaker}} – for public domain images from the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
  • {{PD-USGov-GAO}} – for public domain media from the General Accounting Office.
  • See also #US Library of Congress public domain collections

Department of Agriculture

• {{PD-USGov-USDA}} – for public domain images from the United States Department of Agriculture.
  • {{PD-USGov-USDA-ARS}} – for public domain images from the Agricultural Research Service.
  • {{PD-USGov-USDA-FS}} – for public domain images from the Forest Service.
  • {{PD-USGov-USDA-NAL}} – for public domain images from the National Agricultural Library.
  • {{PD-USGov-USDA-NRCS}} – for public domain images from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
  • {{PD-USGov-FSA}} – for images from the defunct Farm Security Administration or Office of War Information.

Department of Commerce

• {{PD-USGov-DOC}} – for public domain images from the Department of Commerce.
  • {{PD-USGov-DOC-Census}} – public domain files from the US Census Bureau.
  • {{PD-USGov-NIST}} – for public domain images from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
  • {{PD-USGov-NOAA}} – for public domain images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
    • {{PD-NWS}} – for public domain media from the National Weather Service.
  • {{PD-US-patent}} – for public domain images released under US patent regulations.

Department of Defense

• {{PD-USGov-Military}} – for public domain images from the US military or Department of Defense.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-Air Force}} – for public domain images from the US Air Force.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-Air National Guard}} – for works of the Air National Guard.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-Army}} – for public domain images from the US Army.
    • {{PD-USGov-Military-Army-USACE}} – for public domain images from the US Army Corps of Engineers.
    • {{PD-USGov-Military-Army-USACMH}} – for public domain images from the US Army Center for Military History.
    • {{PD-USGov-Military-Army-USAIOH}} – for public domain images from the US Army Institute of Heraldry.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military award}} – for public domain images of military medals.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-Badge}} – for public domain images of military badges.
  • {{PD-USCG}} – for public domain images from the US Coast Guard.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-DVIC}} – for media from the Defense Visual Information Center.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-Marines}} – for public domain images from the US Marine Corps.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-MDA}} – for public domain images from the Missile Defense Agency.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-Navy}} – for public domain images from the US Navy.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-National Guard}} – for public domain images from the US National Guard.
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-NGA}} – for public domain data and images from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
  • {{PD-USGov-NRO}} – for public domain images from the National Reconnaissance Office.
  • {{PD-USGov-NSA}} – for public domain images from the National Security Agency.
  • {{PD-WSMRM}} – for images from the White Sands Missile Range Museum website.

Department of Education

• {{PD-USGov-ED}} – for public domain images from the Department of Education.

Department of Energy

• {{PD-USGov-DOE}} – for public domain images from the Department of Energy.
  • {{PD-LosAlamos}} – for DOE public domain images from the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
  • {{PD-USGov-ARM}} – for public domain images from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program.

Department of Health and Human Services

• {{PD-USGov-HHS}} – for public domain images from the Department of Health and Human Services.
  • {{PD-USGov-HHS-CDC}} – for public domain images from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    • {{PD-USGov-HHS-NIOSH}} – for public domain images from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
  • {{PD-USGov-FDA}} – for public domain images from the Food and Drug Administration.
  • {{PD-USGov-HHS-NIH}} or {{PD-USGov-NIH}} – for public domain media from the National Institutes of Health.
    • {{PD-USGov-NIH-NIAID}} – for public domain images from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
      • {{PD-USGov-NIH-NIAID-Videos}} – for public domain images from a list of public domain videos of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
    • {{PD-USGov-NCBI-scienceprimer}} – for public domain images from the National Center for Biotechnology Information's Science Primer.
  • {{PD-USGov-PHS}} – for public domain images from the United States Public Health Service.

Department of Homeland Security

• {{PD-USGov-DHS}} – for public domain images from the Department of Homeland Security.
  • {{PD-USCG}} – for public domain images from the US Coast Guard.
  • {{PD-USGov-FEMA}} – for public domain images from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Department of Housing and Urban Development

• {{PD-USGov-HUD}} – for public domain images from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Department of the Interior

• {{PD-USGov-Interior}} – for public domain images from the Department of the Interior.
  • {{PD-USGov-BLM}} – for public domain images from the Bureau of Land Management.
  • {{PD-USGov-Interior-BOEMRE}} – for public domain images from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
  • {{PD-USGov-FWS}} – for public domain images from the Fish and Wildlife Service.
  • {{PD-USGov-USGS}} – for public domain images from the United States Geological Survey.
    • {{PD-USGov-Interior-USGS-Minerals}} – for public domain images from the USGS Minerals in Your World project.
    • {{PD-USGov-Interior-USGS-NBII}} – for public domain images from the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Digital Image Library.
  • {{PD-USGov-Interior-HABS}} – for public domain images from the Historic American Buildings Survey.
  • {{PD-USGov-Interior-MMS}} – for public domain images from the Minerals Management Service.
  • {{PD-USGov-NPS}} - for public domain images from the National Park Service.
    • {{PD-USGov-NPS-HAER}} - National Park Service - Historic American Engineering Record.
  • {{PD-USGov-Interior-USBR}} – for public domain images from the Bureau of Reclamation.
  • {{PD-USGov-Atlas}} – for public domain images from the National Atlas of the United States.
  • {{PD-USGov-AVO}} – for images from web cameras operated by the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Department of Justice

• {{PD-USGov-DOJ}} – for public domain images from the Department of Justice.
  • {{PD-USGov-DEA}} – for public domain images from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
  • {{PD-USGov-FBI}} – for public domain images from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Department of Labor

• {{PD-USGov-DOL}} – for public domain images from the Department of Labor.

Department of State

• {{PD-USGov-DOS}} – for public domain images from the Department of State.
  • {{PD-USGov-USIA}} – for public domain images from the now-defunct United States Information Agency.

Department of Transportation

• {{PD-USGov-DOT}} – for public domain images from the Department of Transportation.
  • {{PD-USGov-MUTCD}} – for images taken from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
  • {{PD-USGov-FAA}} – for public domain images from Federal Aviation Administration.
  • {{PD-USGov-NTSB}} – for public domain images from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Department of the Treasury

• {{PD-USGov-Treasury}} – for public domain images from the Department of the Treasury.
  • {{PD-USGov-money}} – for images of the official currency of the United States that are ineligible for copyright.

Department of Veterans Affairs

• {{PD-USGov-DVA}} – for public domain images from the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Independent agencies

• {{PD-USGov-BBG}} – for public domain images created by Broadcasting Board of Governors.
  • {{PD-USGov-VOA}} – for public domain images from the Voice of America [7].
• {{PD-USGov-CIA}} – for public domain media from the Central Intelligence Agency.
  • {{PD-USGov-CIA-WF}} – for public domain images from the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook.
• {{PD-USGov-EPA}} – for public domain images from the Environmental Protection Agency.
• {{PD-USGov-Federal Reserve}} – for public domain images from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
• {{PD-USGov-NASA}} – for public domain images from NASA.
  • {{PD-WorldWind}} – for public domain images taken with NASA's World Wind
  • {{PD-USGov-NASA-SRTM}} – data from http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/. Note, this is not a copyright tag, but simply a source information tag
  • {{PD-USGov-NASA-AP|mission=mission|roll=roll|frame=frame}} – data from http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/. Parameters are photography code. Note: unlike the following tag, this is not a copyright tag, but simply a source information tag.
  • {{PD-USGov-NASA-AP}} – for US Astronauts' Photographs.
• {{PD-USGov-NSF}} – for public domain images from the National Science Foundation.
• {{PD-USGov-ODNI}} - for public domain images from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
• {{PD-USGov-PC}} – for public domain images from the Peace Corps.
• {{PD-USGov-POTUS}} – for public domain images from the Executive Office of the President of the United States.
• {{PD-USGov-SI}} – for public domain images from the Smithsonian Institution
• {{PD-USGov-USAID}} – for public domain images from USAID.
• {{PD-USGov-USTR}} – for public domain images from the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
• {{PD-USGov-WPA}} – for public domain images from the defunct Works Progress Administration.
• {{PD-USGov-TVA}} – for public domain images from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• {{PD-USGov-Award}} – for an image of an award or decoration of an agency of the federal government of the United States.

US Library of Congress public domain collections

See also: Commons:Library of Congress

• {{PD-LOC-911}} – for the 250 images from the Collection of unattributed photographs of the September 11th terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, New York City.
• {{PD-Abdul Hamid}} – for images from the Abdul-Hamid II Collection.
• {{PD-Bain}} – for images from the George Grantham Bain Collection.
• {{PD-Brady-Handy}} – for images from the Brady-Handy Collection.
• {{PD-Carpenter}} – for images from the Carpenter Collection.
• {{PD-CQ Roll Call}} – for public domain photos from the CQ Roll Call Photograph Collection.
• {{PD-Curtis}} – for images from the Edward S. Curtis Collection.
• {{PD-Detroit}} – for images from the Detroit Publishing Company Collection.
• {{PD-Frissell}} – for images from the Toni Frissell Collection.
• {{PD-Gotfryd}} – for images from the Bernard Gotfryd Collection.
• {{PD-Gottlieb}} – for images from the William P. Gottlieb Collection.
• {{PD-Gottscho}} – for images from the Gottscho-Schleisner Collection.
• {{PD-Harris-Ewing}} – for images from the Harris & Ewing Collection.
• {{PD-Highsmith}} – for images from the Carol Highsmith Collection.
• {{PD-Johnston}} – for images from the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection.
• {{PD-Korab}} – for images from the Balthazar Korab Collection.
• {{PD-Look}} for images from the LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection
• {{PD-Matson}} – for images from the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection.
• {{PD-National Photo Company}} – for public domain images from the National Photo Company Collection.
• {{PD-NCLC}} for works from the National Child Labor Committee collection
• {{PD-NYWT&S}} – for public domain images from the New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection.
• {{PD-USNWR}} – for public domain images from the US News & World Report Collection.
• {{PD-Underwood}} – for public domain images by Underwood & Underwood in the general Library of Congress catalog
• {{PD-Van Vechten}} – for images from the Carl Van Vechten Collection.
• {{PD-VAR}} – for images from the Theatrical Poster Collection

US States

• See also public domain status of official US government works and Copyright status of works by US subnational governments

• {{PD-CAGov}} – for images created by the State of California.
• {{PD-FLGov}} – for images created by the Government of the US State of Florida that are ineligible for copyright.
• {{PD-MAGov}} – for works created by the State of Massachusetts.
• {{PD-MGS}} – for maps and reports created by the Minnesota Geological Survey and released to the public domain; attribution is requested.
• {{Iowa General Assembly official portrait permission}} – for official portraits of Iowa state legislators.
• {{PD-WSRC}} – for images created by the Washington State Redistricting Commission and released to the public domain; attribution is requested.
• {{PD-OK-LSBPD}} – for images created by the State of Oklahoma’s Legislative Service Bureau, Photo Division
• {{PD-MEGov}} - for information developed by the network manager for InforME and public information made available through InforME
• {{PD-Auburn}} - for files made by the government of the City of Auburn, Alabama.

US Territories

• {{PD-PRGov}} – for images created by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
• {{PD-USGov-Unincorporated}} – used for work created by governments of "W:Unorganized territories" (excluding American Samoa), because they are considered part of the US Federal Government) and hence their works are ineligible for copyright.

Work of Organized Territories has less clear status; the first link in this section shows strong evidence that Puerto Rico's works are in the public domain, while the second link prevaricates. Flags and coats of arms seem to follow the same laws as the US

American Samoa

• {{PD-American Samoa}} — used for works made in American Samoa so long as the work has not been copyrighted elsewhere in the United States. Further information: Commons:Copyright rules by territory/American Samoa

Miscellaneous

Currency

Coins

OK for some but not all

Many but not all coins or bills produced by the United States Mint are in the public domain as works of the Federal Government. Some were designed by third parties who assigned rights to the Mint. These are typically commemorative coins for special occasions and the copyright is described in their marketing materials; another example is the obverse of the golden dollar.[8] The status of each coin or bill should be assessed individually. Please see Commons:Determining if U.S. coins are free to use for help in determining the copyright status of US coinage.

• USMint.gov: Dos and Don’ts for Businesses Interested in Creating, Advertising, and Selling Replicas of US Coins

Banknotes

OK

"Color illustrations" of banknotes appear to be permitted if they respect the following conditions (from 18 US Code § 504 and 31 CFR § 411.1):

• the illustration is of a size less than three-fourths or more than one and one-half, in linear dimension, of each part of the item illustrated;
• the illustration is one-sided; and
• all negatives, plates, positives, digitized storage medium, graphic files, magnetic medium, optical storage devices and any other thing used in the making of the illustration that contain an image of the illustration or any part thereof are destroyed and/or deleted or erased after their final use.

• uscurrency.gov – Currency Image Use

Please use {{PD-USGov-money}} for relevant US currency images.

See also: Category:United States currency-related deletion requests

De minimis

The United States courts interpret the de minimis defense in three distinct ways:

1. Where a technical violation is so trivial that the law will not impose legal consequences;
2. Where the extent of copying falls below the threshold of substantial similarity (always a required element of actionable copying); and
3. In connection with fair use (not relevant here, since Commons does not allow fair use images).

It is the first of these that is often of particular concern on Commons.

As found in Ets-Hokin v. Skyy Spirits, Inc., a photograph of a bottle is not a derivative work of its label (though in this particular case, the label also happened to be below the threshold of originality):

“

We need not, however, decide whether the label is copyrightable because Ets-Hokin's product shots are based on the bottle as a whole, not on the label. The whole point of the shots was to capture the bottle in its entirety. The defendants have cited no case holding that a bottle of this nature may be copyrightable, and we are aware of none. Indeed, Skyy's position that photographs of everyday, functional, noncopyrightable objects are subject to analysis as derivative works would deprive both amateur and commercial photographers of their legitimate expectations of copyright protection. Because Ets-Hokin's product shots are shots of the bottle as a whole—a useful article not subject to copyright protection—and not shots merely, or even mainly, of its label, we hold that the bottle does not qualify as a "preexisting work " within the meaning of the Copyright Act. As such, the photos Ets-Hokin took of the bottle cannot be derivative works.

”

Freedom of panorama

OK for buildings only {{FoP-US}}

Buildings are works subject to copyright in the US according to 17 USC 102(a)(8) since the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act was passed in 1990. It applies to all buildings that were completed after December 1, 1990, even if begun before, or where the plans were published after that date.

However, the US federal copyright law explicitly exempts "pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations" of copyrighted buildings from the copyright of the building in 17 USC 120(a). Anyone may paint, draw, or photograph buildings from public places. This includes such interior public spaces as lobbies, auditoriums, etc. The creator holds the exclusive copyright to such an image (the architect or owner of the building has no say whatsoever), and may publish the image in any way. 17 USC 120 applies only to architectural works, not to other works of visual art, such as statues or sculptures.

This means that for buildings completed before December 1, 1990, there is complete FoP, without regard to whether the building is visible from a public place, because the building is public domain, except for the plans. For photos of such buildings, the license tag {{PD-US-architecture}} can be used (along with a license tag for the photo.) For buildings completed after December 1, 1990, freedom is given only to photograph such a building. This includes style elements such as gargoyles and pillars, which are protected only from three-dimensional reproduction (Leicester v. Warner Bros.).

Note that copyright applies only to "buildings".

"The term building means structures that are habitable by humans and intended to be both permanent and stationary, such as houses and office buildings, and other permanent and stationary structures designed for human occupancy, including but not limited to churches, museums, gazebos, and garden pavilions."

All such works are copyrighted and, therefore, covered by the FOP exemption only if they are visible from a public place.

"Bridges, cloverleafs, dams, highways or walkways are not ‘buildings’ under the definition of architectural works."

In the US, such works do not have a copyright and therefore may be photographed freely, whether or not from a public place. For images of such works, {{PD-structure|USA}} can be used. They do have copyrights in many other countries.

Originality requirement for architecture

This discussion must be considered qualified by the requirement under US law that a work, including a derivative work, must display originality to be protectable under copyright law. See Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co. in the English Wikipedia. More specifically, in the case of derivative works, it has been held, in Durham Industries, Inc. v. Tomy Corp. and earlier in L. Batlin & Son, Inc. v. Snyder. that a derivative work must be original relative to the underlying work on which it is based. Otherwise, it cannot enjoy copyright protection and copying it will not infringe any copyright of the derivative work itself (although copying it may infringe the copyright, if any, of the underlying work on which the derivative work was based). For further discussion of this issue, see the Wikipedia article Derivative work.

For a legal discussion, see Wikilegal/Pictorial Representations Architectural Works.

Artworks and sculptures

 Not OK. {{NoFoP-US}} (category-only template)

Note: Please tag United States no-FoP for public art deletion requests: <noinclude>[[Category:United States FOP cases/pending]]</noinclude>

For artworks, even if permanently installed in public places, the US copyright law has no similar exception, and any publication of an image of a copyrighted artwork thus is subject to the approval of the copyright holder of the artwork. However, public artwork installed before 1929 is considered to be public domain, and can be photographed freely. In addition, any public artwork installed before 1978 without a copyright notice is also in the public domain (unless the copyright owner actively prevented anyone from copying or photographing the work until 1978). In these situations, document the date of installation and the creator (sculptor) of the pictured work as much as possible. (A good resource for finding information about US sculptures is the Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog.)

Applicable templates:

• For public artwork installed before 1929, use {{PD-US}} or {{PD-US-expired}}.
• For public artwork installed between 1929 and 1977 inclusive, use {{PD-US-no notice}} or {{PD-US-not renewed}}.

The line of argument that a large sculpture or memorial is a building and therefore covered by the FOP exemption was specifically rejected in Federal claims court (Gaylord v. The United States, 2008), which noted that the building exemption to the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act (AWCPA) does not extend to "The Column" sculpture in the Korean War Veterans Memorial because "[t]he structures used in the definition of 'building' by the Copyright Office are intended to house individuals; either for the sake of providing shelter or for another purpose such as religious services."[9] While the court ruled in favor of the defendant under a fair use rationale it was later overturned in favor of the plaintiff; the photograph was deemed a derivative work. The court also contended that had Congress intended to extend the AWCPA to monuments and memorials, the law would have been drafted to reflect that in the first place.

For further legal discussion, see Wikilegal/Copyright of Images of Memorials in the US.

Examples

Charging Bull

• Arts, Briefly; Sculptor Files Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart (September 23, 2006 article by New York Times)
• Suit Alleges Illegal Use of 'Charging Bull' Image (September 22, 2006 article by Los Angeles Times)
• Artist sues Random House in NYC over book cover (August 4, 2009 article by Auction Central News)

Cloud Gate

• Kapoor v. NRA: A Fair Use Analysis (by Creative Law Center)

Graffiti by street artist Revok

• H&M's battle with the artist Revok shows how street art is being taken seriously (March 16, 2018 article by The Washington Post)
• In settlement, Revok and H&M pledge donations to Detroit arts groups (September 6, 2018 by Detroit Free Press)

Korean War Veterans Memorial

• Korea memorial sculptor wins copyright case (September 20, 2013 article by USA Today)
• Gaylord v. United States, 595 F.3d 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (by US Copyright Office)
• FRANK GAYLORD v. UNITED STATES, No. 06-539C (by United States Court of Federal Claims)

Portlandia

• So Sue Us – Why the Portlandia statue failed to become an icon (September 9, 2014 article by Willamette Week archived on November 27, 2022)

Statue of Liberty replica, New York-New York Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

• The United States v Davidson—Copyright infringement of a Replica Statue of Liberty. Copyright for creative copycats? (by Infusion Lawyers)
• Judge Eric Bruggink's opinion (by United States Court of Federal Claims)

Three Servicemen or Three Soldiers

• THE THREE SERVICEMAN STATUE USE REQUEST (by Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund)
• Unusual Arrangement Gives Royalties to Sculptor of Vietnam Vets Statue (1987 article by The Associated Press)

For further information, refer to Commons:Public art and copyrights in the US and the following resources:

• 17 USC 120(a)
• Towards a Functional Definition of Publication in Copyright Law
• Travel Photography and the Law
• Information from photostop.istep.com
• American Society of Media Photography on panorama freedom (archive)
• Article in www.sculpture.org on photos of sculptures

For foreign works considered under US law:

Use {{Not-free-US-FOP}}.

Foreign works from countries that have a relevant freedom of panorama may fall under US law for copyright issues within the US. Under the choice-of-law principle lex loci protectionis, US courts might apply US freedom of panorama standards in such cases, rather than the standards of the source country. However, in practice, it is unsettled whether and how this approach would be applied in real-world US legal cases involving freedom of panorama elements.

See {{Not-free-US-FOP}} and Commons:Requests for comment/Non-US Freedom of Panorama under US copyright law.

Algorithmic and AI-created works

In the United States, copyright can only be assigned to "works independently created by a human author"[10]. The copyright office has denied copyright registration to creative works "created by artificial intelligence without any creative contribution from a human actor"[11] and states that "The U.S. Copyright Office will refuse to register a claim in a work that is created through the operation of a machine or process without sufficient human interaction, even if the design is randomly generated" [12].

Stamps

According to Title 17 of the United States Code, the copyright status of stamps depends on when they were first issued.

Before 1978

In the public domain as a work of the federal government. Use {{PD-USGov}}

1978 onward

Copyrighted by the United States Postal Service after 1 January 1978 (the date on which the Copyright Act of 1976 went into effect). Written permission is needed.

Threshold of originality

These images are OK to upload to Commons, because they are below the threshold of originality required for copyright protection.

• 
  Bridgeman v Corel 36 F. Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999): court ruling that 2D photographs of the original art has no valid claims for new copyrights (case description)
• 
  NFL abandoned its copyright claims on the fleur-de-lis (news report)
• 
  Best Western hotels: Consists of letters plus a simple border. None of these is eligible for copyright protection in United States. (authority)
• 
  DUB magazine: Consists of letters only. None of these is eligible for copyright protection in United States. (authority)
• 
  Nikken USA Inc. (authority)
• 
  Bruce Lee core symbol (authority)
• 
  New York Arrows logo (case report)
• 
  Car Credit City logo: Copyright office ruled this logo too simple to be protected, but a slightly more complicated version (shown in the linked letter) was accepted for registration (authority)
• 
  Symbols for "Myst" (authority)
• 
  Letter S (authority)
• 
  (authority)
• 
  Registration was cancelled (authority)
• 
  Registration refused (authority)
• 
  Ets-Hokin v Skyy Spirits Inc.: Photo is eligible for copyright protection, but not the bottle
• 
  A plastic version lacked originality (L Batlin & Son v. Snyder)
• 
  Koosh balls; "inseparable", OddzOn Products, Inc. v. Oman (case report)
• 
  Map of Arkansas: Addition of shading, colors, labels to a free black and white outline map (case report)
• 
  Avenue of the Saints logo; registration refused despite compilation copyright claim for arrangement of otherwise unprotectable elements (authority)
• 
  Geek Squad logo (authority)
• 
  Subway logo (authority)
• 
  Discover It logo: the Copyright Office found that the elements, including the shading effect, were insufficiently creative to be copyright-eligible (authority)
• 
  Cyberpunk 2077 logo (authority)
• 
  Los Angeles FC logo (authority)
• 
  Nikon logo (authority)
• 
  San Francisco Shock logo (authority)
• 
  Commvault Systems hexagon logo (authority)
• 
  American Made Logo (authority)
• 
  Jamba Juice logo (authority)
• 
  “Art” by On Kawara
• 
  Book by On Kawara, which consists only of dates.

Despite repeated requests, the US Copyright Office found the Vodafone speechmark (shaded version) ineligible for copyright protection. It cannot, however, be uploaded to Commons because it's a UK logo.

These are  Not OK to upload to Commons (unless published under a free license by the copyright holder), because they are above the threshold of originality required for copyright protection.

• These two "no soliciting" signs, although arguably relatively simple, have been issued copyright registration numbers by the United States Copyright Office, which means that they have been reviewed and determined to be eligible for copyright protection. It should be noted that the copyright registration applies to the images as a whole, including their borders.
• A variant of File:CarCreditCity.png with an extra border.
• American Airlines flight symbol VA0002130520; Copyright Office initially refused copyright as being just below the threshold, but upon a higher-resolution submission of the artwork, decided that the shading plus the arrangement pushed the logo just above the threshold and granted a registration. (DR)
• w:File:Disney Junior.svg (VA0001927957).
• w:File:Prince logo.svg (VA0000832222).
• The "Omega Globe Design" (VAu000574660) was assumed to be copyrightable by the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals.
• Works from other countries which are above the threshold of originality of the United States but below the threshold of originality of the source country (Hasbro Bradley, Inc. v. Sparkle Toys, Inc.)
• New "pan and scan" versions of films where a widescreen film has been resized to fit the size of a TV screen even if the existing widescreen film is uncopyrighted (Maljack Productions, Inc. v. UAV Corp.)
• In 1951, this mezzotint reproduction of an existing uncopyrighted painting was found to be copyrightable.
• The clothing designs found on pp. 4–5 of the Sixth Circuit's decision in Varsity Brands et al. v. Star Athletica (2015).
• The PAC 12 shield logo en:File:Pac-12 logo.svg (V3617D047).

• 
  VA0001789579 (and CC-BY 3.0)

• File:Five-element-cycles.jpg ([13]): The arrangement is under a copyright, according to WMF Legal.
• w:File:BP Helios logo.svg is eligible for copyright in the US according to WMF legal, though "not by a lot, but just enough". Note that Commons policy on the country of origin requires this logo to be judged by UK standards. The creativity needed for copyright protection in the UK and most other common law countries is much lower; legal only commented on the threshold of originality in the United States.
• File:REMAX hot air balloon logo.svg: The logo was denied copyright registration as a trivial simplification of an earlier 1998 logo. However, that does not mean that the work as a whole is uncopyrightable; it is still a derivative work of the original logo, and DR consensus was that unlike File:Mickey Mouse head and ears.svg, the derivative still had sufficient creative elements to be copyrightable.

• 
  VA0001427710 (and Apache License 2.0)
• 
  VA0001950611 (and Apache License 2.0)

• w:File:PBS logo.svg and w:File:PBS (1984-2019) logo.svg: The PBS logo (VA0001310087). Also see DR1 and DR2
• Juneteenth flag (on English Wikipedia as en:File:Juneteenth flag.webp) (VAu000488555)

Paintings

 Not OK for most paintings.

Even seemingly simple paintings consisting of geometric shapes are often copyrighted due to details that may not be immediately obvious to the viewer.

• Photographic reproductions of paintings by Mark Rothko have been granted registration by the US Copyright Office, so it is reasonable to assume that the original works are also copyrighted.
  • Red, white and brown (VA0000089094)

Other

Although the threshold of originality for non-graphic works (such as architecture and sound recordings) follow the same standards, such cases can be difficult to determine.

• The five-note melody that typically accompanies Intel's logo was granted copyright protection because it "combined and blended synthesized, digital sounds" and was "refined and mastered with a special spatial enhancer."
• Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate is a relatively simple 3D sculpture that was deemed eligible for copyright (VA0001983425)
• The replica of public domain object Statue of Liberty in New York-New York Hotel and Casino is deemed eligible for copyright, also the United States Postal Service is being sued for copyright infringement for famously (and mistakenly) using this statue instead of the real Statue of Liberty on its Forever stamps. (VAu001149387 and VA0001882070) also see (DR1) (DR2)

Signatures

OK for a typical signature. In Copyright circular Number 1 the US Copyright Office sets out a list of things on which copyright protection cannot be granted, including "Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; and mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring."

The US Copyright Compendium, chapter 503.02(2) states that copyright will be denied to a character of Chinese calligraphy painted upon horizontally striated grass cloth. It states that "like typography, calligraphy is not copyrightable as such, notwithstanding the effect achieved by calligraphic brush strokes across a striated surface". Thus, it appears that calligraphy cannot be protected and, by analogy, signatures.

In Commons talk:Licensing/Archive 11#Autographs.2Fsignatures, there is a reference to User:BrokenSphere having sent an email to the US Copyright Office, and receiving the reply "A signature is not protected by copyright".

If the signature is sufficiently complex to be considered a protectable artistic work in the US (akin to a non-trivial drawing), it cannot be hosted on Commons regardless of the position under local law unless it has been licensed under a compatible license or would have fallen into the public domain under some other rule (e.g. expiration of copyright).

Copyright formalities

Works published in the United States before certain dates require an increasingly stringent level of compliance with copyright formalities in order to remain copyrighted; otherwise, they fall into the public domain. This section attempts to describe these cases in detail.

Not renewed (before 1964)

In order to conclude that a work is {{PD-US-not-renewed}}, a thorough search of the copyright registry must be performed.

If a work is based on a previously published work which has been renewed, failure to renew copyright in the derivative work would only cause the additional expression present in the derivative work to fall into the public domain, so the derivative work as a whole remains copyrighted. An example is It's a Wonderful Life#Ownership and copyright issues, where the film's copyright failed to be renewed due to a clerical error, but as it was based on a short story called The Greatest Gift which was properly renewed, the film remains copyrighted. For this specific case, it is generally acceptable to upload individual screenshots of the film since their reliance on the story is minimal, but not video of the film.

No notice (before 1978)

In order to conclude that a work is {{PD-US-no notice}}, care must be exercised to ensure that the work truly has no copyright notice. In general, finding an image of a two-dimensional work (which would fall under {{PD-scan}} if the original work is public domain) on the Internet with no notice does not prove that it has no notice, as there could be a notice on the original hard copy, such as on a part of the page cropped out of the scan, on the back side of the page, or on a different page if the work came from a book/pamphlet. For memorabilia such as postcards, auction sites such as eBay can be a good resource to find images of the full item on both sides. For public art installed prior to 1978, the mere act of placing it in public view where people can make copies constitutes publication. For a photo of public art, a combination of the photo itself, other photos on the Internet (which need not be freely licensed, so long as there is no reason to doubt their authenticity), and mapping services like Google Street View can be used to establish the lack of a copyright notice. The Smithsonian Art Catalog is a useful resource for finding information about artworks. See Commons:Public art and copyrights in the US for more details.

The situation can become extremely complicated if a work is distributed via multiple authorized channels, only some of which carry a notice. According to the Copyright Act of 1909, "Where the copyright proprietor has sought to comply with the provisions of this title with respect to notice, the omission by accident or mistake of the prescribed notice from a particular copy or copies shall not invalidate the copyright or prevent recovery for infringement against any person who, after actual notice of the copyright, begins an undertaking to infringe it, but shall prevent the recovery of damages against an innocent infringer who has been misled by the omission of the notice; and in a suit for infringement no permanent injunction shall be had unless the copyright proprietor shall reimburse to the innocent infringer his reasonable outlay innocently incurred if the court, in its discretion, shall so direct." The 1973 Copyright Compendium explains in greater detail:

“

If the Office is informed that the great bulk at the published copies of a work bore an appropriate notice, but that the notice was accidentally omitted from a very few of the published copies, registration may be made. In such cases, if the deposit copies do not bear the notice, copies with the notice will be requested. If a considerable number of copies have been pub­lished without notice, registration will be denied. If the entire first edition of a work was published without notice, registration will be denied even if the first edition consisted of a relatively small number of copies.

”

As in the renewal case, failure to include a notice on a derivative work does not invalidate the copyright on the original work, so in such a case neither the original nor the derivative can be uploaded to Commons. However, a fully original portion of the derivative work (if possible to isolate, which is not always the case) would be acceptable.

If there is a notice but it fails to comply with certain constraints, it may fall under {{PD-US-defective notice}}. The most basic requirements are given in the text of the copyright tag, but for more details see the 1973 Copyright Compendium.

No notice and unregistered (before March 1989)

In order to conclude that a work is {{PD-US-1978-89}}, the requirements of the previous section must be met, and a thorough search of the copyright registry over the next five years must be performed.

Regarding the specific definition of "no notice", the 1984 Copyright Compendium is similar to the 1973 edition:

“

Omission of copyright notice. Where the notice is omitted from more than a relatively small number of copies or phonorecords distributed by authority of the copyright owner, and registration is being made within five years of the date of publication without notice, the Copyright Office may warn that the law requires, in addition to registration, that a reasonable effort must be made to add the notice to all copies or phonorecords that are distributed to the public in the United States after the omission has been discovered. See 17 U.S.C. 405(a). Registration. Registration is not possible for works published without notice or with a fatally deficient notice by authority of the copyright owner, if more than five years have elapsed since such publication. There are, however two exceptions to this general rule: 1) where the notice has been omitted from no more than a relatively small number of copies or phonorecords distributed to the public; or 2) where the notice has been omitted in vio­lation of an express requirement in writing that, as a condition of the copyright owner's authorization of the public distribution of copies or phonorecords, they contain the prescribed copyright notice. In these two instances, there is no need for registration to correct the omission. Registration in these cases may be made at any time during the subsistence of the copyright. See 17 U.S.C. 405(a).

”

If there is a notice but it fails to comply with certain constraints, it may fall under {{PD-US-defective notice-1978-89}}. The basic requirements are given in the text of the copyright tag.

External links

• Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States Cornell University Library Copyright Information Center
• Copyright Catalog (1978 to present)
• USA.gov's list of public government domains and URLs that don't end in .gov or .mil

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:Uruguay

Uruguay

Copyright rules: Uruguay Shortcut: COM:URUGUAY
Durations
Standard	Life + 70 years
Anonymous	Publish + 70 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	Yes
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-Uruguay}} {{PD-Uruguay-anon}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	URY
Treaties
Berne convention	10 July 1967
Univ. Copyright Convention	12 April 1993
WTO member	1 January 1995
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	20 October 2006
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Uruguay relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Uruguay must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Uruguay 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 Uruguay, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

Uruguay was colonized by the Spanish in the early 18th century, and gained independence between 1811 and 1828,

Uruguay has been a member of the Berne Convention since 10 July 1967, the Universal Copyright Convention since 12 April 1993, the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 20 October 2006.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 9.739 of December 17, 1937, on Literary and Artistic Property (as amended up to Law No. 18.046 of October 24, 2006) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Uruguay. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.

In 2019, the term was extended from 50 to 70 years. This extension applies retroactively. Therefore, works by authors who died between 1949 and 1968 would no longer be in the public domain.

General rules

Under the Law of 1937 as amended up to 2006 and 2019,

• Literary, scientific or artistic works are protected for 70 years after the death of the author. This duration is retroactive, so works may have entered the public domain and then returned to copyright protection.^{[18.046/2006 Article 14]}
• Posthumous works are protected for 70 years after death of the author, but fall into the public domain if not published, performed or exhibited in the 10 years following the death of the author.^{[18.046/2006 Article 14]}
• Anonymous and pseudonymous works are protected for 50 years from publication.^{[18.046/2006 Article 17]}
• Collective works are protected for 70 years after publication, or if they are not published for 70 years after making or disclosure [18.046/2006 Article 17]. Unless agreed to the contrary, authorization for use of an article, drawing, cartoon, caricature, photograph etc. in a periodical or magazine where the author is not an employee gives the publisher only the right to use it once. The other patrimonial rights of the assignor or licensor are safeguarded.^{[18.046/2006 Article 22–24]}

Durations are calculated from 1 January of the year following death, making, publication or disclosure, as applicable.^{[18.046/2006 Article 17]}

Privacy

A portrait of a person may not be put on the market without the express consent of such person, and upon his death, the death of his spouse, his children or his parents. A portrait may be freely published when it is made for scientific, didactic and, in general, cultural purposes or where this is related to facts or events of public interest which have taken place in public.^{[18.046/2006 Article 21]}

Public domain: not free

Article 6 of Law No 17.616 of 10 January 2003 states that when works of art or sculpture that have fallen in the public domain are resold at auction, in a commercial establishment or through the agency of a broker or dealer, the sale is subject to payment of a tariff of 3% on the resale price.^{[18.046/2006 Article 11]}

The Copyright Council shall administer and take care of literary and artistic assets incorporated in the public and the State domain.^{[2006 Article 61]} The proceeds from fees, fines, etc., to which the public or the State domain are entitled, shall be intended preferably for the Services of Art and Culture.^{[18.046/2006 Article 62]} Law 16.297 of 12 August 1992, Article 1, created the National Fund for the Dramatic Art. This supports and disseminates dramatic art throughout Uruguay using funds collected under Article 62.

Copyright tags

• {{PD-Uruguay}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired (70 years after the author's death).
• {{PD-Uruguay-anon}} – for anonymous works published more than 70 years ago.

Currency

 Not OK. The Central Bank of Uruguay exclusively issues bank notes and mints coins throughout Uruguay. State, municipality and public-law entities are holders of copyright, where, in any mode recognized by law, they acquire ownership of one of the works protected by the copyright law. State works have perpetual copyright.^{[18.046/2006 Article 40]}

Freedom of panorama

OK {{FoP-Uruguay}} Reproduction is not unlawful: ... The photographic reproduction of paintings, monuments, or allegorical figures exhibited in museums, parks or public promenades, provided that the works in question are considered to be outside the private domain.^{[18.046/2019 Article 45.8]}

Uruguayan freedom of panorama is applicable to images of copyrighted architecture, monuments, and public art found in public spaces as well as within museums, provided that the said works are dedicated for public view and not confined to a particular private owner ("dominio privado").

See also Commons talk:Freedom of panorama/Archive 7#Statues images for the discussion on the Uruguayan FoP.

See also: Category:Uruguayan FOP cases.

Citations

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:Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Copyright rules: Uzbekistan Shortcut: COM:UZBEKISTAN
Durations
Standard	Life + 70 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Posthumous	Publish + 70 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	No
Common licence tags	{{PD-UZ-exempt}} {{PD-Uzbekistan}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	UZB
Treaties
Berne convention	19 April 2005
URAA restoration date‌*	19 April 2005
WIPO treaty	17 July 2019
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Uzbekistan relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Uzbekistan must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Uzbekistan 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 Uzbekistan, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

What is now Uzbekistan was taken over by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was created in 1924 as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. During the breakup of the Soviet Union Uzbekistan declared independence on 31 August 1991.

Uzbekistan has been a member of the Berne Convention since 19 April 2005 and the WIPO Copyright treaty since 17 July 2019.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Law No. LRU-42 of July 20, 2006, on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended up to Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. LRU-476 of April 18, 2018) as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Uzbekistan. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.

In 2021, an amendment to the forementioned copyright law is passed, which extended copyright protection for 70 years.

General rules

Under Law No. LRU-42 as amended up to Law LRU-476 of August 20, 2021,

• Copyright has effect throughout the life of the author and for 70 years after the his death, except as provided by this Article and other laws.^{[LRU-476/2021 Article 35]}
• Copyright in a work of joint authorship has effect for life of the co-authors and 70 years after the death of the last surviving author.^{[LRU-476/2021 Article 35]}
• Copyright in a work lawfully made public under a pseudonym or anonymously is valid for 50 years after its publication.^{[LRU-476/2018 Article 35]}
• Copyright in a work first published after the author's death, is valid for 70 years after its release to the public.^{[LRU-476/2021 Article 35]}

Calculation of the terms stipulated in this article begins with the first day of January next following the year in which the legal act occurred that marks the beginning of the period.^{[LRU-476/2018 Article 35]}

Not protected

The following are not objects of copyright: official documents (laws, regulations, decisions, etc.), as well as their official translations; official symbols and signs (flags, emblems, orders, banknotes, etc.); Folk products; reports on current events daily news or messages that are regular press information.^{[LRU-476/2018 Article 8]}

Copyright tags

• {{PD-UZ-exempt}} – for official documents (law, resolutions, decisions, etc.) as well as their official translations; official symbols and signs (flags, arms, orders, banknotes, etc.); national creative works; reports about the news of the day or current events having the nature of usual press conference; results received with help of equipment designed for some kind of production without the person's implementation of creative activity directly associated with the creation of individual work.^{[LRU-476/2018 Article 8]}
• {{PD-Uzbekistan}} – for works in the public domain according to Uzbekistanian law (70 years after the author's death).^{[LRU-476/2021 Article 35]}

Currency

OK Uzbekistan currency is not copyrighted. Monetary items, together with other state symbols, are explicitly excluded from copyright by article 8 of Copyright law of Uzbekistan.^{[LRU-476/2018 Article 8]} Drafts for such items, however, are copyrighted by their authors.^{[LRU-476/2018 Article 9]}

Please use {{PD-UZ-exempt}} for Uzbekistan currency images.

Freedom of panorama

 Not OK: Only incidental reproduction for non-commercial purposes is allowed. The law allows without consent of the author or other legal owner, and without payment of remuneration the reproduction, on-air transmission or cable transmission of architectural works, photos, visual art works that are permanently located in a place open for free attendance. This rule does not extend to cases when the representation of work is the basic subject of such reproduction, on-air transmission or cable transmission, as well as in case, when the representation of work is used for commercial purpose.^{[LRU-476/2018 Article 28]}

Stamps

use {{PD-UZ-exempt}}.

See also

• Oʻzbekiston
• Category:Stamps of Uzbekistan
• Category:Uzbekistani FOP cases
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Soviet Union

Citations

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

Copyright rules by territory

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