Commons:Currency/Americas

Currency
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This page gives overviews of copyright rules for currency in different countries or territories of the Americas. It is "transcluded" from individual page sections giving the rules for each country or territory. It includes pages for which no currency rules have been defined ("No information available").

Countries of the Americas

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COM:CUR Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda

No information available

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COM:CUR Argentina

Argentina

Not OK. There is no exception for currency in the Argentine copyright law.

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COM:CUR Bahamas

The Bahamas

Not OK. Images of banknotes and coins denominated in Bahamian dollars are subject to copyright protection and are property of the Central Bank of The Bahamas. They cannot be reproduced or published without the expressed consent of the Central Bank of The Bahamas.^[1]

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COM:CUR Barbados

Barbados

No information available

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COM:CUR Belize

Belize

As of 2019, all Belize coins are in the public domain, with the exception of some commemorative and numismatic coins (e.g. those created by the Franklin Mint). The designs for all currently circulating Belize coins were created in the 1950s or earlier by the Royal Mint of the United Kingdom (when Belize was British Honduras). Thus they were under crown copyrights which have now expired. Please use {{PD-UKGov}} for these in addition to a license for the photographs (since coins are considered 3D objects). Any future coin designs, however, are likely to be copyrighted by the Belizean government, as Belize does not have a public domain exception for government works.

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COM:CUR Bolivia

Bolivia

Unsure According to Article 8 of the Law No.1322 of April 13, 1992, on Copyright: "Only a natural person may be an author; however, the State, public law bodies and moral or legal entities may exercise copyright as derived owners, in accordance with the norms of this Law".^{[1322/1992 Article 8]}

Article 5(i) of Law No. 1322 defines "derived work" as: "Any work arising from the adaptation, translation or other transformation of an original work, provided that it constitutes a separate creation".^{[1322/1992 Article 5(i)]}

The copyright law has provisions giving copyright to the State in national folklore and when Bolivian nationals die without heirs, so it is not clear if the government's right to hold copyright extends to banknotes.

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COM:CUR Brazil

Brazil

OK

Under the Copyright Law, all works subsidized by the Union are in the public domain.^{[9.610/2013 Article 6]} According to the Industrial Property Law of 1996,

The following are not registrable as marks: ... reproductions or imitations of titles, policies, coins, and paper currency of the Union, the States, the Federal District, the Territories, the Municipalities, or of a country.^{[9.279/1996 Art.124(XIV)]}
However, the law prohibits reproducing or imitating, in whole or in part and in a way that may induce error or confusion, coats of arms, escutcheons, or national, foreign or international official badges, without the necessary authorization, in a mark, title of establishment, trade name, insignia or advertising sign, or using such reproductions or imitations for economic purposes.^{[9.279/1996 Art.191]}

Please use: {{Money-BR}}.

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COM:CUR Canada

Canada

Not OK "The Bank of Canada is the registered copyright owner of all design elements of Canadian bank notes [...] The Bank's written permission for the reproduction of bank note images must be obtained before the image is reproduced." The sole exception is that "It is not necessary to request the Bank's permission to use bank note images for film or video purposes, provided that the images are intended to show a general indication of currency, and that there is no danger that the images could be misused." Other images of Canadian currency might still be permitted on local Wikipedia projects under fair dealing.

Counterfeiting law will not apply to any printed replica of Canadian printed money that is "less than 3/4 or greater than 1 1/2 times the length or width of the bank note; and in black and white or only one-sided."^[2]

Coins are copyrighted by the Royal Canadian Mint. There are charges for educational and commercial use, so they cannot be shown on Commons before the expiration of fifty years.^[3]

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COM:CUR Chile

Chile

Not OK The Central Bank of Chile holds the intellectual property for the designs of banknotes and coins in circulation, and those designs are registered with the Department of Intellectual Property (N° 115.594). This is expressed in Sections 28 of the Constitutional Organic Act. Publication or reproduction of such designs without the consent of the Bank is prohibited, and subject to criminal and civil sanctions.^{[17.336/2017 Art.78]}^[4]

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COM:CUR Colombia

Colombia

Not OK within 70 years of publication of the design.

Both banknotes and coins are produced by the Banco de la República, the Colombian central bank. They claim all rights reserved on their website in the footer of all pages, and in a legal disclaimer (Spanish: [1]) which asserts intellectual property over the website's designs and trademarks. There is no further information provided about the legality of photographic reproductions or similar. Colombia's copyright law has no exemption for government works, meaning that the Bank is permitted to claim copyright, for up to 70 years from the date of publication. The law makes no exemptions for banknotes or currency either.

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COM:CUR Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Not OK for currency less than 25 years old.
Unsure for currency between 25 and 50 years old.
OK for currency more than 50 years old.

The Central Bank of Costa Rica (Banco Central de Costa Rica) is the "copyright holder of Costa Rica’s currency design -protected under Law No. 6683"^[5] According to Costa Rica's intellectual property law (Law 6683, as amended by Law 8834 of 3 May 2010):

The State, the municipal councils and the official corporations shall enjoy the protection of this Law, but, as far as economic rights are concerned, only for 25 years from the date of publication of the work, except in the case of public bodies whose purpose is the exercise of such rights as their normal activity, in which case protection shall be for 50 years.^{[6683/2010 Article 63]}

All images of Costa Rican currency must use {{Currency}}, as the Central Bank of Costa Rica has placed several Non-copyright restrictions on use of images of Costa Rican currency.^[5]

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COM:CUR Cuba

Cuba

No information available

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COM:CUR Dominica

Dominica

No information available

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COM:CUR Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

Not OK There is no exception for currency under Dominican copyright law. Under Law No. 65-00 of 21 August 2000,

Rights in works created by public employees or officials in the performance of the duties inherent in their position shall be presumed to be assigned to the public organization in question.^{[65-00/2000 Article 28]}

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COM:CUR Ecuador

Ecuador

No information available

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COM:CUR El Salvador

El Salvador

No information available

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COM:CUR Grenada

Grenada

No information available

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COM:CUR Guatemala

Guatemala

No information available

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COM:CUR Guyana

Guyana

No information available

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COM:CUR Haiti

Haiti

No information available

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COM:CUR Honduras

Honduras

No information available

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COM:CUR Jamaica

Jamaica

No information available

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COM:CUR Mexico

Mexico

Not OK Mexican currency is copyrighted and the reproduction of designs is only permitted by seeking authorisation from the Ministry of Finance (Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público).^[6]^[7]

Coins and banknotes produced before 23 July 1928 entered the public domain before the law changed on 23 July 2003, and remain in the public domain.

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COM:CUR Nicaragua

Nicaragua

No information available

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COM:CUR Panama

Panama

No information available

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COM:CUR Paraguay

Paraguay

Probably Not OK. Paraguayan currencies are presumed to be copyrighted.

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COM:CUR Peru

Peru

Before 1971: Anverse of sol coin (1892 in this picture, during the mandate of President Miguel de San Román) is PD in Peru.
OK The old peruvian sol is out of circulation, most of designs were created before 1971.^[8] The reverse side with the coat of arms was created in 1825.^{[D. L. 11323/1950]} Use {{Peruvian currency}}.
Between 1971 and 1991: Unclear There is not enough information regarding the copyright status of this. If the design was published anonymously before 1981, use {{Peruvian currency}}.
After 1991: Not OK Peruvian currency sol is not exempted from copyright.^{[822/1996 Art.9]} In fact, the BCRP considers it to be a work of art but not a government "official work". Therefore, its design and art of the bill is subject to copyright in Peru and prohibits any free reproduction.^[9] Law 26714, Article 256, prohibits reproducing bills and coins and distributing them for advertising or similar purposes in such a way as to create confusion or cause the reproductions to be used by third parties as if they were genuine currency.^[10]

Please note that not all coins are copyrighted, because they contain previous designs and patterns released to be in the public domain or are below the originality threshold. See discussion.

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COM:CUR Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Kitts and Nevis

No information available

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COM:CUR Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia

No information available

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COM:CUR Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

No information available

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COM:CUR Suriname

Suriname

No information available

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COM:CUR Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

No information available

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COM:CUR United States

United States of America

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.[2] 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.

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COM:CUR Uruguay

Uruguay

Not OK.

The Central Bank of Uruguay exclusively issues bank notes and mints coins throughout Uruguay.^[11] 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]}

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COM:CUR Venezuela

Venezuela

No information available

Other areas

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COM:CUR Anguilla

Anguilla

No information available

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COM:CUR Aruba

Aruba

Not OK The copyright on Aruban banknotes is owned by the Central Bank of Aruba.^[12]

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COM:CUR Bermuda

Bermuda

No information available

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COM:CUR British Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands

No information available

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COM:CUR Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands

Not OK The Cayman Islands Money Authority holds the copyright on its currency notes. It permits reproductions with prior consultation with the Authority and if the reproduction is not on products for sale. Given the copyright status and the non-commercial use clause, their designs are not appropriate for use on Commons.^[13]

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COM:CUR Curaçao

Some citation text may not have been transcluded

↑ Statute Law of The Bahamas - Chapter 351- Central Bank of the Bahamas (2010).
↑ Bank of Canada - Reproduction of banknotes
↑ Royal Canadian Mint - Intellectual property
↑ $CLP Chilean peso. Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group. Retrieved on 2019-01-21.
↑ ^a ^b Lineamientos para uso de imágenes. Banco Central de Costa Rica. Retrieved on 2019-01-18.
↑ Reproduction of images of bills and coins (in Spanish). Banco de México.
↑ Ley Monetaria de Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (in Spanish). Cámara de Diputados.
↑ Transformación del“Sol” al “Nuevo Sol” (in Spanish).
↑ Los derechos de autor y su relevancia en los billetes p. 28.
↑ Ley N° 26714 Modifícase los artículos 252° a 258° y 261° del Código Penal (Counterfeit currency offences) (in Spanish) (1996).
↑ Billetes y Monedas. Banco Central del Uruguay. Retrieved on 2019-01-22.
↑ Banknotes and Coins. Centrale Bank van Aruba (2018). Retrieved on 2018-12-03.
↑ Reproduction Guidelines Currency Notes. Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. Retrieved on 2019-01-19.

[CBofB-1] Statute Law of The Bahamas - Chapter 351- Central Bank of the Bahamas (2010).

[2] Bank of Canada - Reproduction of banknotes

[3] Royal Canadian Mint - Intellectual property

[4] $CLP Chilean peso. Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group. Retrieved on 2019-01-21.

[BCCR-Lineamientos-5] Lineamientos para uso de imágenes. Banco Central de Costa Rica. Retrieved on 2019-01-18.

[6] Reproduction of images of bills and coins (in Spanish). Banco de México.

[7] Ley Monetaria de Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (in Spanish). Cámara de Diputados.

[8] Transformación del“Sol” al “Nuevo Sol” (in Spanish).

[9] Los derechos de autor y su relevancia en los billetes p. 28.

[10] Ley N° 26714 Modifícase los artículos 252° a 258° y 261° del Código Penal (Counterfeit currency offences) (in Spanish) (1996).

[11] Billetes y Monedas. Banco Central del Uruguay. Retrieved on 2019-01-22.

[CBvA-12] Banknotes and Coins. Centrale Bank van Aruba (2018). Retrieved on 2018-12-03.

[13] Reproduction Guidelines Currency Notes. Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. Retrieved on 2019-01-19.

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Commons:Currency/Americas

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