Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Republic of Artsakh
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Copyright rules: Republic of Artsakh Shortcut: COM:REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH | |
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| Durations | |
|---|---|
| Standard | Life + 50 years |
| Anonymous | Publish + 50 years |
| Audiovisual | Publish + 50 years |
| Collective | Publish + 50 years |
| Posthumous | Publish + 50 years |
| Other | |
| Freedom of panorama | No |
| Terms run to year end | Yes |
| Common licence tags | {{PD-AR-exempt}} |
| Treaties | |
| Berne convention | 4 June 1999 |
| URAA restoration date* | 4 June 1999 |
| WIPO treaty | 11 April 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. | |
The Republic of Artsakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh was a de facto independent country in the South Caucasus that was internationally considered to be part of Azerbaijan. It has now been absorbed into Azerbaijan.
The region that today is Azerbaijan was ceded by Iran to Russia in the 19th century, then became the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, and the Azerbaijan SSR, part of the Soviet Union, in 1920. Nagorno-Karabakh, an oblast of the Azerbaijan SSR with an Armenian majority population, has been self-governing since 1988. During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan became independent on 18 October 1991. Nagorno-Karabakh claimed independence, supported by Armenia, but was not internationally recognized. After a military offensive by Azerbaijan, in September the president of Artsakh signed a decree to dissolve all of the republic's institutions by 1 January 2024, bringing its existence to an end, but the Artsakh president refused to dissolve them and it currently functions in exile in Yerevan.
Copyright rules
[edit]Since Azerbaijan never recognized the de facto Republic of Artsakh, and Azerbaijan is now the relevant authority, the laws of Azerbaijan would have applied to works created or published in Nagorno-Karabakh or the Republic of Artsakh. However, since the National Assembly of Artsakh kept functioning in Yerevan, its laws were likely not repelaed. Artsakh had a copyright law enacted in 2002 that specified in Article 27 a copyright term of 50 years after the author's death, 50 years after publication for anonymous works, and 50 years after publication for posthumous works. Collective and audiovisual works were protected for 50 years after publication unless the authors were identified. However, identified authors exercised the rights of the specified parts of a collective or audiovisual work, in which the general term applied. Despite Azerbaijan extending the copyright length to 70 years in 2013, nevertheless it is supposed, that the author has agreed with uncopyrightability of this works based on the Artsakh law.
Not protected
[edit]The non-protected works were similar to those in Azerbaijan and Armenia (in Article 6):
- works of folklore;
- communications on daily news or on current events that are press information;
- official documents (laws, decisions, decrees, etc.) as well as their official translations;
- state emblems and signs (flags, coats of arms (armorial bearings), medals (decorations), monetary signs, etc.);
- results obtained by technical means without the intervention of human creative activity.
Freedom of panorama
[edit]
See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama
Not OK Although the laws of the unrecognized state of Artsakh were modelled upon those of Armenia, including its copyright law, it is still unknown whether the state implemented the same amendments Armenia implemented in 2013 to allow free photography of artistic works located in places open for attendance even for commercial purposes. Thus, assume that Armenia's previous non-commercial restrictions were still in place. Artsakh, during its existence, was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, which also did not have valid FoP for Wikimedia Commons. Due to its unrecognized status, it is likely that countries did not have copyright relations with Artsakh at all.
- Read also When Copyright Transforms the Right to Remember, a 2024 Hyperallergic article by Yelena Ambartsumian, discussing the complication of Azerbaijani law over the monuments in Artsakh.