Commons:Copyright tags

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The license selector on the upload form

When you upload a file, you must indicate its license status. See Commons:Licensing for a quick tutorial about licenses.

Depending on what license you choose using the license selector, a so-called copyright tag is inserted into the resulting description page, such as {{Cc-by-3.0}}. This will display license information on the description page, and categorize the file accordingly. You can also insert any of these tags manually into the upload summary. The tags can be viewed and edited at [[Template:Tag name]], e.g. Template:cc-by-3.0 for {{Cc-by-3.0}}.

All tags are displayed at Commons:Image copyright tags visual. For more information about licensing and required information, see Commons:Licensing and Commons:Project scope.

Public domain

Public domain
Public domain

See also Category:PD license tags for a full list.

Non-U.S. works

All works hosted at the Commons must be legal to publish in the United States. For non-U.S. "public domain" works, this means they must be in the public domain in both the non-U.S. source country and in the U.S., or there must be an explicit release of the work for the U.S. under a free license.

For non-U.S. works, please add one of the following tags in addition to an appropriate license tag:

  • {{PD-1923}} for works published (not simply created!) before January 1, 1923.
  • {{PD-URAA-Simul|country|URAA date|reason}} or {{PD-1996|country|URAA date|reason}} if published 1923 or later, and not copyrighted in their source country on the URAA date (January 1, 1996 for most countries).
  • {{Not-PD-US-URAA}} or {{Not-PD-US-URAA|country|URAA date}} for works published 1923 or later, but copyrighted in the source country on the URAA date, even if that non-U.S. copyright has expired since then. Note that this concerns most works published 1923 or later of authors who died after 1925 (for source countries with a copyright term of "life of author plus 70 years").
    For works of such authors that were published before 1923, use {{PD-1923}} in addition to the appropriate copyright tag for the source country.
  • {{Not-free-US-FOP}} for media published under FoP-rules not yet proven to be acceptable in the US.

Sometimes you can use the general time-based automated public domain license tags.

General

  • {{Cc-zero}} – for works released under the CC0. Like {{PD-author}}/etc., plus an explicit fallback to an extremely permissive copyright license in cases where releasing into the actual public domain is impossible.
  • {{PD-self}} – for works released into the public domain by their creator who is also the uploader.
  • {{PD-user|username}} – for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are Wikimedia Commons users.
  • {{PD-user-en|username}} – for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are English Wikipedia users.
  • {{PD-user-w|projectcode|projectname|username}} – for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are other Wikipedia users.
The variable projectcode is the language name of the creator's local Wikipedia (e.g. "de" for the German Wikipedia, and "ja" for the Japanese);
The variable projectname is the human readable project name (e.g. "French Wikipedia", "German Wiktionary", etc).
The variable username is the creator's log-in name at that project.
  • {{PD-author|author}} – for works released into the public domain by non-Wikimedia users. Some further explanation should be given such as a link to the author's website where they explicitly state that they release the work into the public domain (e.g. {{PD-author|[http://www.sitename.com author]}} ).
  • {{PD-heirs}} – for works released into the public domain by the heirs of the creator.
  • {{PD-because|reason}} – generic template; please supply a valid reason for the file being PD.
  • {{PD-Art|PD tag}} – for faithful photographic reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art. Applies in certain[clarification needed] countries only.
The variable PD tag is the name of the copyright tag that describes why the original is in the public domain. If empty, PD-old is assumed. Please see also Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag.
  • {{PD-scan}} – for scans of public domain originals which may have been enhanced, but only to the extent that no independent copyright protection can be expected to arise out of the enhancements. See also Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.
  • {{PD-retouched-user}} – for public domain works that have been significantly retouched or modified by a Commons user. This explicitly releases all rights to those modifications.
  • {{PD-animal}} – for works created by non-human animals.

Threshold of Originality

General time based public domain

  • {{PD-old}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired.
  • {{PD-old-100}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 100 years or less.
  • {{PD-old-80}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 80 years or less.
  • {{PD-old-75}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 75 years or less.
  • {{PD-old-70}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 70 years or less.
  • {{PD-old-50}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in the USA and countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 50 years or less.
  • {{Anonymous work}} – anonymous work more than 50 years old (Berne convention).
Warning: Note that all above general time based public domain tags are not sufficient if alone. All media files on Wikimedia Commons tagged with those license must also be tagged with a license that is explicitly valid in the United States.

General time based automated public domain licenses

  • {{PD-anon-auto-1996}} is for anonymous works eligible for {{PD-1996}}. Depending on which year an anonymous work was published, it will automatically show the appropriate details.

United Nations

Country/Region specific tags

European Union

  • {{Anonymous-EU}} – anonymous work more than 70 years old (European Union).
  • {{PD-EU-no author disclosure}} – anonymous work published more than 70 years ago without a public claim of authorship and no subsequent claim of authorship in the 70 years following its first publication (European Union).

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Argentina

  • {{PD-AR-Anonymous}} – for anonymous works belonging to an institution, corporation or legal entity, registered in Argentina published 50 years ago or more.
  • {{PD-AR-Deputies}} – for contents from the Argentina's Deputies Chamber website.
  • {{PD-AR-Gov}} – for works created and regulated by National or Provincial Governments of Argentina, such as official symbols or emblems.
  • {{PD-AR-Movie}} – for Argentinian cinematographic works 50 years after the death of the script writer, the producer and the director.
  • {{PD-AR-Music}} – for free music performances done by musical ensembles belonging to the national, provincial or municipal governments.
  • {{PD-AR-Photo}} – for Argentinian photographs first published more than 25 years ago. A proper source and date of publications has to be provided.
  • {{PD-AR-Senate}} - For contents from the Argentine Senate
  • {{PD-AR-Signs}} – for road signs published in laws or other regulations.
  • For all other works 70 years after the death of the author, {{PD-old}} applies.

Armenia

  • {{PD-Armenia}} – for anonymous works or pseudonymous works 70 years after creation, other works 70 years after the death of the (last-surviving) author, "expressions of traditional folklore and art" or "political speeches, speeches delivered in the court," or "official documents, legal acts, treaties and the official translations thereof, state emblems and signs (flags, coats of arms, medals, monetary signs)."
  • {{PD-AM-exempt}} – for 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 arm (armorial bearings), medals (decorations), monetary signs, etc.); results obtained by technical means without the intervention of human creative activity.

Australia

  • {{PD-Australia}} – for Australian photographs published 70 years after the death of the creator, or photographs taken prior to 1955.

Austria

  • {{PD-AustrianGov}} – for parts of laws, ordinances or official decrees issued by an Austrian federal or state authority and for works of those authorities intended predominantly for official use.
  • {{PD-Austria-1932}} – for photographic works published before 1932, or created before 1932 and not published for 20 years thereafter.
  • {{PD-StVZVO}} – for road signs published in ordinances or other regulations.

Azerbaijan

  • {{PD-AZ-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, court decisions, other texts of legislative, administrative or judicial character) and official translations thereof; State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs); works of folklore, which have no signs of Article 5 of this law; communications concerning events and facts that have informational character.
  • {{President.az}} – The permission letter from the Press Secretary for the President of Azerbaijan is available here:

The are no restrictions on the full or partial use of textual, photographic, video and audio material featured on the official website of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the media outlets, internet resources and information carriers. This also applies to television channels, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, scientific publications and encyclopedias (including online encyclopedias).

Photographs are released under the conditions of the GFDL license which allows copying, distribution, reproduction and performance of a work, and creation of derivative works under the condition that the work is marked in a way stated by the Licensor and under the condition that the same license applies to all derivative works. Photographs are property of the Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Please mark the photographs used as "Archive of the Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan - www.president.az".

Bahrain

  • {{PD-Bahrain}} – for photographs and films 50 years starting from the end of the production year, for other works 50 years after the author's death.

Bangladesh

  • {{PD-Bangladesh}} - for photographs and films 60 years starting from the end of the production year, for other works 60 years after the author's (or last-surviving author) death.

Belarus

  • {{PD-BY-exempt}} – for formal documents (laws, judgements, other texts of legal, administrative and judicial nature), and also their official translations; state symbols and signs (flag, coat of arms, anthem, awards, banknotes and other signs); works of folk arts, authors of which are not known.
  • {{PD-Belarus}} – for works 50 years after the author's (or last-surviving co-author) death or 50 years after the first legal publication of the work published under pseudonym or anonymoulsy.

Belgium

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • {{PD-BH-exempt}} – for works exempt from copyright under Bosnia and Herzegovina law (“ideas, plans, …, official texts, …, professional reports, …” – see license template for details)

Bulgaria

Brazil

  • {{PD-BrazilGov}} – for works published or commissioned by a Brazilian government (federal, state, or municipal) prior to 1983, or the text of a treaty, convention, law, decree, regulation, judicial decision, or other official enactment.
  • {{PD-Brazil-media}} – for Brazilian photographs and audiovisual works first published more than 70 years ago.
  • {{PD-Brazil-URAA}}

See also: Category:License tags attribution from Brazil, for example:

Britain

See United Kingdom.

Brunei

Burma

Cambodia

  • {{PD-Cambodia}} - Works where the (last surviving) author has been dead for over 50 years. Collective, anonymous, pseudonymous or collective audio-visual works 75 years after creation or publication.
  • {{PD-CambodiaGov}} - ineligible for copyright because it is one of: "Constitution, Law, Royal Decree, Sub-Decree, ... other Regulation, ... Proclamation (Prakas), decision, certificate, other instructed circulars issued by state organizations” and “Court decision or other court warrants” including translations thereof or “Idea, formality, method of operation, concept, principle, discovery or mere data, even if expressed, described, explained or embodied in any work.”[1]

Canada

Chile

China

  • {{PD-China}} – for images in the public domain according to the People's Republic of China (mainland) and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
  • {{PD-China-film}} – for movies or images from movies published in the China more than 50 years ago according to Mainland China and Taiwan.
  • {{PD-Empire of China Government Gazette}} – for the Government Gazette from May January to March 1916 (Hongxian Year 1) by the Empire of China.
  • {{PD-Manchukuo-stamps}} – for images of Manchukuo stamps that are now in the public domain in China.
People's Republic of China
See also #Hong Kong and #Macao below.
Republic of China

Works with these tags may be published before or after 1949 within the jurisdiction of the Republic of China:

See also #Taiwan below for specific Taiwanese works.

For other older (1912–1949) works published within the jurisdiction of the Republic of China:

Colombia

  • {{PD-Colombia}} – generally 80 years after the author's death or 80 years after publication of audiovisual works, collective works and anonymous works. In all cases where a work has as its owner a legal entity or an official body or any institution under government public law, the term of protection shall be deemed to be 70 years as from the date of publication.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

  • {{PD-Democratic Republic of the Congo}} – for all anonymous or pseudonymous works published 50 years ago, or 50 years have passed since the death of the author, or it is a photograph and 25 years have passed since publication, or it is an "official act of authority" and ineligible for copyright protection.

Costa Rica

Côte d'Ivoire

For Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), copyright term is generally 99 years after the author's death or 99 years after publication (see COM:L#Côte d'Ivoire).

Croatia

  • {{PD-Croatia-exempt}} – for works exempt from copyright under the Croatian law.
  • {{PD-Croatia}} – for works whose author died before 1949 or published before 1949 if anonymous (public domain prior to introduction of the new law in 1999).

Cuba

  • {{PD-Cuba}} – for works made in Cuba whose copyright has expired.

Czech Republic

Denmark

  • {{PD-Denmark}} – for "photographic works of art" in the public domain according to Danish law.
  • {{PD-Denmark50}} – for "photographic images not considered to display artistic merit or originality" that were created before 1 January 1970.
  • {{PD-DenmarkGov}} – for "acts, administrative orders, legal decisions and similar official documents," but not "works appearing as independent contributions in the [aforementioned] documents."
  • {{DGA map}} – for media in either full extent or partially based in Danish Geodata Agency open public geographic data. This tag does not preclude use of other copyright tags.
  • {{Statistics Denmark}} – for media in either full extent or partially based on information from Statistics Denmark. This tag does not preclude use of other copyright tags.

Djibouti

  • {{PD-Djibouti}} – for works made in Djibouti whose copyright has expired (50 years after author's death, or 25 years after creation for photographic works, see details in the template). The Republic of Djibouti being the successor state of French Somaliland (Côte française des Somalis) and the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas, this applies to works published in those territories as well.

Egypt

Estonia

  • {{PD-EE-exempt}} – copyright does not apply to works of folklore, legislation and administrative documents, court decisions and official translations thereof; official symbols of the state and insignia of organizations. Freedom of panorama in Estonia is restricted to non-commercial uses only, or to overview photos.

Ethiopia

  • {{PD-Ethiopia}} – copyright term is generally 50 years after the author's death, or from the making of an audiovisual work or communication of said work to the public, which ever date is the latest. Copyright of a photographic work is 25 years from the making of the work. (art. 20.1, 20.7 and 20.8 of Proclamation No. 410/2004: Protection of copyright and neighboring rights)

European Union

The following tags apply to works published in any country which has copyright legislation harmonized to the European Union directives. See also for country specific tags under each country header.

  • {{PD-old-70}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 70 years or less.
  • {{Anonymous-EU}} – anonymous work more than 70 years old (European Union).
  • {{PD-EU-no author disclosure}} – anonymous work published more than 70 years ago without a public claim of authorship and no subsequent claim of authorship in the 70 years following its first publication (European Union).
  • {{European Union law}} - for works of law of the European Union.

Faroe Islands

Fiji

  • {{PD-Fiji}} – for photographs at least 50 years after production.

Finland

  • {{PD-Finland50}} – for photographic images in the public domain according to Finnish law.
  • {{PD-Finland}} – for photographic works and other art works in the public domain according to Finnish law. Same as {{PD-old-70}} for Finnish works.
  • {{PD-FinlandGov}} – for laws, statements and decisions of Finnish officials.
    • {{PD-Coa-Finland}} – for Finnish coats of arms of municipalities (kunta), districts (maakunta) or administrative or historical provinces (lääni).
    • {{PD-FinlandStamp}} – for postage stamps published before January 1, 1990.
    • {{PD-Kansallisarkisto}} – for archives material from the digital database of Finnish National Archives Service
  • {{PD-Raita}} – for records from the Raita database.

France

  • {{PD-BnFMandragorePic}} – for digitized version of old images from the mandragore database at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
  • {{PD-GallicaScan}} – for digitized version of old books from the Gallica library at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
  • {{PD-JORF}} – for French official legal texts as published in the Journal officiel de la République Française (or reprinted on Légifrance; note: not all texts on Légifrance are out-of-copyright, many others are copyrighted under free licenses, and sometimes under unfree licenses).
  • {{PD-JORF-nor-conso}} – with NOR (identification number) and index of the updated text.

Georgia

  • {{PD-GE-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, decisions of courts, other texts of administrative and normative character), as well as their official translations; official symbols of state (flag, emblem, anthem, award, monetary symbols, other official signs and symbols of state); information of events and facts.

Germany

  • {{PD-GermanGov}} – for public domain images from Germany statutes or other regulations.
  • {{PD-BW}} – for publicly available service regulations ("Zentrale Dienstvorschrift") of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr).
  • {{PD-Coa-Germany}} – for German coats of arms of corporations governed by public law that are in the public domain according to German law because they are official works (§ 5 Abs. 1 UrhG).
  • {{PD-Flag-Germany}} – for German flags of corporations governed by public law that are in the public domain according to German law because they are official works (§ 5 Abs. 1 UrhG).
  • {{PD-Seal-Germany}} – for German seals of corporations governed by public law that are in the public domain according to German law because they are official works (§ 5 Abs. 1 UrhG).
  • {{PD-VzKat}} – for road signs published as statutes or other regulations.
  • {{PD-German stamps}} – for current German stamps.
  • {{PD-Deutsche Bundespost stamps}} – for German stamps released as Deutsche Bundespost.
  • {{PD-GDR stamps}} – for German stamps released as Deutsche Post der DDR.
  • {{PD-Meyers}} – for images from the 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (1885–90).
  • {{PD-Germany-§134-KUG}} – for works published more than 70 years ago that do not mention the author

Greece

  • {{PD-GreekGov}} – for images which are part of official legislative, administrative or judicial documents issued by the Greek Government.

Haiti

  • {{PD-Haiti}} – General copyright protection last for 60 years (art. 20 to 24 of the 9 March 2006 Decree). Photographic works are protected for 25 years after the end of the year the work was created (art. 25).

Hong Kong

Hungary

  • {{PD-Hungary}} – for works when a work public domain is in Hungary
    • {{PD-HU-exempt}} – for works not eligible for copyright in Hungary.
    • {{PD-redsludge-hu}} – by photos taken by a staff photographer of the Hungarian Government and is part of the Ajka red sludge accident photo series
    • {{PD-HU-unknown}} – for works if the person of the author is unknown
  • {{PD-user-hu|username}} – for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are Hungarian Wikipedia users.

India

  • {{PD-India}} – India public domain images and sounds, 60 years after the end of the year of first publication, provided that the subject matter of the photo or recording is also not protected by copyright.
  • {{PD-India-photo-1958}} – Photographs created before 1958 are in the public domain 50 years after creation.
  • {{PD-India-URAA}} – For work that is public domain in the United States because it was first published in India (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days) and it was first published before 1978 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities or after 1978 without copyright notice and it was in the public domain in its home country India on the URAA date January 1, 1996.
  • {{EdictGov-India}} – For edicts of the Government of India whose copyright have not expired. Subject to restrictions, these include laws, judgements, and Reports on the Table of the Legislature.

Indonesia

  • {{PD-IDGov}} – Indonesian public domain because the artwork/file was published and/or distributed by the government of Republic of Indonesia and fulfills the conditions of Chapter II, Section 5, Article 14 of the Indonesian Copyright Act No. 19, 2002, see Commons:Licensing.
  • {{PD-IDOld-Art29}} – Indonesia public domain of old writings, music, arts, architecture, lectures, maps and translation products.
  • {{PD-IDOld-Art30}} – Indonesian public domain of old pictures, movies, software and other engineered products.

Iran

  • {{PD-Iran}} – copyright of photographs and movies lasts 30 years from the date of publication or presentation. for more information see COM:L#Iran

Iraq

  • {{PD-Iraq}} – photos 50 years after publication, starting from the publication date.

Ireland

  • {{PD-IrishGov}} – Irish government works are generally released to the public domain 50 years after creation.

Israel

  • {{PD-Israel}} – according to Israel's copyright law, works are released to the public domain 70 years after their author's death, starting from January 1st which occurs after the date of death. Photographs taken before May 2008 are released to the public domain 50 years after their creation, starting from January 1st which occurs after the day in which the photograph was taken. Photographs taken by a public authority (i.e. the government and its affiliated bodies) are released to public domain 50 years after their publication, starting from January 1st which occurs after the date of the first publication. According to the new Israeli copyright law, effective since May 2008, photographs are no longer an exception, and are released to the public domain 70 years after their photographer's death, unless taken by a public authority in which case the previous arrangement remains.
    • {{PD-IsraelGov}} – specific for the expiration of the State of Israel's copyrights (also included in the last section of {{PD-Israel}})
  • {{Money-IL}} – for Israeli banknotes and coins.
  • {{Insignia-Israel}} – for flag, emblems, coats of arms or some other official symbol which were declared a protected symbol in Israel.
  • {{FoP-Israel}} - "Broadcasting, or copying by way of photography, drawing, sketch or similar visual description, of an architectural work, a work of sculpture or work of applied art, are permitted where the aforesaid work is permanently situated in a public place."

Italy

  • {{PD-Italy}}
  • {{PD-Italy-audio}} – for audio recording both created and published in Italy at least fifty years ago, of a work which is itself in the public domain.
  • For works where the author died at least seventy years ago, {{PD-old}} applies. For anonymous or pseudonymous works published at least 70 years ago, use {{Anonymous-EU}}.
  • {{PD-Italy-EdictGov}} – for most edicts of the Italian government.
  • {{PD-ItalyGov}} – for works published by the Italian administration or by Italian nonprofit organisations.

Japan

  • {{PD-Japan-oldphoto}} – for Japanese photos published before 31 December 1956, or photographed before 1946 and not published for 10 years.
  • {{PD-Japan}} – for Japanese non-photographic works 50 years after the death of the creator (there being multiple creators, the creator who dies last).
  • {{PD-Japan-film}} – for films produced in Japan prior to 1953
  • {{PD-Japan-organization}} – for images of the works in names of organizations/companies/corporations 50 years after the publication
  • {{PD-Japan-exempt}} – for works exempt from copyright in Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

  • {{PD-KZ-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, court decisions and other texts of a legislative, administrative, judicial or diplomatic nature) together with official translations thereof, state emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs), works of folklore, communications concerning events and facts that have an informational character.

Kenya

  • {{PD-Kenya}} – for works whose author died more than 50 years ago (for photographs 50 years after first publication).

Korea

  • {{PD-South Korea}} – for works whose author died more than 70 years ago or published in the name of an organization more than 70 years ago.

Kosovo

  • {{PD-KosovoGov}} – for public domain Kosovar official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.

Kuwait

  • {{PD-Kuwait}} – photographs, films and two dimensional artistic works 50 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year.

Kyrgyzstan

  • {{PD-KG-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, resolutions, decisions, etc.) as well as official translations thereof; State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, orders, monetary signs and etc.); Works of folklore; Information on the news of the day or information on the current events that are of the common press-information character; The results obtained with the help of technical means for the production of a certain type without creative activity of a man directly targeted for creation of an individual work (as amended by Law #120 from November 6, 1999).

Latvia

  • {{PD-LV-exempt}} – for official Latvian State symbols and insignia (flags, coats-of-arms, anthems, and other State symbols and insignia).

Lebanon

  • {{PD-Lebanon}} – photos and two dimensional artistic works 50 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year after which attribution is still required forever.

Libya

  • {{PD-Libya}} – photos 5 years starting from the date of first publication of the work.

Lithuania

Macao

  • {{PD-MacaoGov}} – for official works of Macao.
  • {{PD-MO}} – for works 50 years after the author's death or 50 years after creation if authorship unknown.

Macedonia

a) works of folk literature and folk art
b) author died more than 70 years ago
c) anonymous and pseudonymous works published more than 70 years ago, and
d) audiovisual or collective work published more than 70 years ago.

Malawi

a) photographs after 25 years from the end of the year of first publication;
b) computer programs 10 years after the end of the year in which they were first sold, leased or licensed;
c) audio-visual works 50 years from the end of the year of first publication;
d) other works 50 years from the end of the year of the author's death.

Malaysia

Mauritius

  • {{PD-Mauritius}} – photographs 25 years after creation, audio-visual works 50 years after publication, other works 50 years after the author's death.

Mexico

Moldova

  • {{PD-MD-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, court decisions, etc.) or to the official translations thereof, state emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs, etc.), folklore expressions, daily news and facts of simple informational nature, the mode of expression rather than ideas, processes, functioning methods or mathematical concepts as such shall be protected by copyright.

Mongolia

  • {{PD-Mongolia}} – applies to works first published in Mongolia: Photos and applied art 25 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year. Other works 50 years after the author's death. Anonymous and pseudonymous works and works created by legal persons 75 years after publication. Any photographic images or other applied art created before 1972 (PD in Mongolia before 1997) are in the public domain in both Mongolia and the USA.
  • {{PD MN-exempt}} – exempt from copyright are the following works:
    • legislation and other legal documents
    • court decisions, official documents
    • speech made at court and political meetings
    • translations of any of the above
    • news
    • ideas, procedures, methods of operation, or mathematical concepts

Montenegro

  • {{PD-MNEGov}} – for public domain Montenegro official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.

Morocco

  • {{PD-Morocco}} – All works are protected for 70 years after the author's death.

Myanmar

See Burma.

Namibia

  • {{PD-Namibia}} – photos, films and computer programs 50 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year. Other works 50 years after the author's death.

Nepal

a) anonymous work or pseudonymous work – after 50 years from the date of its publication;
b) work created on payment of remuneration at the initiation or direction of any person or organization – 50 years from the date of its publication;
c) photographic work or work of applied art – 25 years from the year of its creation;
d) other work – 50 years from the year of death of the author (or last-surviving author)

“As per the Nepal Copyright Act, 2002, any thought, religion, process, concept, principle, court judgement, administrative decision, methods of operation, folk song, folk tale, proverb and general data have not protected.”[2]

Netherlands

  • {{PD-NL-gemeentewapen}} – for coats of arms of (no longer existing) municipalities, provinces and the country itself
  • {{PD-NL-gemeentevlag}} – for flags of (no longer existing) municipalities, provinces and the country itself
  • {{PD-NL-Gov}} (deprecated) – for all works communicated to the public by or on behalf of the public authorities (government), unless the copyright has been reserved explicitly, either in a general manner by law, decree or ordinance, or in a specific case by a notice on the work itself or at the communication to the public
  •  See also category: PD-NL.
    (pages section) for other NL public domain tags

New Zealand

Nigeria

a) cinematograph films or photographs 50 years after first publication;
b) sound recordings 50 years after creation;
c) broadcasts 50 years after first taking place;
d) other works 70 years after author's death or in case of governmental or corporative authorship – 70 years after first publication.

Norway

Ottoman Empire

  • {{PD-Ottoman}} – for works published in the Ottoman Empire, all of which are currently in the public domain.

Pakistan

  • {{PD-Pakistan}} – for public domain works first published in Pakistan. According to Pakistani copyright laws, all photographs enter the public domain fifty years after they were created, and all non-photographic works enter the public domain fifty years after the death of the creator.

Philippines

  • {{PD-Philippines}} – for public domain Philippine images whose copyrights expired or released into the public domain.
  • {{PD-PhilippinesGov}} – for works of the government of the Philippines exempted from copyright as stated by Republic Act No. 8293.

Poland

Portugal

Romania

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

Russia and former Soviet Union

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

  • In general, {{PD-old-70}}/{{PD-old-100}} applies. For some intricate special cases in which works of authors who died less than 70 years ago are PD, or works of authors who died over 70 years ago are not PD, see {{PD-Russia}}. Roughly, these special cases apply only to authors who died before the end of 1942.
  • {{PD-RusEmpire}} for works that was published on territory of the Russian Empire (Russian Republic) except for territories of the Grand Duchy of Finland and Congress Poland before 7 November 1917 and wasn't re-published for 30 days following initial publications on the territory of Soviet Russia or any other states.
  • {{PD-RU-exempt}} for State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs) of Russian Federation
  • {{PD-Brockhaus&Efron}} – for images from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890–1907)

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

San Marino

  • {{PD-SanMarino}} for the reproduction, even in their entirety, of the acts of State or government or judicial acts.

Saudi Arabia

  • {{PD-Saudi Arabia}} – photos, films, sound and artistic works 25 years after publication, starting from the publication date.

Serbia-Montenegro (S.R.J.)

  • {{PD-SCGGov}} – for public domain Serbian-Montenegro official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.

Serbia

  • {{PD-SerbiaGov}} – for public domain Serbian official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.
  • {{PD-Serbia}} – for works whose author died before 1954 or published before 1954 if anonymous (public domain prior to introduction of the new law in 2004).

Seychelles

a) photographs and films and 25 years after first publication;
b) sound recordings 25 years after creation;
c) literary, musical or artistic works other than photographs 25 years after the author's death.

Singapore

Slovakia

  • {{PD-SlovakGov}} – for public domain Slovak official works, public documents, etc.

Slovenia

  • {{PD-Slovenia}} – for works whose author died before 1945 or published before 1945 if anonymous (public domain prior to introduction of the new law in 1995).
  • {{PD-Slovenia-exempt}} – for non-protected creations in Slovenia (ideas, principles, discoveries; official legislative, administrative and judicial texts; folk literary and artistic creations.)

South Africa

Spain

  • {{PD-SpanishGov}} – for works by the Spanish government
  • {{PD-SpanishGov-money}} - for images of the former Spanish pesetas currency
  • {{PD-La Moncloa}} – for content from www.lamoncloa.gob.es which was selected or coordinated by the Secretary of State for Communications (only valid for images uploaded before 26 November 2012)

Sudan

  • {{PD-Sudan}} – photos and films 25 years after publication, starting from the publication date.

Sweden

Switzerland

  • {{PD-Switzerland-official}} – for Swiss official documents, currency or patents. See template for details.
    • {{PD-Coa-Switzerland}} – for coat of arms of a Swiss Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts (corporation governed by public law).
  • {{PD-Switzerland-photo}} – for photographs first published in Switzerland that do not have the individual character that is required by law for copyright protection. See template for details, but use this only in obvious cases, as reasonable people can disagree about the individuality of a picture.

In Switzerland copyright protection expires 70 years after the death of the author with the exception of computer programs, the protection of which ends 50 years after the death of the author. See also the Public Domain FAQ by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (English, French, German, Italian).

Syria

  • {{PD-Syria}} – by Syrian law, photographic work is protected for 10 years starting from the production date[9]. As Syria Joined Berne Convention on November 2004, [10], Photographic works produced starting from 1994 should be protected for 25 years starting from the production date (minimum protection period set by Berne Convention). Photographic work produced before 1994 is public domain.

Taiwan

See also #Republic of China above for works before and after 1949.

Tajikistan

  • {{PD-TJ-exempt}} – for formal documents (laws, judgements, other texts of legal, administrative and judicial nature), and also their official translations; state symbols and signs (flags, coats of arms, awards, banknotes and so on); communications concerning events and facts that have informational character; works of folk arts

Thailand

  • {{PD-Thailand}} – for works from Thailand, which have different copyright terms depending on type, usually 50 years after the creator's death or 50 years after publication.
  • {{PD-TH-exempt}} – for works ineligible for copyright in Thailand, including laws and official government documents.

Tunisia

{{PD-Tunisia}}

The Tunisian law n°94-36 (February 24, 1994) on literary and artistic property stipulates that:

  • Copyright shall subsist for the lifetime of the author and for 50 Gregorian years counted from January 1 of the year following the author's death…
  • In the case of works of joint authorship, the date of the death of the last surviving author…
  • In the case of anonymous or pseudonymous works, copyright shall subsist for 50 years as from the date on which the work has been lawfully made available to the public…
  • In the case of photographic works, copyright shall only subsist for 25 Gregorian years as from the year during which the work was made.

Turkey

  • {{PD-TR}} or {{PD-Turkey}} – for works whose author died more than 70 years ago, and anonymous works published more than 70 years ago.

Uganda

  • {{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.

Ukraine

  • {{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.

An 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.
  • {{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-Award}} for representation of an civil award or decoration of the government of 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.

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

  • {{PD-UK-unknown}} – for old UK images of unknown authorship where copyright has expired
  • {{PD-UKGov}} – for UK Crown Copyright (government-generated) images where copyright has expired (typically works created prior to 1974)
    • {{OldOS}} – for OS maps published over 50 years ago.

The Open Government Licence (OGL) (view in English or Welsh) 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 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.

United States

See also #US States and Territories

U.S. Government agencies
Shortcut
U.S. Library of Congress public domain collections
Further information: Commons:Library of Congress
US States and Territories
Further information: w:WP:PDOMG
Further information: w:Copyright status of work by U.S. subnational governments

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.

Uruguay

  • {{PD-Uruguay}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired (50 years after the author's death).
  • {{PD-Uruguay-anon}} – for anonymous works published more than 50 years ago.

Uzbekistan

  • {{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.
  • {{PD-Uzbekistan}} – for works in the public domain according to Uzbekistanian law (50 years after the author's death).

Venezuela

  • {{PD-Venezuela}} – generally 60 years after the author's death with the exception of audiovisual works, broadcast works and computer programs, in which case the protection lasts for 60 years after publication.
  • {{PD-VenezuelaGov}} – for the "texts of laws, decrees, official regulations, public treaties, judicial decisions and other official acts."

Vietnam

  • {{PD-Vietnam}} – all photographs enter the public domain fifty years after they were first published, and all non-photographic works enter the public domain fifty years after the death of the creator.

Yemen

  • {{PD-Yemen}} – Generally 30 years after the author's death, with the exception of TV films, photographs, and TV programs, respectively 25 years, 10 years and 3 years after the date of broadcasting or publication. (art. 24, 25, 26 and 27 of Law No. 19 (1998) on intellectual property). Yemen being the successor state of Aden Settlement, Aden Province, Aden Colony, Aden Protectorate, the Federation of South Arabia and the People's Republic of Yemen, this applies to works published in those territories as well.

Yugoslavia

For more information about Yugoslav copyright laws, see the meta-page Wikipedia:Autorska prava na području bivše Jugoslavije on the Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia.

Zimbabwe

  • {{PD-Zimbabwe}} – photographs 50 years starting from the end of publication year, other works 50 years starting from the end of the year, in which the author died.

Other

GNU Licenses

GNU head
GNU head
  • {{GFDL}} – GNU Free Documentation License
    • {{GFDL-1.2}} – for works released under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 specifically.
    • {{GFDL-self}} – for works released per the GNU Free Documentation License by their creators.
    • {{GFDL-en}} – for works from the English Wikipedia, and originally licensed as GFDL there. The GFDL on EN is slightly different, in that it is "subject to disclaimers".
    • {{GFDL-user}} – for works by other Commons users that are under the GNU Free Documentation License.
      • {{GFDL-user|lang}} – for works from other Wikimedia projects. lang is an optional parameter.
    • {{GFDL-user-w|projectcode|projectname|username}} – for works released under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License by their creators when the creators are other Wikipedia users. Note: The variable projectcode is the language name of the creator's local Wikipedia (e.g. "de" for the German Wikipedia, and "ja" for the Japanese); It may also contain the project name for non-Wikipedia projects (i.e. "de:wiktionary" for the German Wiktionary). The variable projectname is the human readable project name (e.g. "French Wikipedia", "German Wiktionary", etc.). The variable username is the creator's log-in name at that project.
  • {{GPL}} – GNU General Public License; See Category:GPL for all GPL templates (there are specific versions). Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The GPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.
  • {{LGPL}} – GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 or later. Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The LGPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.
    • {{LGPLv3}} – GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or later. Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The LGPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.
  • {{AGPL}} – The Affero General Public License. Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The AGPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.
  • {{GFDL-OpenGeoDB}} – Images from http://opengeodb.de/
  • {{GFDL-Landsat-Kashmir3d}} – Kashmir 3D Images from http://glcfapp.umiacs.umd.edu:8080/esdi/
  • {{Picswiss}} – Images from http://www.picswiss.ch/ (Note: Just the images of Roland Zumbühl)
  • {{PolishSenateCopyright}} – Polish Senate copyright – verified to be under the GNU License
  • {{PolishPresidentCopyright}} – Polish President Copyright
  • {{Pressefotos Die Gruenen}} – for images from http://www.gruene.at/

Please note: The GFDL is rather impractical for images and short texts because it requires the full text of the GFDL to be published along with the image. This is prohibitive for print media: in order to use a single image in a newspaper, a full page containing the GFDL would have to be printed. To resolve this, please dual-license your work under GFDL and an equivalent Creative Commons license like CC-by-sa-3.0 (see below). This helps to make your work usable not only freely, but also easily.

Free Creative Commons licenses

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License

Attribution (by) and Attribution-ShareAlike (by-sa) licenses without NonCommercial (nc) or NoDerivs (nd) restrictions are accepted, as are CC0 and CC-PD. Also see the full table of allowed Creative Commons licenses. Note that country specific licenses are based on that specific country copyright law.

Attribution
Attribution
ShareAlike
ShareAlike

Old Creative Commons licenses

The following licenses have been superseded by more recent versions. They are still available for use.

Source-specific Creative Commons licenses

See also: Category:Custom CC license tags.

Copyleft Attitude License

Copyleft
Copyleft
  • {{FAL}} – Free Art License, a free license published by Copyleft Attitude, can be applied to digital as well as to non-digital art. With this Free Art License, you are authorised to copy, distribute and freely transform the work of art while respecting the rights of the originator. The FAL is recommended by the Free Software Foundation: "We don't take the position that artistic or entertainment works must be free, but if you want to make one free, we recommend the Free Art License."

Various free licenses

Other free tags

See also: Category:Custom license tags.
Green copyright symbol
Green copyright symbol

Unfree licenses

Warning sign
Warning sign

The following copyright options are not acceptable at Commons. Images with these tags will be deleted. Before deleting such images, check to see if they are multi-licensed. Some of these can be used as an option, together with a free licence.

Unknown nature

Free License?
Free License?

The exact nature for the following licenses is unknown. They might be free licenses but they might also be something between merely an informative notice that fair use is permitted by law and a non-derivative license. Before uploading an image under one of these licences, please consider first finding out whether the licence is free by researching the terms and applicable laws or asking the copyright holder (example request texts are available), or both, and please share your results with others.

  • {{PD-EEA}} – EEA Website for media copyrighted by the Organization of American States perhaps may not be modified; use in journalistic/scientific contexts only.

Tags for incomplete or missing license info

  • {{no license|month=May|day=23|year=2024}} or simply {{subst:nld}} – Unknown copyright status. Copyright status is needed to keep this image. Use even if the image has no license info, but has been claimed by the uploader as own original work. The uploader probably meant to place it under some free license, but did not specify which one.
  • {{no source since|month=May|day=23|year=2024}} or simply {{subst:nsd}} – No source information or the image has been tagged as being under a free license, but information required by the license (or to verify the status) is missing. The source must be given so that the copyright status can be verified.

Other tags

These tags may be used in addition to the copyright tags above.

  • {{2257}} - for works created after November 1, 1990 of one or more humans engaged in sexually explicit content, which are subject to US age record-keeping requirements. The US imposes criminal penalties on any individual/entity that "publishes, reproduces, or reissues" such content and also qualifies as a "secondary producer" under the law (Commons does not meet the definition of secondary producer).
  • {{Coat of Arms}} – for coats of arms, i.e. the representation of a blazon as it is known in heraldry. Note: though the composition of coats of arms is usually PD (and may be represented anew without "derivative work" consideration), a given artistic representation is a work of art on its own right, subject to copyright. Be sure to check.
  • {{Communist symbol}} – for images showing or resembling symbols of Communism, especially the hammer and sickle. The use of such images is restricted in Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. The copyright status must be indicated separately. Similar to {{Nazi symbol}}.
  • {{Counterfeiting}} - used to tag images that may be subject to restrictions on reuse to prevent counterfeiting (eg. images of government-issued identification cards). Do not use for currency (use {{Currency}} instead) or tickets (use {{Ticket}})
  • {{Currency}} - for images of currency, which may be subject to country-specific restrictions on such images may be printed (to prevent counterfeiting).
  • {{FoP}} – for photos taken under the legal exception of the freedom of panorama (Panoramafreiheit)
  • {{IHL Symbol}} – for images containing symbols protected by international humanitarian law, such as a red cross. The use of these symbols may be restricted by international and national legislation, so make sure you are using them accordingly.
  • {{Insignia}} – for flags, coat of arms, seals or other official insignia.
  • {{Islamic state}} – for images showing or resembling a symbol of the Islamic State or a similar organisation. The use of such images is restricted in Germany and other countries. The copyright status must be indicated separately.
  • {{Kopimi}} – When the copyright owner wants people to copy, modify, and distribute the file/image.
  • {{Modifications-ineligible}} – for works with minor modifications. Indicates explicitly that the modifications are ineligible for copyright.
  • {{Nazi symbol}} – for images showing or resembling a symbol of the Nazi party or a similar organisation, especially the swastika. The use of such images is restricted in Germany and other countries. The copyright status must be indicated separately.
    • {{Non Nazi swastikas}} – for images of swastikas unrelated to Nazi Germany. While swastikas are banned in Germany and some other countries, some non-Nazi-related images may be permissible (such as the religious swastikas used in Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism).
  • {{PermissionOTRS}} – Allows to enter easily a ticket number for permissions forwarded to otrs. syntax is: {{PermissionOTRS|ticket http address}}.
  • {{Personality rights}} – Personality rights warning, for images of an identifiable person who is alive or deceased recently
  • {{Property rights}} - although Commons generally does not reject content when the image taker violates "house rules" (such as when an image of a public domain work is taken in a museum that bans photography), such infringements of a property owner's property or where consent was not given may be unlawful and some countries may restrict reuses of such content.
  • {{Trademarked}} – for branding logos, designs, names, words, phrases and any other kind of trademarked element (usually accompanied with ® or ™). Note that even though copyright and trademark have different scopes regarding intellectual property, some free content may be registered and protected for trademark usage. Also see Commons:Licensing#Simple design.

Sources

Country-specific sources

Egypt

  • {{ModernEgypt}} – for works sourced from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Memory of Modern Egypt Digital Archive (public domain status of each image has to be verified)

Romania

South Korea

  • {{KOGL-type1}} – for images licensed under Korea Open Government License, Type 1

United States of America

  • {{LOC-image}} – for images sourced from the U.S. Library of Congress
  • {{LOC-map}} – for map images sourced from the U.S. Library of Congress
  • {{NARA-image}} – for images sourced from the U.S. National Archives' Archival Research Catalog
  • {{PCL}} – for images copied from the Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL) of the University of Texas at Austin. (public domain status of each image has to be verified!)

See also

References

  1. ↑ § 10
  2. ↑ [1] (2017-06-21)
  3. ↑ Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices, § 1102.08(b)
  4. ↑ W:Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices, § 206.02(e)
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