Commons:Government works
Government works are works made by or for a national or sub-national government, or works whose copyright is held by a national or sub-national government.
Laws vary from country to country. Some types of government work may be free of copyright, while others may be protected. It is common for laws, decrees and court decisions to be free, but this is not always true. It is common for brochures, official portraits and other creative works to be protected, but this is also not always true. Special rules may apply to postage stamps, currency, flags and so on. Different rules may apply to national and sub-national governments, and to different administrative units.
For example:
- In the United States a work by the U.S. federal Government is in the public domain. However, the works of state and local governments are often subject to copyright (see COM:US#Works by the US Government).
- In the United Kingdom most government works are protected by Crown copyright and Parliamentary copyright, but some are free under the Ordnance Survey OpenData licence or the Open Government Licence (see COM:UK).
- In France laws, decrees, court decisions and other similar government texts (but not the translations or commentaries thereof) are in the public domain. Other government works are generally protected by copyright (see COM:France).
- In Germany works that contain a "normative or individual legal stipulation" are free, as are official works published in the official interest for general information purposes, but non-literary works such as stamps or currency may be protected (see COM:Germany#Official works).
Refer to the Commons:Copyright rules by territory/country pages (listed at the foot of this page) for the rules that apply to government works in the given country or territory.
Sample rules[edit]
Following are sample extracts from pages that describe copyright rules by territory, illustrating different rules for government works. Many other territories have rules specific to government works.
COM:GVT Australia
Australia
Under the Copyright Act 1968 (consolidated as of 22 December 2017):
- The Commonwealth or a State is the owner of the copyright in an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work made by, or under the direction or control of, the Commonwealth or the State, as the case may be.[1968–2017 Sec.176(2)]
- Copyright in a literary, dramatic or musical work of which the Commonwealth or a State is the owner ... (a) where the work is unpublished—continues to subsist so long as the work remains unpublished; and (b) where the work is published—subsists, or, if copyright in the work subsisted immediately before its first publication, continues to subsist, until the expiration of 50 years after the expiration of the calendar year in which the work was first published.[1968–2017 Sec.180(1)]
Copyright tags[edit]
- {{PD-Australia}} – for Australian photographs published 70 years after the death of the creator, or photographs taken prior to 1955
- {{PD-Australia-currency}} – for coins designed before 1 May 1969
- {{PD-AustraliaGov}} – for government works whose copyright has expired.
- {{DFAT}} - for works from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Currency[edit]
Not OK for coins or banknotes designed on or after 1 May 1969.
OK for coins or banknotes designed before 1 May 1969, but under the following conditions: Derivative works of images of banknotes are expressly forbidden. Low resolution images of banknotes are allowed for editorial or educational purposes, as long as only one side of a bank note is featured. See website for details of exact size requirements for images.
Designs from prior to 1 May 1969 are in the public domain, and should use the tag {{PD-Australia-currency}}.
Freedom of panorama[edit]
- OK for 3D works {{FoP-Australia}}
- OK for 2D "works of artistic craftmanship" {{FoP-Australia}}
- Not OK for other types of artworks
Freedom of Panorama is dealt with in the Australian Copyright Act, sections 65–68, and is based on the laws of the United Kingdom.
"Artistic work" is defined under section 10 of the Copyright Act 1968 as:
- (a) a painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving or photograph, whether the work is of artistic quality or not;
- (b) a building or a model of a building, whether the building or model is of artistic quality or not; or
- (c) a work of artistic craftsmanship whether or not mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b);
The main concern stems from what is a work of "artistic craftmanship", which the statutory law does not clearly define, but was defined in case law under Burge v Swarbrick [1] The High Court ruled that whether a work has that quality depends on whether it is a work of craftsmanship the artistic form of expression of which is sufficiently "unconstrained by functional considerations".
In the Australian Federal Law Review, Justine Pila wrote an article in light of of the High Court ruling in Burgess that:
- "I suggest the requirement for artistic quality is simply a requirement for a [work of artistic craftmanship] 'not imaginary, unreal or apparent only' ... As those cases reflect, even conceived in historical terms, WACs are not exceptional works but rather paradigmatic works, contrary to the orthodox view above. The fact that they are functional too does not lessen their need for artistic quality".[2]
Furthermore, she stated that:
- "what constitutes a work of artistic craftsmanship is the same as what constitutes other works — their properties of form and the history of their individual production." [2]
Several users claim that this implies two-dimensional flat arts like paintings and street art are considered as "works of artistic craftsmanship" in Australia, but others doubt about this interpretation and it has not been completely accepted by Wikimedia Commons community. Moreover, according to an information sheet of the Australian Copyright Council concerning street art (dated November 2019), the exception provided by Section 65 "applies only to sculptures and works of artistic craftsmanship, not to other artistic works such as murals and graffiti. Therefore, the copyright in a mural or graffiti may be infringed by taking a photograph of it." It adds that licensing permission from the copyright holder is needed, for uses of Australian street art "to feature on a website; to photograph, particularly for commercial purposes (e.g. to sell as postcards or prints); to use as the location of a film shoot; or to publish in a book or magazine."[3]
COM:GVT Brazil
Brazil
Under the Berne Convention, Article 2.4, It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to determine the protection to be granted to official texts of a legislative, administrative and legal nature, and to official translations of such texts.
The convention was implemented by Federal Decree nº 75.699 of 1975 but the decree does not address the issue. Some freedom of access was defined in 1988 with the new Federal Constitution,[4][5][6]
- Article 5 (XIV) – access to information is ensured to everyone and the confidentiality of the source shall be safeguarded, whenever necessary to the professional activity.
- Article 216 (Para 2) It is incumbent upon the Government, in accordance with the law, to manage the keeping of the governmental documents and to make them available for consultation to whomever may need to do so.
In 1998 the exclusion from copyright protection of these types of work was expressed by article 8, items I and IV of the Copyright law. It excludes legislative and judicial documents, but not all works (ex. cited maps, tables, etc.) created by the federal government.
See {{PD-BrazilGov}}. Note: a special clause must be added to the CC0 implicit license of legislative documents that obliges copiers to add a red notice saying "This text does not replace the original published in the Official Gazette".
COM:GVT Costa Rica
Costa Rica
According to Costa Rica's intellectual property law (Law 6683, as amended by Law 8834 of 3 May 2010):
- Everyone is allowed to freely reproduce constitutions, laws, decrees, municipal agreements, regulations and other public acts, as long as they strictly conform to the official edition. Individuals can also publish the codes and legislative collections, with notes and comments, and each author will own their own work.[6683/2010 Article 75]
- The State, municipal councils and official corporations shall enjoy the protection of this law, but with regard to economic rights, they shall have them for only 25 years from publication of the work, except in the case of public entities, whose purpose is the exercise of these rights as an ordinary activity; in which case the protection will be 50 years.[6683/2010 Article 63]
COM:GVT Iceland
Iceland
- Acts, regulations, administrative provisions, court rulings and similar official documents, as well as official translation of such documents, are not copyrighted.[73/1972-2018 Art.9]
- In addition, unless prohibited by court order, it is permissible to print, make an audio recording, or otherwise copy and present proceedings of public meetings of official representatives and documents publicly submitted during such meetings which concern such representatives, and "debates on questions concerning the public good which take place at gatherings to which the public has access or are broadcast".[73/1972-2018 Art.22]
COM:GVT Italy
Italy
Works created by or on behalf of either the government, the former national Fascist Party, an academy, or private legal entities of a non-profit-making character of Italy, have 20 years of duration of the rights [633/1941 art. 11, 29]
Therefore, the theory that a 70-year rule applies to works of the Italian government is unproven and has been disputed. See Commons:Deletion requests/Category:PD Italy.
According to the discussion at Commons:Village pump/Copyright/Archive/2023/10#Italy FOP again and artwork copyrights supposedly held by city councils of Italy, buildings and monuments commissioned and paid for by the Italian state (including regions, cities etc.) are also official works (government works), and the copyright in these cases is held by the state or its respective subdivision.
According to article 52, paragraph 2 of the Digital Administration Code, data and documents published by Italian public administrations without any explicit license are considered "open by default" (with exception of personal data). In this case, data and documents without explicit license can be used for free, also for commercial purpose, like CC-BY license or with attribution.[7]
COM:GVT Kiribati
Kiribati
Under the 2018 Act, "work" does not include any work that is an official text, or a translation, of a legislative, administrative, or legal nature.[2018 Art.3]
These are not protected.
Under the former Copyright Act 1956 of England,
- For literary, dramatic or musical works made by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or a Government department, copyright (a) where the work is unpublished, subsists so long as the work remains unpublished, and (b) where the work is published, subsists for 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.[1956 Sec.39(3)]
- Copyright in an artistic work to which Her Majesty is entitled subsists for 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.[1956 Sec.39(4)]
COM:GVT Malta
Malta
Copyright protection extends to work which is eligible for copyright and which is made by or under the direction or control of the Government of Malta.
[415/2000-2011 Art. 6(1)]
- Databases and literary, musical or artistic works are protected for 70 years from publication.[415/2000-2011 Art. 6(2)]
- Audiovisual works are protected for 70 years after the death of the last survivor of the principal director, the author of the screenplay, the author of the dialogue and the composer of music specifically created for use in the audiovisual work.[415/2000-2011 Art. 6(3)]
- When an unpublished work whose copyright has expired is published, the work is protected for 25 years from publication.[415/2000-2011 Art. 6(4)]
COM:GVT Mexico
Mexico
Works created by the Mexican government are protected by copyright for 100 years after publication.[1996-2018 Art.29(II)]
This applies to the federal, state and municipal governments. As with known authors, the term was extended repeatedly in the past.
- Under the 1928 Federal Civil Code, the government could hold not copyright.[1928 Art.1235]
- The extension to 30 years from publication appears to have happened in 1963.[8]
- The extension to 50 years from publication is documented in the Diario Oficial of 11 January 1982.[9]
COM:GVT Nauru
Nauru
No information available
COM:GVT New Zealand
New Zealand
Under the New Zealand Copyright Act of 1994 as of 30 December 2018,
- Where a work is made by a person employed or engaged by the Crown ... the Crown is the first owner of any copyright in the work.[1994-2018 Sec.26(1)]
- Crown copyright shall expire ... at the end of the period of 100 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work is made.[1994-2018 Sec.26(3b)]
- Some government publications are not subject to copyright, including bills, acts, regulations, court judgments, royal commission and select committee reports, etc.[1994-2018 Sec.27]
COM:GVT Philippines
Philippines
Works made by the government, or by government employees, are not protected by copyright:
- No copyright shall subsist in any work of the Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the government agency or office wherein the work is created shall be necessary for exploitation of such work for profit. Such agency or office may, among other things, impose as a condition the payment of royalties. No prior approval or conditions shall be required for the use for any purpose of statutes, rules and regulations, and speeches, lectures, sermons, addresses, and dissertations, pronounced, read or rendered in courts of justice, before administrative agencies, in deliberative assemblies and in meetings of public character.[8293/2015 Section 176.1]
The clause for prior approval is determined to be a non-copyright restriction and can be safely ignored for the purposes of Wikimedia Commons by policy. Therefore works of the Philippine Government is considered to be under the Public Domain. See discussion for {{PD-PhilippineGov}}.
The government may acquire copyright in a work, which will continue to last for the normal duration:
- Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest or otherwise; nor shall publication or republication by the government in a public document of any work in which copyright is subsisting be taken to cause any abridgment or annulment of the copyright or to authorize any use or appropriation of such work without the consent of the copyright owner.[8293/2015 Section 176.3]
For further information, refer to:
- Copyright protection over the works of the Government – October 15, 2019 BusinessWorld article, by Mary Erica D. Manuel, Associate of the Intellectual Property Department of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW)
- IPOPHL Memorandum Circular No. 2020 - 024: Copyright Rules and Regulations for the Government – 2020 Implementing Rules and Regulations by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (via Google Drive)
- Philippine News Agency content -
Unsure
The website of the Philippine News Agency contains terms of use stating that content on the website can only "be downloaded or printed for your own personal and non-commercial use only of not more than five (5) articles/photos per day." It adds that commercial use requires "written consent of NIB-PNA." The News and Information Bureau of the Philippine government repeats this copyright claim: "All contents of this site are protected by Philippines copyright laws under Republic Act No. 8293, known as the Intellectual Property (IP) Code of the Philippines, and may not be reproduced, distributed, altered, published or broadcast for commercial use without prior permission from PNA and its mother unit, the News and Information Bureau (NIB). However, the public may freely use PNA news contents with proper attribution for personal use only particularly in disseminating latest articles for public consumption in social media such as Facebook and Twitter." See also: Category:Philippine News Agency-related deletion requests.
- Provincial government websites
Official websites of some Philippine provinces bear copyright-related terms of use, such as those of Agusan del Sur and of Iloilo, notwithstanding what is dictated in the law that no copyright shall subsist in any work of the Government.
COM:GVT Singapore
Singapore
Under the Copyright Act (Chapter 63) as amended up to 2018,
- A literary, dramatic or musical work made by or under the direction or control of the Government is in the public domain if 70 years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published by or under the direction or control of the Government.[63/2006-2018 Section 197(3)(b)]
- An artistic work made by or under the direction or control of the Government is in the public domain in the following situations:
- If it is a photograph —
- made before 10 April 1987, 70 years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.[63/2006-2018 Section 197(4), 231]
- made on or after 10 April 1987, 70 years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.[63/2006-2018 Section 197(4A)]
- If it is an engraving, 70 years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.[63/2006-2018 Section 197(4A)]
- If it is an artistic work other than an engraving or a photograph, if 70 years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.[63/2006-2018 Section 197(4)]
- If it is a photograph —
- A cinematograph film made by or under the direction or control of the Government is in the public domain in the following situations:[63/2006-2018 Section 197(5)]
- If it was made before 10 April 1987, it is an original dramatic work that is in the public domain, and photographs forming part of the film are also in the public domain (see the preceding paragraphs).[63/2006-2018 Section 233]
- If it was made on or after 10 April 1987, 70 years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.[63/2006-2018 Section 88,93]
- A sound recording made by or under the direction or control of the Government is in the public domain in the following situations:[63/2006-2018 Section 197(5)]
- If it was made before 10 April 1987, 70 years have passed since the expiration of the calendar year in which the recording was made.[63/2006-2018 Section 219(4), 232]
- If it was made on or after 10 April 1987, 70 years have passed since the end of the calendar year in which the recording was first published.[63/2006-2018 Section 92]
COM:GVT Sudan
Sudan
Under the 1996 law copyright does not extend to state emblems and symbols or official documents.[1996 Section 6]
"Official documents" means the official documents issued by the State or its institution, corporation or unit and which, by virtue of their specialization, are issued for publication to the public, including laws, Presidential or administrative orders, international agreements and judicial judgments, but not including military documents, secret agreements and deliberations of secret sessions in courts or legislative bodies".[1996 Section 3]
COM:GVT Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Under the Copyright Act 1956 of England,
- For literary, dramatic or musical works made by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or a Government department, copyright (a) where the work is unpublished, subsists so long as the work remains unpublished, and (b) where the work is published, subsists for 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.[1956 Sec.39(3)]
- Copyright in an artistic work to which Her Majesty is entitled subsists for 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.[1956 Sec.39(4)]