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PD-icon This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.
PD-icon This work is in the public domain in Afghanistan according to The law on the support the right of authors, composers, artists and researchers (Copy Right Law). (unofficial English translation) because:
  • It is a photograph, painting, or other audiovisual work originally published more than 50 years ago, or
  • It is any other form of protected work and more than 50 years have passed since the death of the last surviving author and the date of original publication.

All works published using a pseudonym enter the public domain 50 years after publication, unless the author's identity subsequently becomes known. Afghan copyright law only protects “photographic works that have been created using an original mode” (Art. 6).

Flag of Afghanistan
PD-icon According to Article 9 of the Albanian Copyright Law of 2005 the following are not copyrightable and thus in public domain:
  • the ideas, theories, concepts, discoveries and inventions in a creative work, apart from the way of acquiring, explanation or expression;
  • the official texts of a legal, administrative, legislative, political nature and their respective official translations;
  • the official symbols of the state, symbols of other public organizations and public authorities, such as: Coat of arms, seals, flags, emblems, medallions, medals;
  • Means of payment;
  • news and press information;
  • simple data and facts.
  • Folk expressions.

It is asserted that this work falls into one or more of the above categories and is public domain.

Albanian Eagle
PD-icon REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

LAW ON COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS - full text (.pdf)
Article 4. Non-Protected Works

  1. Copyright protection shall not be afforded to:
    a) expressions of traditional folklore and art;
    b) daily news or information on current facts and events;
    c) official documents: legal acts, treaties and the official translations thereof;
    d) state emblems and signs (flags, coats of arms, medals, monetary signs);
    e) political speeches, speeches delivered in the court;
    f) results obtained by technical means without the intervention of human creative activity.
  2. Copyright shall not cover scientific discoveries, ideas, principles, methods, procedures, viewpoints, systems, ceremonies, scientific theories, mathematical formulas, statistical diagrams, rules of games, even if they are expressed, described, disclosed, commented in works.
Coat of arms of Armenia
PD-icon This image has been released under the public domain. This applies worldwide. Therefore, you are free to reproduce it, create derivative works, or use it for commercial purposes as you see fit, without any requirement to give the author credit. However, as a courtesy, a link to http://art-hanoi.com/collection would be appreciated.

If this is not legally possible:
The copyright holder allows any entity to use this work for any purpose, with no conditions, unless such conditions are required by law. However, as a courtesy, a link back to http://art-hanoi.com/collection would be appreciated.

PD-icon This image has been released into public domain by its copyright holder. This applies worldwide.

In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so:
The copyright holder grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

PD-icon This file depicts the flag of a German Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts (corporation governed by public law). According to § 5 Abs. 1 of the German Copyright law, official works like flags are gemeinfrei (in the public domain).

Note: The usage of flags is governed by legal restrictions, independent of the copyright status of the depiction shown here.

Coat of Arms of Germany
PD-icon This file is in the public domain according to German copyright law because it is part of a statute, ordinance, official decree or judgement (official work) issued by a German federal or state authority or court (§ 5 Abs.1 UrhG). Coat of Arms of Germany
PD-icon This file is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship.
PD-icon According to Japanese Copyright Law the copyright on this work has expired and is as such public domain. According to articles 51 and 57 of the copyright laws of Japan, under the jurisdiction of the Government of Japan all non-photographic works enter the public domain 50 years after the death of the creator (there being multiple creators, the creator who dies last) or 50 years after publication for anonymous or pseudonymous authors or for works whose copyright holder is an organization. Flag of Japan
PD-icon This work is in the public domain in Japan according to Article 13 of the Copyright Act of Japan, which states that the following shall not form the subject matter of the rights provided for in this Chapter:
  • (i) the Constitution and other laws and regulations;
  • (ii) notifications, instructions, circular notices and the like issued by organs of the State or local public entities, independent administrative organs ("independent administrative organs" means those mentioned in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Law for General Rules for Independent Administrative Organs (Law No.103, of 1999); the same shall apply hereinafter) or local independent administrative organs ("local independent administrative organs" means those mentioned in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Law for Local Independent Administrative Organs (Law No.118, of 2003); the same shall apply hereinafter);
  • (iii) judgments, decisions, orders and decrees of law courts, as well as rulings and decisions made by administrative organs in proceedings similar to judicial ones;
  • (iv) translations and compilations, of those materials mentioned in the preceding three items, made by organs of the State or local public entities, independent administrative organs or local independent administrative organs.
Flag of Japan
PD-icon LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

ON COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBORING RIGHTS number 293-XIII of November 23, 1994 (Amended by Law no. 1268-XV, of July 25, 2002) [1]Icons-mini-file acrobat
Article 7. Works Not Protected by Copyright

  • (1) Copyright shall not extend to:
    • (a) Official documents (laws, court decisions, etc.) or to the official translations thereof;
    • (b) State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs, etc.);
    • (c) Folklore expressions;
    • (d) Daily news and facts of simple informational nature.
  • (2) The mode of expression rather than ideas, processes, functioning methods or mathematical concepts as such shall be protected by copyright.
Coat of arms of Moldova
PD-icon This work is in the public domain in Mexico because either its author died before 1945, it is a work of the Mexican government and it was published more than 100 years ago, or it was already in the public domain in 2003. Coat of arms of Mexico
PD-icon This file is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to Australia, the European Union, and any country with a copyright term of the life of the author plus 70 years.

Dialog-warningNote that some countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala have 75 years. In these countries, this image may not be in the public domain, and do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Côte d'Ivoire has a copyright term of 99 years and Honduras has 75 years, but they do implement the rule of the shorter term.

{{PD-old}}
PD-icon According to Transnistrian Government regulation #289 about ratification of Temporary regulations of copyright and allied rights, legal safeguard of software, databases, and integrated circuit topology, dated November 18, 1994, Article 1.6: copyright does not apply to:
  • objects of folk art whose authors are unknown
  • laws, court rulings, or other official documents
  • official symbols (flags, coat of arms, insignia, currency, etc.) that are approved by the state organs and organizations
Transnistria-coa
PD-icon This image is in the public domain according to Article 4, case 2 of the Polish Copyright Law Act of February 4, 1994 (Dz. U. z 2006 r. Nr 90 poz. 631 with later changes) "normative acts and drafts thereof as well as official documents, materials, signs and symbols are not subject to copyrights". Hence it is assumed that this image has been released into public domain. However, in some instances the use of this image in Poland might be regulated by other laws. Herb Polski
PD-icon According to the Romanian Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights Law no. 8/1996 of March 14, 1996 with further amendments Chapter 3 Article 9 the following documents shall not benefit from the legal protection accorded to copyright:
  • (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.

Also, according to Chapter 10 Article 85 Paragraph 2,

  • The photographs of letters, deeds, documents of any kind, technical drawings and other similar papers shall not benefit from the legal protection accorded to copyright.

Therefore this image is assumed to be in the public domain worldwide, although some of the above categories may be subject to usage restrictions within Romania.

Coat of arms of Romania
PD-icon This work is not an object of copyright according to Part IV of Civil Code No. 230-FZ of the Russian Federation of December 18, 2006.

Article 1259. Objects of Copyright

Paragraph 5
Copyright shall not apply to ideas, concepts, principles, methods, processes, systems, means, solutions of technical, organizational and other problems, discoveries, facts, programming languages.
Paragraph 6
Shall not be objects of copyright:
  • official documents of state government agencies and local government agencies of municipal formations, including laws, other legal texts, judicial decisions, other materials of legislative, administrative and judicial character, official documents of international organizations, as well as their official translations;
  • state symbols and signs (flags, emblems, orders, banknotes, and the like), as well as symbols and signs of municipal formations;
  • works of folk art (folklore), which don't have specific authors;
  • news reports on events and facts, which have a purely informational character (daily news reports, television programs, transportation schedules, and the like).

Full text of the Code: Russian, English

Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation
Comment – According to interstate and international compacts, the Russian Federation is the legal successor of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; therefore, this license tag is also applicable to official symbols and formal documents of the Russian SFSR and the USSR.

Warning – This license tag cannot be applied to proposed official symbols and drafts of formal documents, which can be copyrighted.

PD-icon This image of simple geometry is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. Heptagon
PD-icon This file is in the public domain because it is a:
  • law, ordinance, official treaty, or other official act
  • decision, protocol, or report by public authorities
  • piece of currency
  • patent or patent application

of Switzerland or its cantons. It is therefore not protected by copyright by virtue of Article 5 of the Swiss Copyright Act.

Coat of Arms of Switzerland
PD-icon This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. See here for more details.

Note: This only applies to works of the Federal Government, which does not include works of any individual, U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, municipality, or any other subdivision. This does not apply to stamps published by the United States Postal Service since 1978 (see here) or certain coins (see here).

US-GreatSeal-Obverse
PD-icon This image depicts a unit of currency issued by the United States. If this image is of paper currency or a coin not listed here, it is solely a work of the United States government, and is ineligible for copyright, and is therefore in the public domain.

Fraudulent use of this image is punishable under applicable counterfeit laws.


USG money
Important 3/4 & 1-1/2 U.S. Secret Service money illustration rules
As listed by the United States Secret Service at money illustrations, the Counterfeit Detection Act of 1992, Public Law 102-550, in Section 411 of Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations (31 CFR 411), permits color illustrations of U.S. currency provided that:
  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
  2. The illustration is one-sided
  3. 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.

Important Copyright information

Certain coins contain copyrights licensed to the United States Mint and owned by third parties or assigned to and owned by the United States Mint [2]. For the United States Mint circulating design policy, see here; for the policy on the 50 State Quarters, see here.
PD-icon This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policies state that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless otherwise noted". (see Template:PD-USGov, the NASA copyright policy, or the JPL Image Use policy.)
Dialog-warning Warnings
  • Use of NASA logos, insignia and emblems are restricted per US law 14 CFR 1221.
  • The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain.
  • Materials based on Hubble Space Telescope data may be copyrighted if they are not explicitly produced by the STScI. [3]
  • The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project encourages use of images and data from its probe for public education efforts and non-commercial purposes, requests proper attribution, and neither claims nor disclaims copyright. [4]
  • Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted. [5]
Shuttle
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