Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Consolidated list Eastern Asia

This page gives overviews of copyright rules in different countries of Eastern Asia, as defined in the United Nations geoscheme for Asia. It is "transcluded" from individual pages giving the rules for each country. The list may be used for comparison or maintenance.

Text transcluded from
COM:China

China

Copyright rules: People's Republic of China Shortcut: COM:China
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Photograph	Publish + 50 years (before June 1, 2021) Life + 50 years (after June 1, 2021)
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 50 years
Government	Public domain (not always)
Other
Freedom of panorama	For 3D works
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-China}} {{PD-PRC-exempt}}
Treaties
Berne convention	15 October 1992
Univ. Copyright Convention	30 October 1992
WTO member	11 December 2001
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	9 June 2007
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of the People's Republic of China relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in China must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both China and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from China, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Different legal regimes and copyright terms apply in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and in Taiwan.

Background

China has been independent for centuries, first as an empire and then since 1912 as a republic. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842, and in 1 July 1997 was returned to China as a special administrative region. In 1887 Portugal gained rights to Macao, which was returned to China as a special administrative region in 1999. The Japanese seized Manchuria in 1931 and created the puppet state of Manchukuo. This was returned to China in 1946.

After the Chinese Civil War the government of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan in 1949, but continued to claim to be the legitimate government of mainland China. The mainland People's Republic of China does not recognise the legitimacy of the Republic of China, and claims sovereignty over Taiwan. The same copyright rules apply to mainland China and Taiwan up to 1949.

China has been a member of the Berne Convention since 15 October 1992, the Universal Copyright Convention since 30 October 1992, the World Trade Organization since 11 December 2001 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 9 June 2007. As of 2021 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (as amended up to the Decision of November 11, 2020, of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of China. For the time being, the WIPO Lex database only holds its Chinese edition. Wikisource has a Chinese version and an English translation. Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China is retroactive.

The rights of copyright owners, publishers, performers, producers of sound recordings and video recordings, radio stations and television stations as provided in this Law, of which the term of protection specified in this Law has not yet expired on the date of this Law's entry into force, shall be protected in accordance with this Law.^{[1990 Art.55]}

General

According to the 2020 Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China,

• A work created by a natural person when fulfilling the tasks assigned to him by a legal entity or another unincorporated organization shall be deemed to be a service work. Unless otherwise provided in Paragraph 2 of this Article, the copyright of such a work shall be enjoyed by the author, but the legal entity or unincorporated organization shall have a priority right to exploit the work within the scope of its professional activities....^{[2020 Art.18]}
• The rights of authorship, alteration and integrity of an author shall be unlimited in time.^{[2020 Art.22]}
• The term of protection for the right of publication ... in respect of a work of a citizen shall be the lifetime of the author and fifty years after his death, and expires on 31 December of the fiftieth year after the death of the author.^{[2020 Art.23]}
• In the case of a work of joint authorship, such term shall expire on 31 December of the fiftieth year after the death of the last surviving author.^{[2020 Art.23]}
• For a work of a legal person or an unincorporated organization, and a work for hire whose copyright (excluding right of signature) is owned by a legal person or an unincorporated organization, the protection period for its right of publication shall be 50 years, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the creation of the work; and the protection period for its rights shall be 50 years, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the first publication of the work, but if a work has not been published within 50 years after the completion of the creation, it shall no longer be protected by this Law.^{[2020 Art.23]}
• For an audiovisual work, the protection period for its right of publication shall be 50 years, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the creation of the work; and the protection period for its rights shall be 50 years, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the first publication of the work, but if a work has not been published within 50 years after the completion of the creation, it shall no longer be protected by this Law.^{[2020 Art.23]}

According to the Implementing Regulations of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China:

• Article 13: In the case of a work of an unknown author, the copyright, except the right of authorship, shall be exercised by the lawful holder of the original copy of the work. Where the author has been identified, the copyright shall be exercised by the author or his heir in title.
• Article 16: The using of copyright enjoyed by the State shall be managed by the State Council copyright administration departments.
• Article 17: In the case of posthumous works, the right of publication may be exercised by the author's heir in title or other behested beneficiary within a period of 50 years, unless the author expressly had stated otherwise. In the absence of an heir in title or other behested beneficiary, the said right shall be exercised by the lawful holder of the original copy of the work.
• Article 18: In the case of a work of an unknown author, the protection term in relation to the rights as mentioned by item 5 to item 17 of first paragraph of Article 10 of the Law shall be 50 years ending on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the first publication of the work. Article 21 of the Law shall be applicable after the author of the work has been identified.

According to the Part IV Personality Rights, Chapter IV Portraiture Right, Article 1019 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, any organizations or peoples are not permitted to violate portraiture rights of other peoples by smear, stain, counterfeit by using information technology or else ways. No making, using and publishing of portrait owners' images are allowed without their consent, unless permitted by other laws. The copyright owners of portraint works are also not allowed to use or disclosure by releasing, copying, distributing, hiring, exhibiting or other ways without their consent. Portraiture rights provisions mentioned above are non-copyright restrictions.

There were some discussions about the copyright situations of the works of Communist Party of China, a de facto consensus on Chinese Wikisource (see s:zh:Template:PD-PRC-CPC) considered that, based on the Criminal Justice Reference guiding cases №. 680, CPC works may considered as in Public Domain per Article 5 if they are published by central organizations of CPC, such as National Congress, Central Committee and their subordinate bodies. If not published by central organizations, then CPC works may considered as copyrighted.

Not protected

According to the 2020 Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, this Law shall not be applicable to: (1) laws, regulations, resolutions, decisions and orders of state organs; other documents of legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and their official translations; (2) simple factual information; and (3) calendars, numerical tables, forms of general use and formulas.^{[2020 Art.5]}

Terms

Individual works

Date of author's death	Date of publication	Copyright tag
– 31 December 1973	– 31 December 1928	{{PD-China-expired}} + {{PD-old-auto-expired}} {{PD-China-expired}}{{PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=death year}}
– 31 December 1945	1 January 1929 –	{{PD-China-1996}} + {{PD-old-auto-1996}} {{PD-China-1996}}{{PD-old-auto-1996|country=China|deathyear=death year}}
Others		The work is still protected under China law and/or URAA.

Anonymous, Pseudonymous or Cooperative works

If the author of the work is unveiled during its copyright term, it is protected as an individual work.

Date of publication	Copyright tag
– December 31, 1928	{{PD-China-expired}} + {{PD-anon-expired}} {{PD-China-expired}}{{PD-anon-expired}}
January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1945	{{PD-China-1996}} + {{PD-anon-auto-1996}} {{PD-China-1996}}{{PD-anon-auto-1996|country=China|publication=year}}
Others	The work is still protected under China law and/or URAA.

Photographs

Date of creation	Date of publication	Copyright tag
– December 31, 1928	– December 31, 1928	{{PD-China-expired}} + {{PD-old-auto-expired}} {{PD-China-expired}}{{PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=death year}}
– December 31, 1945	Unpublished	{{PD-China-1996}} + {{PD-old-auto-1996}} {{PD-China-1996}}{{PD-old-auto-1996|country=China|deathyear=death year}}
	January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1945 January 1, 1996 –
Others		The work is still protected under China law and/or URAA.

Exceptions

• For some government works, {{PD-PRC-exempt}}
• {{PD-China-film}} + choose from {{PD-US-expired}}, {{PD-1996}} (–1945) or {{Not-PD-US-URAA}} (1946–1953)
• FoP (photographs of an architectural work) {{FoP-China}} + free license tag for the image

Copyright tags

• {{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 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

• {{PD-PRC-exempt}} – for works in the public domain according to the People's Republic of China for free of copyright.
• {{PD-PRC-GB mandatory standard}} – for images from mandatory Guobiao standards with legal nature.
  • {{PD-PRC-Road Traffic Signs}} – for road traffic signs from mandatory National Standard GB 5768.
  • {{PD-PRC-Road Traffic Markings}} – for road traffic markings from mandatory National Standard GB 5768.
• {{PD-PRC-CPC}} - for works formulated by central organization of the Communist Party of China

Republic of China

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

• {{PD-ROC-exempt}} – for images in the public domain according to the Republic of China for free of copyright
• {{PD-ROC-official}} – for the attachments of the laws of the Republic of China from the website of the Legislative Yuan law system
• {{PD-ROC-Presidential Office Gazette}} – for the Presidential Office Gazette from 20 May 1948 to present by the Presidential Office of the Republic of China [3]

Older (1912–1949) works published within the jurisdiction of the Republic of China

• {{PD-ROC-Provisional Government Gazette}} – for the Provisional Government Gazette from 29 January to 5 April 1912 by the Nanking Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912) [4]
• {{PD-ROC-Provisional Gazette}} – for the Provisional Gazette from 13 February to 26 April 1912 by the Peking Republican Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912–1913)
• {{PD-ROC-Government Gazette}} – for the Government Gazette from May 1912 to June 1928 by the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China [5]
• {{PD-ROC-Military Government Gazette}} – for the Military Government Gazette from 17 September 1917 to 14 May 1918 by the Southern Government of the Republic of China [6]
• {{PD-ROC-Generalissimo Government Gazette}} – for the Generalissimo Government Gazette from 30 January 1922 to 20 May 1925 by the Southern Generalissimo Government of the Republic of China [7]
• {{PD-ROC-National Government Gazette}} – for the National Government Gazette from July 1925 to 19 May 1948 by the National Government of the Republic of China [8]

Cheque

OK {{PD-shape}} for cheques with simple designs. However, many Chinese cheques have security features that exceed threshold of originality and therefore  Not OK.

Currency

 Not OK. The design of renminbi is exceeding the threshold of originality of China and there is no apparent evidence that renminbi designs are in public domain.

However, for currencies that are in circulation, there are some non-copyright restrictions. The use of Renminbi designs is subject to approval. According to the Measures for the Administration of the Use of Renminbi Designs (人民币图样使用管理办法) (amended in 2019):

• Article 4 The use of Renminbi designs are not permitted for ceremonial, lifestyle and finance bill purposes;
• Article 6 The use of Renminbi designs are administrated territorially, and every use cases shall be approved one by one. The People's Bank of China, to which their headquarter is located in Shanghai, as well as their branches, business management departs, sub-branches of the capitals of provinces, and centre bank of PBC in Shenzhen, are the approval authorities of Renminbi use cases. The local branches of PBC are acceptance agencies of applications of cases.
• Article 9 The use of Renminbi designs should follow the following terms:
  • Only one paper face by one picture;
  • No harms of Renminbi images, national interests and public interests are allowed;
  • Will not let the public consider mistakenly as the Renminbi itself;

...

OK for those with expired copyright.

Freedom of panorama

In general, OK , with attribution {{FoP-China}}, for outdoor and indoor works (since June 2021 with the 2020 amendment of the copyright law allowing indoor works) but practically may be problematic with regards to images of 2D works like murals and permanent outdoor paintings (reference: Commons:Deletion requests/File:Mao Zedong portrait.jpg). To summarize:

• OK for architecture,
• OK for 3D works like sculptures (and possibly things like handicrafts, ceramics, and tiles), and
• generally  Not OK for 2D works like murals and outdoor paintings, unless their presences in images are not being main subjects.

The reproduction of artistic, architectural, or applied artwork, is covered under the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, which allows reproduction of works in an outdoor public place if the author and the name of the original work is attributed.

• Article 24: In the following cases, a work may be exploited without the permission from, and without payment of remuneration to, the copyright owner, provided that the name or designation of the author and the title of the work are mentioned and the normal use of the work, or unreasonably damage the lawful rights and interests of the copyright owner shall not be affected:
  (10) copying, drawing, photographing, or video recording of an artistic work located or on display in a public place;...
  The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply to restrictions on copyright-related rights.

The "Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China" (2020) Article 24, clause 10 states that:

[A] work may be exploited without the permission from, and without payment of remuneration to, the copyright owner, provided that the name or designation of the author and the title of the work are mentioned and the normal use of the work, or unreasonably damage the lawful rights and interests of the copyright owner shall not be affected:

copying, drawing, photographing, or video recording of an artistic work located or on display in a public place

Regulations and court decisions regarding to freedom of panorama:

• Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Civil Disputes over Copyright, Article 18: Artistic works in outdoor public places stipulated in Article 22, Item 10 of the Copyright Law refer to sculptures, paintings, calligraphy and other works of art that are set up or displayed in outdoor public places.
  Copying, painting, photographing, and video recording of the artistic works specified in the preceding paragraph may be used again in a reasonable manner and scope without causing any infringement.
• Reply on the "Report on the Request for Infringement of Copyright Disputes between Shandong Tianyi Advertising Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Hisense Communications Co., Ltd." of the Shandong Provincial Higher People's Court, the Supreme People's Court: (Dispute on using May Wind sculpture in advertisements) ... Here, for 'reasonable approach and scope', the 'approach and scope' for profit purposes should be included. This is the original intention of formulating the Judicial Interpretation. This provision of judicial interpretation is in conformity with the basic spirit of fair use as stipulated by the Berne Convention, and it is also in line with the legislation of most countries in the world."
• Wang Juxian vs. Shaoxing Water Conservancy Bureau on Other Copyright Ownership Infringement Dispute Trial Supervision, The Supreme People's Court: As mentioned above, China's Copyright Law exempts the public from the obligation to attribute the author's name and the name of the work while exempting the author from the obligation to authorize and pay for the copying of the sculpture in the outdoor public place. Under normal circumstances, the public can only rely on the annotation of the outdoor art work itself to confirm the author's name and the name of the work without any obligation to verify.

The following examples are OK:

• Photos of the Tian Tan Buddha sculpture. See the court ruling of a civil law case, in which the court ruled that commercial use of a photo of the Tian Tan Buddha by a telecommunications operator on their IP phone cards is permissible.
• Photos of the May Wind sculpture. Shandong Province Higher People's Court ruled in a civil case that the usage of an image of this sculpture as a wallpaper in cellphones by a cellphone manufacturer is permissible. China's Supreme Court later on endorsed this ruling.

Some limitations to the Chinese freedom of panorama as ruled by courts

• The Chinese FOP provision can hardly apply to works temporarily displayed in public places according to the reply by Supreme People's Court in 1995, which stated that works displayed only during the festival cannot be considered as "an artistic work located or on display in a public place".
• More recently, however, Chongqing Yuzhong District People's Court ruled in 2016 that the use of a photo of an outdoor sculpture on postcards for sale (commercial use without attribution) to be an infringement of the sculpture creator's rights (source: [9][10]). Note that the judge applied criteria pertaining to "fair use", including the purpose of reuse, the nature of use, and the consequences of use. Regarding the nature of use, the judge comments, "in this case, the photo contained in the 'Folklore Heritage' postcard issued by the advertising company is a full-body frontal photo of the sculpture of the 'Ciqikou night watchman', which is featured prominently in the picture and is the main vehicle for the postcard to express the design theme of 'Folklore Heritage', so this kind of use is not incidental."
• Regarding 2D works like outdoor paintings permanently installed in public spaces and murals, a recent court case by Beijing IP court (2020) gave a negative decision: "The Court believes that the general use of 2D art works by copyright owners is relatively simple, that is, copying works, creating derivative works on the basis of the original works for commercial use or authorizing others to do so. If a 2D art work is displayed in a public place, others can freely use it for commercial purposes after photographing, drawing or copying, the licensing and copyright owner's income will be seriously threatened, then the normal use of the work will be affected and the legitimate rights and interests enjoyed by the copyright owner will be prejudiced."

See also: Category:Chinese FOP cases.

Threshold of originality

China has a relatively low threshold of originality standard; basic designs may be copyrightable. One of the most noticeable cases is the logo of a company named Gang Heng (listed below) ruled by China's supreme court as copyrighted (see below).

The following examples are OK:

• "Matchstick man" (image) with a black sphere as a head, black lines as torso, limbs and feet is not copyrightable for lacking originality, ruled Higher People's Court of Beijing Municipality (source).
• Five SKECHERS logos (image) are not copyrightable for lacking originality, ruled Higher People's Court of Beijing Municipality in 2020 (final judgement and related news coverage).
• "BIOU" logo (image), with letter "b" and "o", and a small barcode in the upper right corner, is not copyrightable for lacking originality, ruled Higher People's Court of Beijing Municipality in 2018 (final judgement and related articles [11] [12]). Note that the logo was initially ruled as copyrightable by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board and a lower court.
• "KON" logo (see below), with three black bars crossed together, is not copyrightable for lacking originality, ruled Beijing Dongcheng District People's Court in 2019 (final judgement and news coverage).
• "Chao Qun" logo (see below), is not copyrightable for lacking originality, ruled China's Supreme People's Court in 2012 (original judgment by the Court). The court asserted that the expression does not show the existence of a unique style; there are only subtle differences when compared to the common Seal script and Clerical script, the "Chao Qun" logo does not reach a certain creative height, and does not have originality.

• 
  A stick figure similar to this image, where the head is represented by a circle and other parts represented by straight lines, is not copyrightable.
• 
  The SKECHERS's S logo is not copyrightable.
• 
  KON logo with three black bars crossed together is not copyrightable.
• 
  Chao Qun logo is not copyrightable.

The following examples are  Not OK:

• Calligraphy works, such as:
  • the work "道" on this photo (archived from original) (see the article by Beijing Youth Daily (archived from original), and the follow-up report (archived from original).
  • the character "勁" (archived from the original), with rulings made by Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court, and Higher People's Court of Beijing Municipality
  • calligraphy for "澳門豆撈" (image), ruled by Henan Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court (source).

are copyrighted (Copyright Law of the PR China: "Article 2 Works of Chinese citizens, legal entities or other organizations, whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law." ; "Article 3 'Works' mentioned in this Law shall include [...] in the following forms: (4) works of fine art and architecture" ; Regulations for the Implementation: "Article 4 (8) 'works of fine arts' means [...] such as paintings, works of calligraphy and sculptures;")

• Handwriting: a hand-written manuscript was deemed copyrightable as work of art, according to a decision made by Nanjing Intermediate People's Court in 2017 (sources: [13] [14], Final judgement).
• "LY" company logo (alternative link; archived from the original), although arguably relatively simple, has been ruled copyrightable by Trademark Appeal Board of the State Administration of Industry & Commerce, Beijing Intellectual Property Court, and Higher People's Court of Beijing Municipality.
• Typefaces of characters "笑", "喜", and "城市宝贝" in these two logos are copyrightable, ruled Nanjing Intermediate People's Court in 2012. However the character "巴" in the same logo was decided not copyrightable for lacking originality in the same decision. (source, court decision full text: Final judgement)
• Gang Heng logo: China's Supreme People's Court ruled this logo to be protected by copyright in 2014 (original judgment by the Court; related news coverage).
• Dyneema logo (in this article): China's Supreme People's Court ruled this logo to be protected by copyright in 2017 (original judgment by the Court).
• K2 Sports logo as shown in the image below is eligible for copyright protection, determined during trademark adjudication proceedings in 2010 (source).

• 
  The logo of K2 Sports is copyrightable in China (but not copyrightable in its country of origin, the US).

Signatures

 Not OK: According to the laws of the People's Republic of China, whether a work is protected by copyright, that is contingent on the originality (, literally "independent creativity"). Works having originality are protected and the copyright held by their authors ("Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (2020) Article 15: "A work created by compilation shall refer to the work which is compiled of some works, fragments of works or the data or other materials not constituting a work, and the choice or layout of the contents of which embodies the original creation. The copyright of the compilation work shall be enjoyed by the compiler, provided that the exercise of such copyright does not infringe upon the copyright of the pre-existing works included in the compilation.") The signatures are commonly created independently rather than imitatively.

The signatures by the Chinese people containing Chinese characters may be considered as Chinese calligraphy works, and thus defined as artwork (, or translated as "works of fine arts") and protected by law ("Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (2002) Article 4: "(8) 'works of fine arts' means two- or three-dimensional works of the plastic arts created in lines, colours or other media which impart aesthetic effect, such as paintings, works of calligraphy and sculptures;"). In a typical case, Dow Jones & Company had used a calligraphy "" written by calligrapher Guan Dongsheng. In 2003, Guan Dongsheng won his court action against the company, ruling by the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court. The artwork can be seen here.

Exceptions OK:

• If a signature is originally from documents of legislative, administrative, or judicial nature, it is in the public domain (see {{PD-PRC-exempt}}).
• Signatures whose author died more than 50 years ago are in the public domain.
• If the work is not a handwritten signature, but was instead created using standard, common typefaces of Ming, Sans-serif, or Regular script, it may be in the public domain. However, the vector glyphs in computer fonts may still be copyrighted.

Stamps

Shortcut

• COM:Stamps China

See also: Commons:Stamps

As mentioned elsewhere (see Manchukuo and Wang Jingwei regime CRT pages), stamps issued by the government of Manchukuo, or the Wang Jingwei regime are nowadays in public domain, as both are considered as puppet regimes by Chinese Government, and hence never recognized their copyright status.

Pending informations, but in normal cases  Not OK for nearly all non-Manchukuo, non-Wang-regime stamps in China, because in most cases, the dates of birth of authors of those stamps are not publicly known, unless if that's issued before Jan 1, 1929 which is a {{PD-anon-expired}} case, we should de facto judge them as copyrighted by China Post or its affiliates (e.g. Beijing Stamp Factory).

In rare cases, if the dates of birth of authors of some individual stamps are known, those can enter the public domain 50 years after the death of the creator.

See also

• 中国 / 中國
• Category:License tags of China
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Hong Kong
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Macau
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Manchukuo
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Taiwan
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Wang Jingwei regime

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer

Text transcluded from
COM:Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Other region, e.g. dependency, union, former country

Copyright rules: Hong Kong Shortcut: COM:HK
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Anonymous	Create/publish + 50 years
Audiovisual	Life + 50 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	For 3D works and "works of artistic craftsmanship"
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-HK}} {{PD-HK-factsheet}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	HKG
Treaties
Berne convention	1 July 1997
WTO member	1 January 1995
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This section provides an overview of copyright rules of Hong Kong, China's special administrative region, relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Hong Kong must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Hong Kong and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Hong Kong, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

Hong Kong became a British colony in 1842. It was transferred back to China on 1 July 1997 as a special administrative region, with a separate system of government and legal system from mainland China.

Hong Kong has been a member of the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995. Hong Kong joined the Berne Convention effective 1 July 1997.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Copyright Ordinance (Chapter 528) (consolidated version of May 27, 2016) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Hong Kong. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. The Hong Hong eLegislation site also holds English and Traditional Chinese versions.

General

According to the Copyright Ordinance (Chapter 528) (consolidated version of May 27, 2016),

• Copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work generally expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies.^{[528/2016 Section 17(2)]}
• If the work is of unknown authorship, copyright expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first made; or if during that period the work is made available to the public, at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which it is first so made available.^{[528/2016 Section 17(3)]}
• If the work is computer-generated copyright expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.^{[528/2016 Section 17(6)]}
• With a work of joint authorship, the term is calculated from the year of death of the last surviving known author.^{[528/2016 Section 17(7)]}
• The above does not apply to Government copyright or Legislative Council copyright (see sections 182 to 184) or to copyright which subsists by virtue of section 188 (copyright of certain international organizations).^{[528/2016 Section 17(8)]}
• Copyright in a sound recording expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which it is made; or if during that period it is released, 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which it is released.^{[528/2016 Section 18(2)]}
• Copyright in a film expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the death occurs of the last to die of the following persons (a) the principal director; (b) the author of the screenplay; (c) the author of the dialogue; or (d) the composer of music specially created for and used in the film.^{[528/2016 Section 19(2)]}

Government copyright

According to the Copyright Ordinance (Chapter 528) (consolidated version of May 27, 2016),

• Where a work is made by an officer of the Government in the course of his duties the work qualifies for copyright protection and the Government is the first owner of any copyright in the work.^{[528/2016 Section 182(1)]}
• Government copyright in a work continues to subsist (a) until the end of the period of 125 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made; or (b) if the work is published commercially before the end of the period of 75 years from the end of the calendar year in which it was made, until the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which it was first so published.^{[528/2016 Section 182(3)]}

Legislative Council copyright

According to the Copyright Ordinance (Chapter 528) (consolidated version of May 27, 2016),

• Where a work is made by or under the direction or control of the Legislative Council the work qualifies for copyright protection and the Legislative Council is the first owner of any copyright in the work.^{[528/2016 Section 184(1)]}
• Legislative Council copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work continues to subsist until the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.^{[528/2016 Section 184(3)]}
• For the purposes of this section, works made by or under the direction or control of the Legislative Council include (a) any work made by an officer or employee of the Legislative Council in the course of his duties; and (b) any sound recording, film, live broadcast or live cable programme of the proceedings of the Legislative Council. However, a work is not regarded as made by or under the direction or control of the Legislative Council by reason only of its being commissioned by or on behalf of the Legislative Council.^{[528/2016 Section 184(4)]}

Copyright tags

• {{PD-HK}} – for work with copyright expired.
• {{PD-HK-factsheet}} – for work taken from the GovHK Fact Sheets website.

Currency

 Not OK section 103(1) of the Crimes Ordinance (Chapter 200) of the Laws of Hong Kong stipulates that reproduction of currency notes without prior permission of the Monetary Authority is an offense, and individuals may be liable for imprisonment for 6 months and a fine of HK$20,000.

It is worth to note that any approved reproduction under section 103 does not permit further subsequent copies or reproductions to be made for other usage ends without the written consent of the Monetary Authority. Therefore, applications for reproduction of Hong Kong currency note images for further copying or reproduction by a third party will generally not be approved. This implies that digital reproductions (which by nature permit further reproductions) are unlikely to be approved by the Authority, and so are not legally appropriate for Commons.

Freedom of panorama

OK for 3D works and 2D artistic craftsmanships,  Not OK for many other 2D works, unless HKSAR government stated OK separately in particular cases. {{FoP-Hong Kong}}

According to Copyright Ordinance (Chapter 528) (consolidated version of May 27, 2016), it is not a copyright infringement to make graphic representations, take photographs, or broadcast the images of buildings, sculptures, models for buildings and works of artistic craftsmanship, if the object is permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public.^{[528/2016 Section 71]}

Because Hong Kong was a territory of the United Kingdom until 1997, Hong Kong law is modeled on UK law, and in the absence of any specific case law to the contrary it is reasonable to assume that the rules will be similar. See the United Kingdom for more details.

Similar to the UK law, 'works of artistic craftsmanship' is defined separately from 'graphic work'. The latter includes any painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart or plan, and any engraving, etching, lithograph, woodcut or similar work. Therefore freedom given in Sect 71 does not apply to posters or maps in public places.

Threshold of originality

 Not OK for most logos. The level of originality required for copyright protection is presumably very low.

Because Hong Kong was a territory of the United Kingdom until 1997, Hong Kong law is modeled on UK law, and in the absence of any specific case law to the contrary it is reasonable to assume that the rules will be similar. See the United Kingdom for more details.

Stamps

as per talk page discussion.

The Hongkong Post, as a government department of Hong Kong, owns the intellectual property of stamps released by them.

Because Hong Kong was a territory of the United Kingdom until 1997, Hong Kong law is modeled on UK law, and in the absence of any specific case law to the contrary it is reasonable to assume that the rules will be similar. See the United Kingdom for more details.

See also

• 香港
• Category:Hong Kong FOP cases
• Category:License tags of Hong Kong
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/China
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/United Kingdom

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer

Text transcluded from
COM:Japan

Japan

Copyright rules: Japan Shortcut: COM:JAPAN
Durations
Standard	Life + 70 years
Anonymous	Publish + 70 years
Government	Laws, judgements, notices free
Other
Freedom of panorama	For buildings
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-Japan}} {{PD-Japan-exempt}} {{PD-Japan-organization}} {{PD-Japan-film}} {{PD-Japan-oldphoto}} {{PD-Japan-audio}} {{FoP-Japan}} {{TOO-Japan}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	JPN
Treaties
Berne convention	15 July 1899
WTO member	1 January 1995
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	6 March 2002
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Japan relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Japan must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Japan and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from the Japan, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

Japan has been a member of the Berne Convention since 15 July 1899, the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 6 March 2002. As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright Act (Act No. 48 of May 6, 1970, as amended up to Act No. 35 of May 14, 2014) as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Japan. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. In December 2018, the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced that the copyright term has been extended from 50 years to 70 years after the author's death, complying with the agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This doesn't affect the work that has already been in public domain before 30 December 2018.

Durations

Under the Copyright Act (Act No. 48 of May 6, 1970, as amended up to Act No. 30 of May 25, 2018),

• Copyright subsists for the life of the author plus 70 years.^{[35/1970-2018 Art. 51]}
• If the work is anonymous or pseudonymous, the copyright lasts for 70 years after the publication or the death of the author, whichever is the earlier.^{[35/1970-2018 Art. 52]}
• Cooperative works: 70 years from first publication (or creation if unpublished).^{[35/1970-2018 Art. 53]}
• The copyright of a work in the name of an organization expires 70 years after publication, or 70 years after the creation if the work is not published within 70 years after creation.^{[1899-1931 Art. 53]}
• The preceding provision shall not apply when the author registers the work to the copyright office while the protection period specified in the preceding provision.^{[1899-1931 Art. 53.2]}
• For audio recordings, the term is 70 years after publication. See {{PD-Japan-audio}} for details.
• The copyright period has been extended from 50 years to 70 years in 2018. Works whose copyright has expired before the effective date are not affected.
• Since June 18, 2003, cinematographic works are exceptionally protected for 70 years, instead of 50 years, after the publication, or 70 years after the creation if the film is not published within 70 years of the creation.^{[1899-1931 Art. 54]}
  • 38 years after the creator's death if it was published as his work before 1971.^{[1899-1931 Art. 22-3][1899-1969 Art. 3]}
  • All films produced in Japan prior to 1953 and directed by a person who died more than 38 years ago are in the public domain. See template {{PD-Japan-film}} for details.

• Photographs: 10 years from first publication (or creation if unpublished) before 1957.^{[1899-1931 Art. 23]}
• Copyright protection for photographs published on or before December 31, 1956 has been ended, whether the author is alive or not.
• The term of protection for works from 1970 or before is the longer of the term under the old Copyright Act and that under the current Copyright Act. This provision especially affects the copyright status of cinematographic works.
• There is an extension for Axis powers in WWII, which is essentially 11 years added to the copyright protection length.
• If the work was also published in the U.S. within 30 days (or it was first published in the United States), it was also protected under U.S. law but not affected by the URAA restoration. See Commons:PD files and Commons:Hirtle chart.

Not protected

Under the Copyright Act (Act No. 48 of May 6, 1970, as amended up to Act No. 35 of May 14, 2014) the following are not eligible for copyright.^{[35/1970-2014 Art. 13]}

1. the Constitution and other laws and regulations;
2. public notices, instructions, circular notices and the like issued by organs of the State or local public entities, incorporated administrative agencies ... or local incorporated administrative agencies ...;
3. judgments, decisions, orders and decrees of courts, as well as rulings and judgments made by government agencies in proceedings of a quasi-judicial nature;
4. translations and compilations prepared by organs of the State or local public entities, incorporated administrative agencies or local incorporated administrative agencies of [any of] the materials listed in the preceding three items.

Terms

Individual works

Date of author's death	Date of publication	Copyright tag
– December 31, 1945	– December 31, 1928	{{PD-Japan}} + {{PD-old-auto-expired}} {{PD-Japan}}{{PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=death year}}
– December 31, 1945	January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1957 January 1, 1971 –	{{PD-Japan}} + {{PD-old-auto-1996}} {{PD-Japan}}{{PD-old-auto-1996|country=Japan|deathyear=death year}}
– December 31, 1945	January 1, 1958 – December 31, 1970	{{PD-Japan}} + {{Not-PD-US-URAA}}The work was still in copyright in Japan on the date of URAA restoration (January 1, 1996) because copyright of the posthumous work was valid for 38 years from its publication before 1971.[1899 Art. 4][1969 Art. 52-1] {{PD-Japan}}{{Not-PD-US-URAA|country=Japan}} Note that {{Not-PD-US-URAA}} may not be used for files uploaded after 1 March 2012.
January 1, 1946 – December 31, 1967	– December 31, 1928	{{PD-Japan}} + {{PD-old-auto-expired}} {{PD-Japan}}{{PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=death year}}
	January 1, 1929 –	{{PD-Japan}} + {{Not-PD-US-URAA}} {{PD-Japan}}{{Not-PD-US-URAA|country=Japan}} Note that {{Not-PD-US-URAA}} may not be used for files uploaded after 1 March 2012.
Others		The work is still protected under Japan law.

Anonymous or Pseudonymous works

If the author of the work is unveiled during its copyright term, it is protected as an individual work. e.g. Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治, died in 1989) and his pen name "手塚 治虫" are well-known among people, so his works will be protected in Japan until 2059.

Date of publication	Copyright tag
– December 31, 1928	{{PD-Japan}} + {{PD-anon-expired}} {{PD-Japan}}{{PD-anon-expired}}
January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1945	{{PD-Japan}} + {{PD-anon-auto-1996}} {{PD-Japan}}{{PD-anon-auto-1996|country=Japan|publication=year}}
January 1, 1946 – December 31, 1967	{{PD-Japan}} + {{Not-PD-US-URAA}} {{PD-Japan}}{{Not-PD-US-URAA|country=Japan}}
Others	The work is still protected under Japan law.

Cooperative works

Date of publication	Copyright tag
– December 31, 1928	{{PD-Japan-organization}} + {{PD-US-expired}} {{PD-Japan-organization}}{{PD-US-expired}}
January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1945	{{PD-Japan-organization}} + {{PD-1996}} {{PD-Japan-organization}}{{PD-1996|country=Japan}}
January 1, 1946 – December 31, 1967	{{PD-Japan-organization}} + {{Not-PD-US-URAA}} {{PD-Japan-organization}}{{Not-PD-US-URAA|country=Japan}}
Others	The work is still protected under Japan law.

Old photographs

Date of creation	Date of publication	Copyright tag
– December 31, 1946	Any date	{{PD-Japan-oldphoto}} {{PD-Japan-oldphoto}}
January 1, 1947 – December 31, 1956	– December 31, 1956	{{PD-Japan-oldphoto}} {{PD-Japan-oldphoto}}
	January 1, 1957 – (within 10 years)	Judged under 1970 Copyright law. (as an individual work or pseudonymous work)
	Not published within 10 years from creation	{{PD-Japan-oldphoto}} {{PD-Japan-oldphoto}}
January 1, 1957 –	Any date	Judged under 1970 Copyright law. (as an individual work or pseudonymous work)

Exceptions

• For some government works, {{PD-Japan-exempt}}
• For pre-1953 films directed by a person who died more than 38 years ago. This may not exclude the company's work. e.g. In 2006, Roy Export Company Establishment sued a Japanese company that was copying Sunnyside (1919) and other pre-1953 films directed by Charlie Chaplin. Tokyo distinct court judged that Chaplin held their copyright. They have been protected until 2015 (38 years after his death, according to the older copyright law) or 70 years after their publication, plus more additional period by the wartime prolongation).
• {{PD-Japan-film}} + choose from {{PD-US-expired}} or {{PD-1996}} (–1945)
• For other films, No one expires copyright yet. (earliest 2025)
• FoP (photographs of an architectural work) {{FoP-Japan}} + free license tag for the image
• FoP (photographs of the copyrighted artwork or sculpture located in a public space) {{NoFoP-Japan}} (Not accepted on Commons)
• TOO (Logo) {{TOO-Japan}} + Public domain for the image

Copyright tags

• {{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), or 50 years after publication for anonymous or pseudonymous authors. Valid for works whose author died before 1968.
• {{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. Valid for works by the name of organizations which were published before 1968.
• {{PD-Japan-exempt}} – for works exempt from copyright in Japan.
• {{GJSTU1}} - For contents made available on government websites under the Government of Japan Standard Terms of Use (Version 1.0).
• {{GJSTU-2.0}} - For contents made available on government websites under the Government of Japan Standard Terms of Use (Ver.2.0); compatible with CC BY 4.0.

Non-copyright tags:

• {{FoP-Japan}} may be added to a picture that includes architectural works, which are allowed under the "freedom of panorama" rule, but other tags should be given to show the picture's copyright status in Japan and the United States.
• {{AerialPhotograph-mlitJP}} – The copyright holder, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, allows anyone to use the image for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed.

Currency

OK. The designs of the Japanese banknotes are published as state-issued 'Notifications' which exempt them from copyright protection under Copyright Law of Japan. {{PD-Japan-exempt}} applies to them.

De minimis

Copyright Act Article 30-2, amended in 2012, states:

• Article 30-2: When creating a copyrighted work of photography, sound recording or video recording, other copyrighted items that are incidental subjects of the work because they are hard to be separated from the item that is a subject of the work may be copied or translated along the work being created (only if they are minor components of the work being created). However, if, considering the kinds of the incidentally included works and the manner of the copying or translation, it unfairly is prejudicial to the interest of the copyright holders of the incidentally included works, they may not.

Freedom of panorama

• for artistic works:  Not OK {{NoFoP-Japan}} except in cases governed by Article 46.
• for buildings only: OK {{FoP-Japan}}

Note: Please tag Japanese no-FoP for public art deletion requests: <noinclude>[[Category:Japanese FOP cases/pending]]</noinclude>

The Copyright Act (Act No. 48 of May 6, 1970, as amended up to Act No. 35 of May 14, 2014), allows the reproduction of artistic works located permanently in open places accessible to the public, such as streets and parks, or at places easily seen by the public, such as the outer walls of buildings, only for non-commercial purposes. Therefore, such photographs are not free enough for Commons.

Architectural works (i.e., buildings) located in such places may be photographed and the photos may be reproduced for any purposes. §46(iv), which contains the "non-commercial" restriction, applies only to "artistic works".^{[1899-1931 Art. 46(iv)]} Some buildings like the Tower of the Sun can be regarded as artistic works per discussion.

Regarding buildings, a 2003 ruling by the Osaka District Court states that in order for a building to be copyrighted, it "must have creativity in aesthetic expression in light of the definition of works stipulated in Article 2, Paragraph 1, Item 1 of the same Act." This means ordinary-looking buildings are not eligible for copyright protection as "architectural works".

For more information, refer to:

• 著作権法 – 建築に関する著作物について (Copyright Law – About Architectural Works), by 村田法律事務所 (Murata Law Office) (archived copy) — in Japanese

Note: According to Japanese copyright law, Japan has a copyright lifetime of 70 years after the death of the author (ie. creator/designer) or following "the death of the last surviving co-author in the case of a joint work." Henceforth, the author's works shall become copyright free and enter the public domain.^{[1899-1931 Art. 51]}

Stamps

Stamps more than 70 years old or published before 1 January 1968 are in the public domain, per {{PD-Japan}}.

Threshold of originality

Logos in the gallery below are OK to upload. Article 2 of Japanese copyright law defines that a work is eligible for copyright when it is a production in which thoughts or sentiments are expressed in a creative way and which falls within the literary, scientific, artistic or musical domain.

Japanese courts have decided that to be copyrightable, a text logo needs to have artistic appearance that is worth artistic appreciation. Logos composed merely of geometric shapes and texts are also not copyrightable in general.

	(DR) Tokyo High Court's ruling: letters are a means of communication, shared by all. Copyright protection of fonts is limited only to those that raise artistic appreciation as much as artistic works do.
	(DR) Tokyo High Court's ruling: although the shape is stylized, the text is in a normal arrangement and keeps its function of being read as a sequence of letters.
	Tokyo District Court's ruling: the Court is negative towards recognizing the symbol as a copyrightable work of fine arts, because it is considered merely relatively simple graphic elements.

• Furby toy: utilitarian, so not protected by copyright as an artistic work. Not utilitarian in the United States, so photos of the toy can't be uploaded to Commons.

Signatures

OK for a typical signature,  Not OK for calligraphic signatures. The decision 平成10(受)332 (Hanrei Jiho No. 1730: 123) set a relatively high artistic threshold for typefaces. The decision 平成10(ワ)14675 substantiates that calligraphy works are copyrightable . According to Article 2, Paragraph 1, Item 1 of the Copyright Law, a work is a production in which thoughts or sentiments are expressed in a creative way and which falls within the literary, scientific artistic or musical domain. A signature must have aesthetic properties capable of artistic appreciation, not just beauty in terms of practical functionality, to be copyrightable.

See also

• Japan
• Category:Japanese FOP cases
• Category:License tags of Japan
• Category:Stamps of Japan

• s:ja:ヘルプ:パブリックドメイン (Wikisource: Help: Public Domain)
• s:ja:著作権法 (明治三十二年法律第三十九号) (Wikisource: Copyright Act 1899)
• s:ja:著作権法 (Wikisource: Copyright Act 1970)
• m:Legal/URAA Statement
• Fundamental Concepts in Japanese and American Copyright Law (Karjala and Sugiyama, 1988)

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer

Text transcluded from
COM:Macau

Macau

Other region, e.g. dependency, union, former country

Copyright rules: Macau Shortcut: COM:MACAU
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 50 years
Collective	Publish + 50 years
Applied art	Create + 25 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	Yes
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-MacaoGov}} {{PD-MO}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	MAC
Treaties
Berne convention	12 August 1999
WTO member	31 December 1994
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of China's special administrative region of Macau relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Macau must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Macau and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Macau, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

In 1887 Portugal gained rights to Macau, which was returned to China as a special administrative region in 1999. Macau remains under a separate political and economic system from the rest of China until 2049.

Macau has belonged to the World Trade Organization since 31 December 1994. The Berne Convention came into effect on 12 August 1999.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Decree-Law No. 43/99/M of August 16, 1999, on the Regime of Copyright and Related Rights (as amended by Law No. 5/2012 of April 10, 2012) as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Macau. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.

General

According to Decree-Law No. 43/99/M of August 16, 1999, on the Regime of Copyright and Related Rights (as amended by Law No. 5/2012 of April 10, 2012),

• Generally, copyright shall lapse 50 years after the death of the creator of the work, even in the case of works disclosed or published posthumously.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 21]}
• The time-limits for the expiry of copyright will only start to run from the first day of the year following that in which the determining event occurs.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 21]}
• Copyright in a collaborative work expires 50 years after the date of the death of the co-author who died last.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 22.1]}
• Copyright in a collective work or work made for a legal entity shall lapse, unless otherwise provided, 50 years after the first disclosure or publication.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 22.3]}
• The duration of copyright for individual contributions to collaborative and collective works, where the personal contributions can be discriminated, is 50 years after the death of the creator of the contribution.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 22.4]}
• Copyright in an anonymous work, or work published or published without revealing the identity of the author, expires 50 years after disclosure or publication.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 23.1]}
• Copyright in an audiovisual work lapses 50 years after its disclosure.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 106]}
• Copyright in works of applied art lapse 25 years after the completion of the work.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 148]}
• The rights of performers lapse 50 years after the end of the year in which the phonogram or videogram was made.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 182]}
• The rights of producers of phonograms and videograms lapse 50 years after fixation.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 188]}
• The rights of broadcasting organizations lapse 20 years after the broadcast.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 192]}
• Non-Macanese works are copyrightable in Macau for the Macanese copyright duration or the home country or area, whichever is less, i.e. the rule of the shorter term applies in Macau.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 51ff]}

Not protected

According to Decree-Law No. 43/99/M of August 16, 1999, on the Regime of Copyright and Related Rights (as amended by Law No. 5/2012 of April 10, 2012), the following are not subject to protection: a) The news of the day and the reports of various events for the sake of simple information, in any case disclosed; (b) applications, claims, complaints and other documents submitted in writing or orally before public authorities or services; c) The texts presented and the speeches delivered to assemblies or other bodies collegiate, political and administrative matters, or in public debates on matters of common interest; d) Political speeches.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 5.1]}

Official works do not enjoy protection. Official texts, among others, are the texts of conventions, laws, regulations and reports or decisions of any authorities, as well as their translations.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 6]}

Copyright tags

• {{PD-MacaoGov}} – for official works of Macau.
• {{PD-MacaoGov-text}} – text is in the public domain because official texts shall not benefit from protection.
• {{PD-MO}} – for works 50 years after the author's death or 50 years after creation if authorship unknown.
• {{PD-MO-old-art}} – copyright in works of applied art shall lapse 25 years after the completion of the work.
• {{PD-MO-old-audiovisual}} – copyright in an audiovisual work shall lapse 50 years after its disclosure.
• {{PD-MO-old-broadcast}} – rights of broadcasting organizations shall lapse 20 years after the broadcast.
• {{PD-MO-old-media}} – rights of producers of phonograms and videograms shall lapse 50 years after fixation.
• {{PD-MO-old-photo}} – copyright in photographic works shall lapse 25 years after their completion.

Currency

 Not OK. Currency is copyrighted and reproduction requires approval from the Monetary Authority of Macau.

"In accordance with article 14.2 of the Decree-Law No. 7/95/M of January 30, requests for reproduction of banknotes for educational and promotional purposes with justifiable reasons could be approved by the Government. In practice, such requests should be made to the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM)."

Freedom of panorama

OK {{FoP-Macao}}

• It is legal, without the consent of the author ... To make copies by photography, videography, cinematography or other analogous means, of works of art placed in public places.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 61(l)]}
• However, the free use of a protected work must not prevent its normal economic exploitation nor unjustifiably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 62(l)]}
• The reproductions allowed under article 61 should not be confused with the original works by those who use them, and the reproduction or citation cannot be so extensive as to detract from the interest in those works.^{[43/99/M/2012 Article 62(3)]}

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer

Text transcluded from
COM:Manchukuo

Manchukuo

Other region, e.g. dependency, union, former country

Copyright rules: Manchukuo Shortcut: COM:MANCHUKUO
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Collective	Publish + 50 years
Other
Common licence tags	{{PD-Manchukuo-stamps}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	~
Treaties

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Manchukuo relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Manchukuo must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both China and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Manchukuo, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

Manchukuo was founded in 1932 after Japanese troops occupied Northeast China and dissolved by the Soviet Union in 1945. China has always claimed Northeast China without recognizing Manchukuo.

Copyright tags

• {{PD-Manchukuo}} – for collective and anonymous works from Manchukuo, which are now in the public domain in the People's Republic of China.
• {{PD-Manchukuo-stamps}} – for stamps issued by the government of Manchukuo, which are now in the public domain in China.

Stamps

use {{PD-Manchukuo-stamps}}.

As China has always claimed Northeast China without recognizing Manchukuo, any copyright of Manchukuo stamps would have expired no later on 1 January 1996. China limits corporate copyright to 50 years since publication, and it is no longer known who designed the stamps.

See also

• Manchukuo
• Category:Stamps of Manchukuo
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/China

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer

Text transcluded from
COM:Mongolia

Mongolia

Copyright rules: Mongolia Shortcut: COM:MONGOLIA
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 75 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	No
Common licence tags	{{PD-Mongolia}} {{PD MN-exempt}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	MNG
Treaties
Berne convention	12 March 1998
WTO member	29 January 1997
URAA restoration date‌*	29 January 1997
WIPO treaty	25 October 2002
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Mongolia relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Mongolia must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Mongolia and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Mongolia, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

The Qing dynasty of China absorbed Mongolia in the 17th century. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, and achieved actual independence from the Republic of China in 1921. The Mongolian People's Republic was founded in 1924.

Mongolia has been a member of the World Trade Organization since 29 January 1997, the Berne Convention since 12 March 1998 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 25 October 2002.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Law of Mongolia on Copyright and Related Rights (as last amended on January 19, 2006) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Mongolia. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.

General rules

Under the Law of Mongolia on Copyright and Related Rights (as last amended on January 19, 2006),

• The term of copyright protection in respect of a particular work shall begin from the day of its creation.^{[2006 Article 13.6]}
• A author shall enjoy the exclusive rights for his/her lifetime and 50 years after his/her death.^{[2006 Article 13.2]}
• In the case of pseudonymous or anonymous works, the exclusive rights of an author in copyrighted works shall begin from 1 January of the year following the year the first publication of a work and be valid for 75 years.^{[2006 Article 13.4]}
• In case of the co-authorship, the copyright shall be protected for the lifetime of the authors and for a period of 50 years from 1 January of the year following the death of the last surviving author.^{[2006 Article 13.6]}

Not protected

The following works shall not be protected by copyright: texts of laws and other legal acts; administrative decisions and official documents of legal entities and organizations; court decisions, resolutions, judge’s decrees, other documents and speeches delivered during court hearings; translation of the above documents; coats of arms, banners, flags, awards, orders and medals; any news or information with facts and figures for the purpose of reporting the current events and results thereof; works of folklore and national traditions; any ideas, methods, procedures, scientific discoveries and mathematical concepts.^{[2006 Article 8]}

Commissioned works

Under Article 18 of the Law of Mongolia on Copyright and Related Rights (as last amended on January 19, 2006):

• Pursuant to the agreement for a commissioned work, the author shall undertake duties to create and submit a work and the person commissioning the work shall undertake duties to pay the remuneration to the author.^{[2006 Article 18.1]}
• The holder of exclusive rights shall be determined by the agreement.^{[2006 Article 18.2]}

Copyright tags

• {{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.^{[2006 Article 8]}

Currency

 Not OK: Banknotes are copyrighted, as they do not fall within one of the copyright exemptions in Article 8 of the Law of Mongolia on Copyright and Related Rights (as last amended on January 19, 2006).^{[2006 Article 8]}

Freedom of panorama

 Not OK {{NoFoP-Mongolia}}. The Mongolian copyright law does not provide freedom of panorama. Instead, it only allows incidental inclusion of works in public spaces for reporting purposes. It also provides conditions that are similar to United States fair use conditions.

Under the Law of Mongolia on Copyright and Related Rights (as last amended on January 19, 2006),

• It is allowed to publish works of architecture, fine arts and photography located in public places in order to show the surrounding areas of events while reporting the events to the public.^{[2006 Article 24.1.6]}
• But the following conditions shall be considered in determining the circumstances provided in Section 24.1 of this law: To have a non-profit purpose; The extent of use and the importance of the used parts; The value of the work and the effect of the used part on the market.^{[2006 Article 24.2]}

See also

• Mongolia
• Category:Mongolian FOP cases

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer

Text transcluded from
COM:North Korea

North Korea

Copyright rules: North Korea Shortcut: COM:DPRK
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Collective	Publish + 50 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	Yes
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-North Korea}} {{PD-DPRKOld}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	PRK
Treaties
Berne convention	28 April 2003
URAA restoration date‌*	28 April 2003
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in North Korea must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both North Korea and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from North Korea, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan in 1910. After World War II ended in 1945, Korea was divided into two zones, with the north occupied by the Soviet Union and the south occupied by the United States. In 1948, separate governments were formed in North Korea and South Korea.

North Korea has been a member of the Berne Convention since 28 April 2003.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Copyright Law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (as amended by Decree No. 1532 of February 1, 2006, of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly) as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of North Korea. WIPO holds an English language version of the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. A Korean language version is held on WikiSource. Korea.gnu.org holds the Korean language version of the 2001 Copyright Law.

Applicability

As listed by Article 9,^{[1532/2006 Article 9]} North Korean works eligible for copyright are:

• works of scientific treatises, novels and poems
• works of music
• works of theatrical art such as opera, drama, acrobatics and dance
• works of visual art such as film and television program
• works of fine arts such as painting, sculpture, industrial art, calligraphy and design
• works of photography
• works of graphic art such as map, chart, blueprint, sketch and model
• computer programs

General rules

Under the Copyright Law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (as amended by Decree No. 1532 of February 1, 2006),

• The property right to a copyrighted work shall be protected from the moment of its publication to the 50th year after the death of its author. The property right to a joint copyrighted work shall be protected from the moment of its publication to the 50th year after the death of the last survivor of the co-authors.^{[1532/2006 Article 23]}
• The property right to a copyrighted work or a copyrighted visual art work whose author is an institution, enterprise or organization shall be protected for up to 50 years from the moment of its publication.^{[1532/2006 Article 24]}
• The term of copyright protection shall be calculated from 1 of January of the year following the publication of the work or the death of its author.^{[1532/2006 Article 25]}

Not protected

• Documents for state management, current news or information data shall not be the object of copyright unless commercial purpose is pursued.^{[1532/2006 Article 12]}
• A "work whose publication, issuance, performance, broadcasting, show and exhibition is prohibited" is not protected by copyright.^{[1532/2006 Article 6]}

Copyright tags

• {{PD-North Korea}} – Public domain work whose copyright has expired
• {{PD-KPGov}} – Government or other work in the public domain
• {{PD-Korea-1910-1945}} – Work made while Korea was under Japanese occupation
• {{PD-Korea-1910-1945-photo}} – Photograph made while Korea was under Japanese occupation
• {{PD-Korea-1910-1945-film}} – Film made while Korea was under Japanese occupation

Currency

 Not OK. According to the North Korean copyright act, documents for state management, current news or information data shall not be the object of copyright unless commercial purpose is pursued.^{[1532/2006 Article 12]} However, currencies are for commercial purposes, so currencies are not included here.

• See also: Commons:Deletion requests/Files in Category:Banknotes of North Korea and Commons:Deletion_requests/Files_in_Category:Money_of_North_Korea

Freedom of panorama

OK: {{FoP-North Korea}}

Under the Copyright Law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (as amended by Decree No. 1532 of February 1, 2006), A copyrighted work may be used without the permission ... when a copyrighted work in public places is copied.^{[1532/2006 Article 32.8]}

Furthermore, architectures are not mentioned in Copyright Act Article 9, so they do not have a copyright in North Korea.

Stamps

. According to North Korean copyright law as of 2006, "the property rights to a copyrighted work or a copyrighted visual art work whose author is an institution, enterprise or organization shall be protected for up to 50 years from the moment of its publication."^{[1532/2006 Article 24]}

If published before 1 January 1974 use {{PD-DPRKOld}}.

See also

• 조선민주주의인민공화국
• Category:North Korean FOP cases
• Category:Stamps of North Korea
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/South Korea

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer

Text transcluded from
COM:South Korea

South Korea

Copyright rules: South Korea Shortcut: COM:ROK
Durations
Standard	Life + 70 years
Anonymous	Publish + 70 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 70 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	No
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-South Korea}} {{PD-Korea-1910-1945}} {{PD-Korea-1910-1945-film}} {{PD-Korea-1910-1945-photo}} {{PD-old-auto}} {{KOAL}} {{KOGL}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	KOR
Treaties
Berne convention	21 August 1996
Univ. Copyright Convention	1 October 1987
WTO member	1 January 1995
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	24 June 2004
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of South Korea relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in South Korea must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both South Korea and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from South Korea, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan in 1910. After World War II ended in 1945, Korea was divided into two zones, with the north occupied by the Soviet Union and the south occupied by the United States. In 1948, separate governments were formed in North Korea and South Korea.

South Korea has been a member of the Universal Copyright Convention since 1 October 1987, the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995, the Berne Convention since 21 August 1996 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 24 June 2004.

As of 2021 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright Act (Act No. 432 of January 28, 1957, as amended up to Act No. 17588 of December 8, 2020) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of South Korea. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.

Types of protected work

Examples of protected works include:^{[3916/1987–2020 Article 4]}

• Fiction, poetry, articles, lectures, speeches and other literary works
• Musical works
• Pantomime, theater, dance and other theatrical works
• Calligraphy, painting, sculpture, prints, crafts, applied arts and other art works
• Models, design plans and other works used for building and construction
• Photographs
• Cinematographic works
• Maps, charts, plans, directions, models and other forms of work
• Computer programs

Not protected

Under the Copyright Act (Act No. 432 of January 28, 1957, as amended up to Act No. 17588 of December 8, 2020), works that fall under any of the following are not protected by copyright.^{[3916/1987–2020 Article 7]}

• Constitution, laws, treaties, orders, ordinances and rules
• Public notices, announcements, orders, and other similar matters by the State or local governments
• Judgment, decision, order and trial or administrative trial procedure of the court, other resolutions, decisions, etc. through similar procedures
• Compilation or translation of those stipulated in subparagraphs 1 through 3, prepared by the State or local government
• News reports that only convey facts

General rules

Under the Copyright Act (Act No. 432 of January 28, 1957, as amended up to Act No. 14634 of March 21, 2017),

• An author's property rights survive 70 years after the author has died, except where otherwise specified.^{[432/1957–2017 Article 39]}
• Property rights in a joint work survive 70 years after the death of the last surviving author.^{[432/1957–2017 Article 39]}
• An anonymous or pseudonymous work is protected 70 years from publication unless the author becomes know during this period, in which case protection lasts as in Article 39.^{[432/1957–2017 Article 40]}
• A work created during employment is protected for 70 years from the time of publication. However, if it is not published within 50 years from creation it is protected for 70 years from creation.^{[432/1957–2017 Article 41]}
• An audiovisual work is protected for 70 years from publication. However, if it is not published within 50 years from creation it is protected for 70 years from creation.^{[432/1957–2017 Article 42]}
• The term of protection lasts until end of the year of the author's death, or year of creation or publication as applicable.^{[432/1957–2017 Article 44]}
• Neighboring rights are protected for 70 years from performance, recording or broadcast, as applicable.^{[432/1957–2017 Article 86]} Note that, for musical recordings, the underlying musical work will also need to be out of copyright.

Pre-1963 deaths, organization works

Copyright protection durations were 30 years before 1957 and 50 years before July 2013. This applies to copyrighted works of which authors died before 1 January 1963, or which were made public in the name of an organization before 1 January 1963.

Furthermore, with the exceptions of photographs reproducing otherwise copyrighted works of art, and photographs inserted into a work of study or art and produced only for the purpose of inclusion within said work, photographs or other works of a similar form to photography either published or produced in negative on or before 31 December 1976 are now in the public domain in the Republic of Korea as their term of copyright has expired there.

There are exceptional cases. Property rights are to belong to the state according to provisions of the Civil Law and other laws upon the death of a copyright owner without heir or, in the case of a legal person or organization, upon its dissolution. The product must also be in the public domain in the United States.

Status in the United States

For deciding if the work is out of copyright in the U.S., it's necessary to figure out whether the work was in copyright in 1996. If a work went out of copyright before the 1986 act extended copyright terms from 30 years to 50 years, it does not regain copyright. The act came into force in 1987, hence, works where all authors died before 1957 are out of copyright in both South Korea and the U.S.

Copyright tags

• {{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.
• {{PD-KoreaGov}} – for government works not protected by copyright laws
• {{PD-Korea-1910-1945}} – Work made while Korea was under Japanese occupation
• {{PD-Korea-1910-1945-photo}} – Photograph made while Korea was under Japanese occupation
• {{PD-Korea-1910-1945-film}} – Film made while Korea was under Japanese occupation
• {{KOAL}} - Permissive type of Korean Open Access License
• {{KOGL}} - Type 1 of Korea Open Government License

Cheque

 Not OK. South Korean cheques are copyrighted by Korea Federation of Banks. Korea Federation of Banks doesn't provide terms of use.

See also: Commons:Village pump/Copyright/Archive/2021/04#Is it OK to upload South Korean cheques?

Currency

OK. The Bank of Korea owns copyright on all currency issued in South Korea since its establishment in 1950. The Bank of Korea allows anyone to reproduce and use the reproduction of its currency without requiring a permission but under certain restrictions, as explained in the Guidelines for the Reproduction of Bank of Korea Notes and Coins.

For electronic reproductions the resolution of the image in its original size must not exceed 72dpi, and the word "SPECIMEN" or "보기" must be marked on either the obverse or the reverse of any part, excluding the portrait, of the reproduction and must be plainly distinguishable but inseparable from the reproduction. The size of the word "SPECIMEN" or "보기" must larger than the word "Bank of Korea" on the top center of the front side of the banknote, and must be in a non-transparent color that is clearly contrasted with the main color of the respective banknote. This also applies to partial reproductions.

Please use {{South Korean currency}} for South Korean currency images that meet the requirement of Section 3.C (Intangible reproductions) of the currency reproduction guidelines.

De minimis

This photo is not copyright infringement because Lotte World Tower is not main object in this image, it's incidentally included.

Under the Copyright Act (as amended up to Act No. 16600 of November 26, 2019),

Article 35-3 (Incidental Inclusion, etc.),

A work seen or heard in the courses of photographing, voice recording, or video recording (hereinafter referred to as "shooting, etc." in this Article), where it is incidentally included in the main object of shooting, etc., may be reproduced, distributed, performed in public, displayed, or publicly transmited. That where it unreasonably prejudices the interest of the holder of author's economic right in light of the type and nature of the used work, the purpose and character of use, etc, the same shall not apply.

Freedom of panorama

 Not OK, non-commercial only for artistic works, buildings, and photographs. {{NoFoP-South Korea}}

Note: Please tag South Korean no-FoP deletion requests: <noinclude>[[Category:South Korean FOP cases/pending]]</noinclude>
Under the Copyright Act (as amended up to Act No. 8101 of June 29, 2007),

Article 35 (Exhibition or Reproduction of Works of Art, etc.),

(1) The holder of the original of a work of art, architectural work or photographic work (hereinafter referred to as “work of art, etc.”), or a person who has obtained the holder’s consent, may exhibit the work in its original form: Provided, That where the work of art is to be permanently exhibited on the street, in the park, on the exterior of a building, or other places open to the public, the same shall not apply.

(2) Works of art, etc. exhibited at all times at an open place as referred to in the proviso to paragraph (1) may be reproduced and used by any means: Provided, That in any of the following cases, the same shall not apply:

1. Where a building is reproduced into another building;
2. Where a sculpture or painting is reproduced into another sculpture or painting;
3. Where the reproduction is made in order to exhibit permanently at an open place under the proviso to paragraph (1);
4. Where the reproduction is made for the purpose of selling its copies.

(3) A person who exhibits works of art, etc. pursuant to paragraph (1), or who intends to sell originals of works of art, etc., may reproduce and distribute them in a pamphlet for the purpose of explaining or introducing them.

(4) No portrait nor a similar photographic work produced by commission shall be used without the consent of the commissioner.

This permits any reproduction of works permanently installed in "open places", 35.(2).4 specifically states that the rule does not apply "where reproduction is made for the purpose of selling its copies." Reproduction is defined in Section 2.(22) as "...the fixation or the reproduction in a tangible medium by means of printing, photographing, copying, sound or visual recording, or other means." Selling reproduction of artistic works in public place is not allowed, for examples, selling postcard, calendar, collection of photos in which the artistic works have major part is not allowed.

Exception

OK for non-building structures (such as bridges, dams, tunnels, etc.)

Non-building structures are not mentioned in Copyright Act Article 4, so they do not have a copyright in South Korea. Please use {{PD-structure|KOR}} or {{PD-SK-nonbuilding-structure}} for photos of South Korean non-building structures.

See also: Commons:Deletion requests/Files in Category:Yi Sun-sin Bridge

Stamps

According to Articles 39 to 44 of the Copyright Act of the Republic of Korea, copyrighted works enter the public domain 70 years after publication when made public in the name of an organization. Use {{PD-South Korea}} if published before 1 January 1963.

Threshold of originality

According to a machine translation of the Copyright Act as amended up to Act No. 14634 of March 21, 2017,

• "Work" refers to a creation that expresses human thoughts or feelings.^{[432/1957–2017 Article 2.2]}

The Supreme Court of South Korea declared that it is sufficient to be work if:

• it is not just an imitation,
• it has own characteristics as a product of mental efforts, and
• it can be distinguished from existing ones.

Seoul High Court judged the seagull pattern and the figure of Ebisu of EVISU Japan is not copyrighted because they cannot be recognized for originality. Also, The Supreme Court of South Korea has ruled that typefaces are not copyrighted. (See also Commons:Copyright rules by territory/South Korea § Signatures)

However, the Supreme Court of South Korea judged the logo of Fox Racing is copyrighted.

Signatures

OK for a typical signature: The Supreme Court of South Korea has ruled that typefaces are not protected by copyright.

 Not OK for calligraphic signatures: According to Copyright Act Article 4, calligraphy is protected by copyright (See also Commons:Copyright rules by territory/South Korea § Types of protected work).

See also

• 대한민국
• Category:License tags of South Korea
• Category:South Korean FOP cases
• Category:Stamps of South Korea
• User:Piotrus/KoreaCopyright

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer

Text transcluded from
COM:Taiwan

Taiwan

Copyright rules: Taiwan Shortcut: COM:TAIWAN
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Photograph	Publish + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 50 years
Collective	Create/publish + 50 years
Government	Public domain, OGDL or GWOIA
Other
Freedom of panorama	For buildings
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-Taiwan}} {{OGDL}} {{GWOIA}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	TWN
Treaties
Univ. Copyright Convention	30 October 1992
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 2002
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of the copyright rules of Taiwan relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Taiwan must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Taiwan and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Taiwan, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

The island of Taiwan was annexed by Qing China in 1683, then ceded to Japan in 1895. The Republic of China (ROC) assumed control of Taiwan in 1945 after Japan's defeat in World War II. In 1949, the government of the ROC fled to Taiwan from mainland China. In 1971, the ROC lost its seat in the United Nations to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The copyright laws of the Republic of China are codified in the Copyright Act as amended on 15 June 2022, in effect in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu. A list of changes to copyright laws since 1928 is available at Wikibooks.

Applicability

Works covered by copyright as listed at Article 5 are:^{[2022 Art.5]}

• Oral and literary works.
• Musical works.
• Dramatic and choreographic works.
• Artistic works.
• Photographic works.
• Pictorial and graphical works.
• Audiovisual works.
• Sound recordings.
• Architectural works.
• Computer programs.

General

According to the Copyright Act as amended on 15 June 2022,

• Generally, economic rights endure for the life of the author and 50 years after the author's death.^{[2022 Art.30]}
• Where a work is first publicly released between the 40th and 50th years after the author's death, the economic rights shall endure for a term of 10 years beginning from the time of the first public release.^{[2022 Art.30]}
• Economic rights in a joint work subsist for 50 years after the death of the last surviving author.^{[2022 Art.31]}
• Economic rights in a pseudonymous work or an anonymous work endure for 50 years from the time of public release; provided, the economic rights shall be extinguished where it can be proven that the author has been deceased for over 50 years. These provisions do not apply when the pseudonym of the author is well known to the public.^{[2022 Art.32]}
• Economic rights in works authored by a legal entity endure for 50 years after the public release of the work; provided, if the work is not publicly released within 50 years from the completion of the creation, the economic rights shall subsist for 50 years after completion of the creation.^{[2022 Art.33]}
• Economic rights for photographic works, audiovisual works, sound recordings, and performances endure for 50 years after the public release of the work. The proviso of the preceding article shall apply mutatis mutandis to the preceding paragraph.^{[2022 Art.34]}
• All the above terms of duration terminate as of the last day of the last year of the term.^{[2022 Art.35]}

Not protected

According to the Copyright Act as amended on 15 June 2022, The following items shall not be the subject matter of copyright:^{[2022 Art.9]}

1. The constitution, acts, regulations, or official documents.
2. Translations or compilations by central or local government agencies of works referred to in the preceding subparagraph.
3. Slogans and common symbols, terms, formulas, numerical charts, forms, notebooks, or almanacs.
4. Oral and literary works for news reports that are intended strictly to communicate facts.
5. Test questions and alternative test questions from all kinds of examinations held pursuant to acts or regulations.

The term "official documents" in the first subparagraph of the preceding paragraph includes proclamations, text of speeches, news releases, and other documents prepared by civil servants in the course of carrying out their duties.^{[2022 Art.9]}

Terms

Individual works

Date of author's death	Date of publication	Copyright tag
from 1 January 1895 until 31 December 1914 date QS:P,+1500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P580,+1895-01-01T00:00:00Z/11,P582,+1914-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	until 31 December 1928 date QS:P,+1928-12-31T00:00:00Z/7,P582,+1928-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Japan-1899}} + {{PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=death year}}
from 1 January 1915 date QS:P,+1915-01-01T00:00:00Z/7,P580,+1915-01-01T00:00:00Z/11	until 31 December 1928 date QS:P,+1928-12-31T00:00:00Z/7,P582,+1928-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Taiwan-expired}} + {{PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=death year}}
from 1 January 1915 until 31 December 1951 date QS:P,+1950-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P580,+1915-01-01T00:00:00Z/11,P582,+1951-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	from 1 January 1929 date QS:P,+1929-01-01T00:00:00Z/7,P580,+1929-01-01T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Taiwan-1996}} + {{PD-old-auto-1996|country=Taiwan|deathyear=death year}}
Others		The work is still protected under Taiwanese law and/or URAA.

Anonymous or pseudonymous works

Date of publication	Copyright tag
from 1 January 1895 until 31 December 1914 date QS:P,+1500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P580,+1895-01-01T00:00:00Z/11,P582,+1914-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Japan-1899}} + {{PD-anon-expired}}
from 1 January 1915 until 31 December 1928 date QS:P,+1950-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P580,+1915-01-01T00:00:00Z/11,P582,+1928-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Taiwan-expired}} + {{PD-anon-expired}}
from 1 January 1929 until 31 December 1951 date QS:P,+1950-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P580,+1929-01-01T00:00:00Z/11,P582,+1951-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Taiwan-1996}} + {{PD-anon-auto-1996|country=Taiwan|publication=year}}
Others	The work is still protected under Taiwanese law and/or URAA.

Cooperative works

Date of publication	Copyright tag
from 1 January 1895 until 31 December 1914 date QS:P,+1500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P580,+1895-01-01T00:00:00Z/11,P582,+1914-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Japan-1899}} + {{PD-US-expired}}
from 1 January 1915 until 31 December 1928 date QS:P,+1950-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P580,+1915-01-01T00:00:00Z/11,P582,+1928-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Taiwan-expired}}
from 1 January 1929 until 31 December 1951 date QS:P,+1950-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P580,+1929-01-01T00:00:00Z/11,P582,+1951-12-31T00:00:00Z/11	{{PD-Taiwan-1996}}
Others	The work is still protected under Taiwanese law and/or URAA.

Old photographs

An old photograph of the Republic of China is in the public domain in both the Republic of China and the United States if it is one of the following:

1. A photograph published before 1952.
2. An anonymous photograph published before 2002 and whose author is certified dead before 1952.
3. A non-anonymous photograph taken before 1952 and unpublished within 50 years of being taken, but published before 2002.
4. A photograph not included in another work whose copyright term started before and continued to June 10, 1992 or not exclusively created for that work, and meeting one of the following conditions:
   • It's unregistered—taken before June 12, 1962 and published from July 12, 1965 until December 31, 2001.
   • It's registered—published before July 11, 1975, or taken before June 12, 1962 and published before 2002.
5. A photograph meeting the conditions of {{PD-US-unpublished}}.

See this page for further explanation.

Copyright tags

• {{PD-Taiwan}} – for images in the public domain according to the Republic of China (Taiwan).
• {{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 China more than 50 years ago according to Mainland China and Taiwan.
• {{PD-ROC-oldphoto}} – for old photographs in the public domain.
• {{PD-ROC-exempt}} – for files in the public domain according to the Republic of China for free of copyright.
• {{PD-ROC-official}} – for the attachments of the laws of the Republic of China from the website of the Legislative Yuan law system.
• {{PD-ROC-Presidential Office Gazette}} – for the Presidential Office Gazette from 20 May 1948 to present by the Presidential Office of the Republic of China.
• {{PD-ROC-Traffic Signs}} – for Taiwanese traffic signs from the website of the Institute of Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
• {{PD-ROC-Traffic Markings}} – for Taiwanese traffic markings from the website of the Institute of Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
• {{OGDL}} – for data released by government agency, government-owned business, public school and administrative legal entity and offered for use and re-use under the Open Government Data License, version 1.0.
• {{GWOIA}} – for information obtained from the websites of government agency, government-owned business, public school and administrative legal entity in Taiwan that includes the Government Website Open Information Announcement.

See also Commons:Copyright rules by territory/China:Copyright tags for works before and after 1949.

Currency

 Not OK for all New Taiwan Dollar, both banknotes and coins, per Commons:Deletion requests/NTD banknotes.

As explained by VRT ticket 2014050810011876, all NTDs are protected by copyright under the Copyright Act of Taiwan. The copyright holder is the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan):

In response to the enquiry in your e-mail dated April 27, 2014, please be noted that the images of our national currency are strictly under the protection of the Copyright Act of Taiwan. That means all the pictures on the NTD banknotes are not allowed to be exhibited on any commercial websites without our permission in advance.

For several years, some users claimed that {{GWOIA}} may apply to them, based on CBC's Government Website Open Data Announcement:

“

I. In order to facilitate better utilization by the general public of the information on this website, all of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan)(herein known as CBC)’s publicly posted information and materials that are protected under copyright provisions may be utilized by the public without cost in a non-exclusive, reauthorization-available manner. The users may, without restriction on time and place, reproduce, adapt, edit, publicly transmit, or utilize in other ways, and develop various products or services (herein known as derivations). This authorization will not be retracted hereafter, and the users do not have to acquire any written or other types of authorization from the CBC. However, when using it, the users should acknowledge the source.

”

This is also not true as per another VRT ticket 2020051710002624, to which a CBC officer said that their GWOIA can only apply to their policy texts and photos made for hire that are photographed by their employees, and can't apply to any currency samples.

Please also note that there are several artworks and photograph works on currencies, they are all copyrighted, in Taiwan as per the copyright note, and in the United States as per URAA.

Inconclusive For Old Taiwan Dollars, their copyright terms should be treated case by case.

De minimis

Public space and artistic works

Commercial freedom of panorama is not allowed in Taiwan for copyrighted works of art (non-architecture). A de minimis standard was set by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office regarding photographs that may show copyrighted monuments and murals of Taiwan:

(2) As to whether the photographing of outdoor graffiti (artistic works) and print it in postcards for sale constitute the situation of "reproduction of artistic works for the purpose of selling reproductions" in paragraph 4 of Article 58 of the Law, in principle, if a specific artistic work is taken as the "theme" or the "focus", and the photos are printed in postcards for sale, it should be the situation of paragraph 4 of Article 58, one shall not claim fair use in accordance with this article; However, if such artistic works are used as the background for portrait photos or other landscape photos, and such art works are "attached" to the photos (not the focus of photo), there is a space for fair use in accordance with Paragraph 4 of Article 58 of the Law. As for the situation of fair use in accordance with Article 58 of the Law mentioned in the Vol.192 (p.77) of TIPO's monthly magazine, it is only limited to the above-mentioned "incidental use" of outdoor artistic works.

— Excerpt of English translation of Email No.1111122

Note that in the context of Taiwanese copyright law, fair use is not "fair use" in the American context but is a synonym for a copyright limitation. Freedom of panorama and de minimis are considered as types of fair uses in Taiwan.

Freedom of panorama

• OK for buildings only {{FoP-Taiwan}}
•  Not OK for artistic works (sculptures, murals, and other non-architecture)

Article 58 of the "Copyright Act" states that:

Artistic works or architectural works displayed on a long-term basis on streets, in parks, on outside walls of buildings, or other outdoor locales open to the public, may be exploited by any means except under the following circumstances:

1. Reproduction of a building by construction of another building.
2. Reproduction of a work of sculpture by production of another sculpture.
3. Reproduction for the purpose of long-term public display in locales specified in this article.
4. Reproduction of artistic works solely for the purpose of selling copies.

Reproductions of artistic works are thus only for non-commercial purposes; therefore, such photographs are not free enough for Commons:  Not OK.

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office upheld this exact and restrictive perspective on freedom of panorama in their two correspondences which are accessible online: Reply No.1111122 and Reply No.1111230. This not only replaces some inconsistent interpretations in the past which Wikimedia Commons accepted in 2018 (for 3D public art) and in 2020 (for 2D public art), but also reinstated the original standpoint of Wikimedia Commons regarding the Taiwanese freedom of panorama. A more recent correspondence from TIPO, Reply No.11260001910, reaffirms the prior replies and explicity states that the use of free Creative Commons licenses on photos of copyrighted public art (such as outdoor sculptures of Ju Ming and Hongtong village murals) as mandated by Wikimedia may result to copyright infringement as the licenses involve the use of those photos on post cards and other media in which the only purpose is to sell copies of the artistic work. TIPO suggested that the Creative Commons license terms should exclude "reproduction of artistic works solely for the purpose of selling copies of the said works."

Also, Article 64 states that:

• Who uses other people's works according to Article 44 to 47, Article 48 to Article 50, Article 52, Article 53, Article 55, Article 57, Article 58, and Articles 60 to 63, shall clearly indicate their origin.
• The source of the explicit source in the preceding paragraph shall be used in a reasonable manner except for those whose name is unknown or whose works are unknown.

See also these related discussions: in October 2021 and in January 2023 on Commons, and also an extensive discussion and debate over the matter in Chinese Wikipedia.

Architecture vs. artistic works

Reply No.11260001910 reaffirms the standards of what is an architectural work in Taiwan, citing Section 4 the Building Act. Accordingly, a building "refers to the structures or miscellaneous works fixed on the ground or under the ground surface, having top covers, beams, columns, or walls, and used for individuals or the public." According to TIPO, if a certain work belongs to the categories of both architectural works and artistic works, the said work is still subject to the non-commercial restrictions of Taiwanese freedom of panorama at Article 58, paragraph 4.

Threshold of originality

The level required for copyright is low. Independently created works with "minimal creativity" are eligible, according to Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office.

The following examples are OK:

• These two artworks with traditional design elements are unprotected, according to court decisions that they do not meet the originality threshold for copyright protection:

• 
• 

• Simple typeface, such as the typeface of Sunshow company logo:

• 

The following examples are  Not OK:

• Calligraphy works, including:
  • "燒烤飯糰" on this photo, is copyright protected ruled by a court.
  • "風月堂" (see the last page of the PDF document for the work in question).
• The graphic part of Sunshow company's logo. The court ruled that the graphic part of the logo: two hands clasped together, one over the other, is copyrightable, but the typeface "SUNSHOW" is not.
• The Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolor pattern [15].

Signatures

 Not OK: This government regulation (archived from original) lists handwriting and calligraphy as examples of artistic works that are subject to copyright protection.

Stamps

According to the TIPO, stamps are considered as normal copyrighted artworks, not government works. Old stamps can be public domain following the #Terms section above.

See also

• 中華民國
• Category:Taiwanese FOP cases
• Category:License tags of Taiwan
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/China

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer