Commons:Copyright tags

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

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

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

Contents

Public domain

Public domain

Non-U.S. works

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

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

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

General

  • {{PD-old}} - for works in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the European Union, the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
  • {{PD-old-100}} - for works in the public domain because its copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 100 years or less.
  • {{PD-old-80}} - for works in the public domain because its copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 80 years or less.
  • {{PD-old-75}} - for works in the public domain because its copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 75 years or less.
  • {{PD-old-70}} - for works in the public domain because its copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 70 years or less.
  • {{PD-old-50}} - for works in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the USA and countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 50 years or less.
  • {{PD-self}} - for works released into the public domain by their creator who is also the uploader.
  • {{PD-user|username}} - for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are Wikimedia Commons users.
  • {{PD-user-en|username}} - for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are English Wikipedia users.
  • {{PD-user-w|projectcode|projectname|username}} - for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are other Wikipedia users.
The variable projectcode is the language name of the creator's local Wikipedia (e.g. "de" for the German Wikipedia, and "ja" for the Japanese);
The variable projectname is the human readable project name (e.g. "French Wikipedia", "German Wiktionary", etc).
The variable username is the creator's log-in name at that project.
  • {{PD-author|author}} - for works released into the public domain by non-Wikimedia users. Some further explanation should be given such as a link to the author's website where they explicitly state that they release the work into the public domain (e.g. {{PD-author|[http://www.sitename.com author]}} )
  • {{PD-heirs}} - for works released into the public domain by the heirs of the creator
  • {{PD-ineligible}} - for works too trivial to be copyrighted
  • {{PD-because|reason}} - generic template - please supply a valid reason for the file being PD.
  • {{patent}} - Patent drawings.
  • {{anonymous work}} - Anonymous work more than 50 years old (Berne convention).
  • {{anonymous-EU}} - Anonymous work more than 70 years old (European Union).
  • {{PD-Art|PD tag}} - for faithful photographic reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art. Applies in certain countries only.
The variable PD tag is the name of the copyright tag that describes why the original is in the public domain. If empty, PD-old is assumed. Please see also Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag?
  • {{PD-scan}} - for scans of public domain originals which may have been enhanced, but only to the extent that no independent copyright copyright protection can be expected to arise out of the enhancements. See also Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.

United Nations
  • {{PD-UN}} - official documents of the United Nations
  • {{UN map}} - United Nations maps

Country specific tags

Albania
  • {{PD-Albania-exempt}} - For work not copyrightable under the copyright law of 2005.

Algeria
  • {{PD-Algeria}} - Photographs 50 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year.

Argentina
  • {{PD-AR-Photo}} - for Argentinian photographs first published more than 25 years ago. A proper source and date of publications has to be provided.
  • {{PD-AR-Movie}} - for Argentinian cinematographic works 50 years after the death of the script writer, the producer and the director.
  • {{PD-AR-Anonymous}} - for anonymous works belonging to an institution, corporation or legal entity, registered in Argentina published 50 years ago or more
  • For all other works 70 years after the death of the author {{PD-old}} applies.

Armenia
  • {{PD-AM-exempt}} - for works of folklore; communications on daily news or on current events that are press information; official documents (laws, decisions, decrees, etc.) as well as their official translations; state emblems and signs (flags, coats of arm (armorial bearings), medals (decorations), monetary signs, etc.); results obtained by technical means without the intervention of human creative activity.

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

Austria
  • {{PD-AustrianGov}} - for parts of laws, ordinances or official decrees issued by an Austrian federal or state authority and for works of those authorities intended predominantly for official use.
  • {{PD-StVZVO}} - for road signs published in ordinances or other regulations.

Azerbaijan
  • {{PD-AZ-exempt}} - for official documents (laws, court decisions, other texts of legislative, administrative or judicial character) and official translations thereof; State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs); works of folklore, which have no signs of Article 5 of this Law; communications concerning events and facts that have informational character.

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

Belarus
  • {{PD-BY-exempt}} - for formal documents (laws, judgements, other texts of legal, administrative and judicial nature), and also their official translations; state symbols and signs (flag, coat of arms, anthem, awards, banknotes and other signs); works of folk arts, authors of which are not known.

Belgium

Brazil
  • {{PD-BrazilGov}} - for official, public, national, foreign or international escutcheons, coats of arms, medals, flags, emblems, badges and monuments.
  • {{PD-Brazil-media}} - for Brazilian photographs and audiovisual works first published more than 70 years ago.

Britain

See United Kingdom

Canada
  • {{PD-Canada}} - for Crown Copyright images first published over 50 years ago, photographs created before 1949 and other works where the author has been dead for over 50 years.
  • {{PD-Canada-stamp}} - for stamps over 50 years old.

Chile

China
  • {{PD-China}} - For images in the public domain according to the People's Republic of China (mainland) and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
  • {{PD-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 images in the public domain according to the People's Republic of China for free of copyright

See also #Hong Kong and #Macao below.

Republic of China
  • {{PD-ROC-exempt}} - For images in the public domain according to the Republic of China for free of copyright
  • {{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 Indicating Lines}} - For Taiwanese traffic indicating lines (also known as pavement markings in certain places) from the website of the Institute of Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the same source as above

Czech Republic
  • {{PD-CzechGov}} - for public domain Czech official works, state symbols etc.

Denmark
  • {{PD-Denmark50}} - for "photographic images" in the public domain according to Danish law. Note that "photographic works" only enter the public domain 70 years after death of creator.
  • {{PD-DenmarkEVH}} - for illustrations that are merely copies of factual representations and thus does not qualify as værkshøjde

Egypt
  • {{PD-Egypt}} - Photographs, paintings, and drawings 25 years after publication, or before the year 1987.

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

Faroe Islands
  • {{Faroe stamps}} - for stamps by the Faroe post office in the public domain.

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

Finland
  • {{PD-Finland50}} - for photographic "images" in the public domain according to Finnish law.
  • {{PD-Finland}} - for photographic "works" and other art works in the public domain according to Finnish law.
  • {{PD-FinlandGov}} - for laws, statements and decisions of Finnish officials.
    • {{PD-Coa-Finland}} - for Finnish coats of arms of municipalities (kunta), districts (maakunta) or administrative or historical provinces (lääni).

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

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

Germany
  • {{PD-GermanGov}} - for public domain images from Germany statutes or other regulations.
  • {{PD-BW}} - for publicly available service regulations ("Zentrale Dienstvorschrift") of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr)
  • {{PD-Coa-Germany}} - for German coats of arms of corporations governed by public law that are in the public domain according to German law because they are official works (§ 5 Abs. 1 UrhG).
  • {{PD-Flag-Germany}} - for German flags of corporations governed by public law that are in the public domain according to German law because they are official works (§ 5 Abs. 1 UrhG).
  • {{PD-VzKat}} - for road signs published as statues or other regulations
  • {{PD-German stamps}} - for current German stamps
  • {{PD-Deutsche Bundespost stamps}} - for German stamps released as Deutsche Bundespost
  • {{PD-GDR stamps}} - for German stamps released as Deutsche Post der DDR
  • {{PD-Meyers}} - for image from the 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (1885-90)

Hong Kong
  • {{PD-HK}} - for work with copyright expired.
  • {{PD-HK-PR}} - for work which was considered as a Public record.

Hungary
  • {{PD-HU-exempt}} -- for works not eligible for copyright in Hungary.

India
  • {{PD-India}} - India public domain images and sounds - 60 years after the end of the year of first publication, provided that the subject matter of the photo or recording is also not protected by copyright.

Indonesia
  • {{PD-IDGov}} - Indonesian public domain because the artwork/file was published and/or distributed by the government of Republic of Indonesia.
  • {{PD-IDOld-Art29}} - Indonesia public domain of old writings, music, arts, architecture, lectures, maps and translation products.
  • {{PD-IDOld-Art30}} - Indonesian public domain of old pictures, movies, software and other engineered products.

Iran
  • {{PD-Iran}} - copyright in photographs and movies lasts 30 years from the date of publication or presentation. Copyright in other images lasts for the life of the creator plus 30 years.

Iraq
  • {{PD-Iraq}} - photos 5 years after publication, starting from the publication date.

Ireland
  • {{PD-IrishGov}} - Irish government works are generally released to the public domain 50 years after creation.
  • {{PD-Ireland}} - same as {{PD-old-70}} for images from Ireland.

Israel
  • {{PD-Israel}} - According to Israel's copyright law, works are released to the public domain 70 years after their author's death, starting from January 1st which occurs after the date of death. Photographs taken before May 2008 are released to the public domain 50 years after their creation, starting from January 1st which occurs after the day in which the photograph was taken. Photographs taken by a public authority (i.e. the government and its affiliated bodies) are released to public domain 50 years after their publication, starting from January 1st which occurs after the date of the first publication (regardless of the date in which it was taken). According to the new Israeli copyright law, effective since May 2008, photographs are no longer an exception, and are released to the public domain 70 years after their photographer's death, unless taken by a public authority in which case the previous arrangement remains.

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

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

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

Korea
  • {{PD-South Korea}} - for works whose author died more than 50 years ago or published in the name of an organization more than 50 years ago

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

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

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

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

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

Lithuania
  • {{PD-LT-exempt}} - for official Lithuanian State symbols and insignia (flags, coats-of-arms, anthems, banknote designs, and other State symbols and insignia)

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

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

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

Mexico
  • {{PD-Mexico}} - Government works created by author that has been dead over 100 years.

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

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

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

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

New Zealand
  • {{PD-NZ}} - for expired Crown Copyright.

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

Norway
  • {{PD-Statens vegvesen}} - For Norwegian road signs from the website of The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen)
  • {{PD-Norway50}} - Norwegian photos not considered to be "works of art" 50 years after they were created, provided that the author died more than 15 years ago or is unknown
  • {{Norwegian coat of arms}} - Norwegian coats of arms
  • {{Kirkeinfo}} - Photos from the media database of the Church of Norway
  • {{PD-NorwayGov}} - Part of a decision or a statement by an authority or a public body of Norway
  • {{Met.no}} - Images without a byline from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Oman
  • {{PD-Oman}} - 50 years starting from the end of the publication year for photographs and 50 years after the author's death for other works, after which attribution is still required forever.

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

Philippines
  • {{PD-Philippines}} - for public domain Philippine images whose copyrights expired or released into the public domain

Poland

Portugal

Romania
  • {{PD-RO-Symbol}} - for public domain Romanian official symbols of state, public authorities or organizations.
  • {{PD-RomaniaGov}} - for official symbols of the state, of public authorities and organisations, such as: Coats of arms, the seal, the flag, emblems, badges and medals; means of payment
  • {{PD-money-Romania}} - for images of coins or notes

Russia and former Soviet Union

Copyrights of works created in Russia was based on the Russian copyright law of 1993 and its amendments of 1995 and 2004 (Федеральный закон от 9.07.1993 № 5351-1). Since January 1, 2008, intellectual property rights are regulated by Russian law 230-FL of 2006: Part IV of the Civil Code, together with the Russian law 231-FL of 2006: Implementation act for Part IV of the Civil Code. This new law replaced all previous IP laws in Russia.

  • {{PD-Russia}} This tag is obsolete. Published before January 1st, 1954, with creator (if known) dead before that date (or, if a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, dead before January 1st, 1950). Or if belonging to the former Soviet government or other Soviet legal entity and published before January 1st, 1954. As on January 1, 2008, this is no longer valid.
  • In general, {{PD-Old}} applies. For some intricate special cases in which works of authors who died less than 70 years ago are PD, see {{PD-Russia-2008}}. Roughly, these special cases apply only to authors who died before the end of 1942.
  • {{PD-RU-exempt}} for State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs) of Russian Federation
  • {{PD-Brockhaus&Efron}} - for image from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890-1907)

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

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

Serbia-Montenegro (S.R.J.)
  • {{PD-SCGGov}} - for public domain Serbian-Montenegro official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.

Serbia
  • {{PD-SerbiaGov}} - for public domain Serbian official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.

Seychelles

{{PD-Seychelles}} for the following types of works:

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

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

South-Africa

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

Sweden

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

Syria
  • {{PD-Syria}} By Syrian law, photographic work is protected for 10 years starting from the production date[1]. As Syria Joined Berne Convention on November 2004, [2], Photographic works produced starting from 1994 should be protected for 25 years starting from the production date (minimum protection period set by Berne Convention). Photographic work produced before 1994 is public domain.

Taiwan

See #Republic of China above.

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

Thailand
  • {{PD-Thai}} for photographic arts photographed under jurisdiction of Thailand or first published in Thailand over 50 years ago. Do not use this tag for PD of government publication.
  • {{PD-Thailand}} For works from Thailand, which have different copyright terms depending on type, usually 50 years after the creator's death or 50 years after publication.
  • {{PD-ThaiGov}} For certain works by the Thailand government which are not copyrightable.

Tunisia

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

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

Uganda
  • {{PD-Uganda}} for works meeting one of the following criteria:
a)photographic works 50 years after creation;
b)computer programs, audio-visual works or sound recordings 50 years after publication
c)literary, musical or artistic works published before January 1st, 1954, whose author died before Jan 1st, 2004;
d)other works 50 years after the author's death.

Ukraine
  • {{PD-Ukraine}} is in effect towards works first published before January 1, 1951, and the creator (if known) died before that date). This is the effect of the retroactive Ukrainian copyright law of 1993 and the copyright from 50 to 70 years in 2001.). The final conlusion is #.4 in Chapter VI Ukrainian Copyright Law :

#.4. It shall be established that as from the day on which this Law enters into force, the terms of copyright protection, stipulated in Article 28 of this Law and parts 1 and 2 of Article 44 of this Law, shall apply in all cases where the 50-year period of copyright validity after the author's death or the period of validity of related rights has not expired prior to the date of entry into force of this Law.

An Ukrainian or Soviet work that is in the public domain in Ukraine according to this rule is in the public domain in the U.S. only if it was in the public domain in Ukraine in 1995, e.g. if it was published before 1945 and the creator died before that year, and no copyright was registered in the U.S. (This is the combined effect of the retroactive Ukrainian copyright law, Ukraine's joining the Berne Convention in 1995, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.)

  • {{PD-UA-exempt}} for daily news or details of current events that constitute regular press information; works of folk art (folklore); official documents of a political, legislative or administrative nature (laws, decrees, resolutions, court awards, State standards, etc.) issued by government authorities within their powers, and official translations thereof; State symbols of Ukraine, government awards; symbols and signs of government authorities, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations; symbols of territorial communities; symbols and signs of enterprises, institutions and organizations; bank notes; transport schedules, TV and radio broadcast schedules, telephone directories and other similar databases that do not meet the originality criteria and to which the sui generis right (a particular or special right) is applicable.

United Arab Emirates
  • {{PD-United Arab Emirates}} - Photos 10 years after publication, films 25 years after publication, otherwise 25 years after the author's death. After the terms are over, attribution is still required forever.

United Kingdom
  • {{PD-UK-known}} - for UK images having a known author who died more than 70 years ago
  • {{PD-UK-unknown}} - for old UK images of unknown authorship where copyright has expired
  • {{PD-UKGov}} - for UK Crown Copyright (government-generated) images where copyright has expired (typically works created prior to 1957)
    • {{oldOS}} for OS maps published over 50 years ago.

United States
  • {{PD-US}} - published before 1923 and public domain in the USA.
  • {{PD-1923}} - published in the US before 1923.
  • {{PD-1996}} - public domain in a source country on 1 January 1996 and in the USA.
  • {{PD-US-not renewed}} - published in the United States between 1923 and 1963, with its copyright not renewed.
  • {{PD-US-no notice}} - any work first published without copyright notice prior to 1978.
  • {{PD-US-record}} - for sound recordings in the public domain in the US (i.e. fixed before February 15, 1972 and not based on copyrighted material - does not apply in New York)
  • {{PD-Edison Records}} - for public domain sound recordings from Edison Records
  • {{PD-USGov}} - for images created by the US Federal Government that are ineligible for copyright.

Florida
  • {{PD-FLGov}} - for images created by the Government of the US state Florida that are ineligible for copyright

Tennessee
  • {{PD-USGov-TVA}} - for public domain images from the Tennessee Valley Authority

See also: Library of Congress public domain collections

Uruguay
  • {{PD-Uruguay}} - For works in the public domain according to Uruguayan law (50 years after the author's death).

Uzbekistan
  • {{PD-UZ-exempt}} - for official documents (law, resolutions, decisions, etc.) as well as their official translations; official symbols and signs (flags, arms, orders, banknotes, etc.); national creative works; reports about the news of the day or current events having the nature of usual press conference; results received with help of equipment designed for some kind of production without the person's implementation of creative activity directly associated with the creation of individual work.

Yemen
  • {{PD-Yemen}} - photos and two dimensional artistic works 10 years and televison screenshots 3 years after publication or broadcast, starting from the beginning of the publication year.

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

Other

Library of Congress public domain collections
  • {{PD-Abdul Hamid}} - for images from the Abdul-Hamid II Collection
  • {{PD-Bain}} - for images from the George Grantham Bain Collection
  • {{PD-Brady-Handy}} - for images from the Brady-Handy Collection
  • {{PD-Highsmith}} - for images from the Carol Highsmith Collection
  • {{PD-National Photo Company}} - for public domain images from the National Photo Company Collection
  • {{PD-USNWR}} - for public domain images from the US News & World Report Collection
  • {{PD-Van Vechten}} - for images from the Carl Van Vechten Collection

GNU Licenses

GNU head
  • {{GFDL}} - GNU Free Documentation License
    • {{GFDL-1.2}} - for works released under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 specifically.
    • {{GFDL-self}} - for works released per the GNU Free Documentation License by their creators.
    • {{GFDL-en}} - for works from the English Wikipedia, and originally licensed as GFDL there. The GFDL on EN is slightly different, in that it is "subject to disclaimers".
    • {{GFDL-user}} - for works by other Commons users that are under the GNU Free Documentation License.
      • {{[[lang:GFDL-user|GFDL-user]]}} - for works from other wikimedia projects. lang is an optional parameter.
      • {{GFDL-user-en|username at the project (without :en: ect}} - for works by users from English Wikipedia
    • {{GFDL-user-w|projectcode|projectname|username}} - for works released under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License by their creators when the creators are other Wikipedia users. Note: The variable projectcode is the language name of the creator's local Wikipedia (e.g. "de" for the German Wikipedia, and "ja" for the Japanese); It may also contain the project name for non-wikipedia projects (i.e. "de:wiktionary" for the german wiktionary). The variable projectname is the human readable project name (e.g. "French Wikipedia", "German Wiktionary", etc). The variable username is the creator's log-in name at that project.
  • {{GPL}} - GNU General Public License; Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The GPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.
  • {{LGPL}} - GNU Lesser General Public License; Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The LGPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.
  • {{GFDL-OpenGeoDB}} - Images from http://opengeodb.de
  • {{GFDL-Landsat-Kashmir3d}} - Kashmir 3D Images from http://glcfapp.umiacs.umd.edu:8080/esdi/
  • {{Bild-Picswiss}} - Images from http://www.picswiss.ch/ (Note: Just the images of Roland Zumbühl)
  • {{PolishSenateCopyright}} - Polish Senate copyright - verified to be under the GNU License
  • {{PolishPresidentCopyright}} - Polish President Copyright
  • {{Pressefotos Die Gruenen}} - for images from http://www.gruene.at/

Please note: The GFDL is rather impractical for images and short texts, because it requires the full text of the GFDL to be published along with the image. This is prohibitive for print media: in order to use a single image in a newspaper, a full page containing the GFDL would have to be printed. To resolve this, please dual-license your work under GFDL and an equivalent Creative Commons license like CC-by-sa-2.5 (see below). This helps to make your work usable not only freely, but also easily.

Free Creative Commons licenses

Also see the full table of allowed Creative Commons licenses

Creative Commons License
  • {{cc-by-sa-2.5}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.5
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-br}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Brazil based on Brazilian law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-de}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Germany based on German law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-dk}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Denmark based on Danish law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-es}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Spain based on Spanish law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-in}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 India based on Indian law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-it}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Italy based on Italian law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-mx}} - Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Mexico based in Mexican law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-pl}} - Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Poland based on Polish law
  • {{cc-by-sa-2.0}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-at}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Austria based on Austrian law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.1-au}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.1 Australia based on New South Wales law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-be}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Belgium based on Belgian law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-ca}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Canada based on Canadian law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-fr}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 France based on French law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.1-jp}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.1 Japan based on Japanese law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-kr}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 South Korea based on South Korean law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-tw}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Taiwan based on Taiwanese law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-uk}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 English & Wales based on English law
  • {{CC|license name|license link}} - generic Creative Commons tag.
    Use it like this: {{CC|Attribution, share alike (ver. 2.0, Germany)|by-sa/2.0/de}}.
  • {{cc-by-sa-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0}} to multilicense as cc-by-sa-3.0, cc-by-sa-2.5, cc-by-sa-2.0, and cc-by-sa-1.0.

Old Creative Commons licenses

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

  • {{cc-by-sa-2.5}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Unported
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.5-nl}} - Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Netherlands based on Dutch law
  • {{cc-by-sa-2.0}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-br}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Brazil based on Brazilian law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-de}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Germany based on German law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.1-es}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.1 Spain based on Spanish law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-it}} - Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Italy based on Italian law
    • {{cc-by-sa-2.0-nl}} - Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Netherlands based on Dutch law

Source specific Creative Commons licenses

  • {{cc-world66}} - Attribution-Sharealike 1.0 for pictures originally submitted to World66 server (Compatible with Wikitravel)
  • {{Agência Brasil}} - photographs from Agência Brasil. First, on request by User:555 they said "O uso do material é exclusivamente para fins de cobertura jornalística. Não há qualquer autorização para derivações e uso comercial." (Use of the material is permitted exclusively for journalistic coverage. Derivations and commercial use are not authorized.) but now they offer the pictures as cc-by-2.5-br.
  • {{MdB}} - Images of the brazilian Navy. cc-by-2.5-br
  • {{CC-AR-Presidency}}: photographs taken from the Presidency of Argentina web site.
  • {{PD-OpenClipart}} - for images from the Open Clip Art Library. CC PD dedication.

Copyleft Attitude License

Copyleft
  • {{FAL}} - Free Art License, a free license published by Copyleft Attitude, can be applied to digital as well as to non-digital art. With this Free Art License, you are authorised to copy, distribute and freely transform the work of art while respecting the rights of the originator.'

The FAL is recommended by the Free Software Foundation : "We don't take the position that artistic or entertainment works must be free, but if you want to make one free, we recommend the Free Art License."

Various Free Licenses

  • {{MPL}} Mozilla Public License Version 1.1
  • {{FWL}} Freie Wiki-Lizenz Version 1.0 [4]
  • {{CeCILL}} - The CeCILL license, a French Free Software license crafted to be compatible with the GNU General Public License.

Other free tags

Please discuss first on the Commons:Village Pump before you add tags for sites which proclaim their pictures to be 'copyright free', 'may be used freely', 'public domain', 'No copyright', 'For publication/media/press/journalistic/scientific/promotional purposes'. They are often either statements that fair use is permitted by law or they grant only a non-derivative license. Please see Commons:Village_pump_archive-28#Common_Misconception. Please follow the advice at Commons:Email templates#declaration of consent for all enquiries to request clear permission which also explicitly allows derivative works (since by principle of copyright, everything not allowed explicitly is forbidden by default). Please try to convince source web sites to use one of the boilerplate Creative Commons licenses.
Green copyright symbol
  • {{Attribution}} - Copyrighted, but freely usable given the copyright holder is credited.
    • If you are the author of the work, consider using {{cc-by-3.0}}, instead.
  • {{Copyrighted free use}} - Copyrighted, but the copyright holder allows anyone to use it for any purpose.
    • Consider using {{PD-self}} for your own work instead.
  • {{Copyrighted free use provided that|insert conditions here}} - Copyrighted, but the copyright holder allows anyone to use it for any purpose under certain conditions. Note: before licensing your own work with this license, read and understand Commons:Licensing. Consider using the GFDL or one of the free Creative Commons licenses instead.
  • {{BSD}} - BSD license
    • {{BSDu|username}} - BSD license with user variable
  • {{MIT|copyright holder}} - MIT license
  • {{Apache}} - Apache v2.0 license
  • {{free screenshot|license=free license}} - for screenshots containing pictures of not copyrighted programs, or programs released under a free license, or by some other way following the requirements of Commons. The actual free license should be indicated as a parameter to the tag. (See {{screenshot}} below for screenshots of copyrighted software or operating systems). If the screenshot shows original work by someone else, make sure it's under a free license and indicate that license using a separate license tag from above. If it shows your own work, say so explicitly and select a license tag of your liking from above.
  • {{AerialPhotograph-mlitJP}} - images from http://w3land.mlit.go.jp/WebGIS/
  • {{IPPAR}} - for images from http://www.i