Commons:Deletion requests/File:Lt John Wilson.jpg

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File:Lt John Wilson.jpg

There is no evidence that this was published in the USA before 1926 as claimed. More important, however, is that Wilson was a UK citizen. The image shows him in British Army uniform. Therefore, the origin of this image is the UK. It is far too recent to assume that the photographer has been dead for 70 years. .     Jim . . . (Jameslwoodward) (talk to me) 12:17, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Well, it is more complicated than that, if we take the UK copyright position. In the UK, at the time, copyright in photographs was 50 years. If the photographer died before 1996, then it is possible for the owners to "revive" the copyright. If they do not "revive" the copyright, then it has been in the public domain since the 1970s. In practice, I doubt that anyone knows who the photographer is, never mind whether they are personally in a position to "revive" the copyright in this photograph, nor are they likely to wish to do so. Thus I would say, until it is asserted otherwise, this photo can be assumed to be in the public domain. Of course Wikimedia may have a specific policy around this. JimKillock (talk) 13:08, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

More complication: "Prior to 1 August 1989 though, the copyright in photographs, portraits and engravings (and only those types of work) which were created as a result of a commission were owned by the commissioner and NOT the creator. Therefore at that time, if you commissioned someone to take photographs for you (for instance of your wedding party), then you would be the owner of the copyright in those photographs."

This picture is a portait, and the context is one of many personal photos commissioned by soldiers on their way to war, so the copyright would have almost certainly resided with John Wilson, as the commissioner, and the copyright would have expired as mentioned above. We can be certain (on the balance of probabilities or beyond reasonable doubt) that his relatives did not renew the copyright in the picture; I have no evidence that they would ever had even discussed such as thing. So I think this can stay up. JimKillock (talk) 17:30, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

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Deleted: per nomination. Unclear status. can be undeleted safely 120 years after the image was made, which will be 1919+121=2040.. --Ellywa (talk) 13:24, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Hi @Ellywa: ; I don't understand why this has been done. I think it's pretty clear from the remarks above that the image does not need to be deleted. I'm very happy to go this in some detail if you need, but nobody has responded or refuted the points I've made above. Is there any possibility of reverting this deletion? --JimKillock (talk) 20:18, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Hi JimKillock, if you can, provide clear evidence, per COM:EVID that this image is in Public Domain in the USA and in the country of origin, and then ask for undeltion on COM:UR. Ellywa (talk) 20:24, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

In thw USA, it is entirely clear; except that it has not been previously published. WM policy is AIUI to look to country of origin in these cases, and I have explained above why it is public domain in the UK. I have added to the undelete page. --JimKillock (talk) 21:54, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Restored: as per [1]. Yann (talk) 19:05, 24 January 2022 (UTC)