File:Vårstavi 2012h.JPG

It is not clear whether freedom of panorama applies to this image.

This is a depiction of a building or work of art in Sweden. The depicted work is believed to be protected by copyright. According to Article 24 of the Swedish copyright act, "Works of art may be depicted if they are permanently placed on or at a public place outdoors" and "Buildings may be freely depicted." It has been widely accepted that this provision made distribution of depictions such as this one legal.

On 4 April 2016, however, the Supreme Court of Sweden issued a statement that the first paragraph in Article 24 does not extend to publication of works of art in online repositories, and on 6 July 2017, a lower court ruled that linking to depictions of copyrighted works of art hosted by Wikimedia (including on Commons) in a database constitutes copyright infringement. See COM:CRT/Sweden#Freedom of panorama for more information.

The second paragraph in the article, about buildings, was not evaluated in the statement or ruling.

The implications of these decisions on Commons' ability to continue to distribute this and other depictions like it are currently under analysis.

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