User:-jkb-/Copyright WS

The texts and documents, published here on the multilingual Wikisource, must be free, i.e. they must respect the copyright laws of the country where they have been published. Every text published here must be tagged with a free licence (and moreover, you should give the source of the text).

On the multilingual Wikisource it is quite inpossible to describe the copyright laws of all countries where the users here come from. Therefore you find here some general terms only that could fit in general the most countries.

General terms (life + 70)

In general, you can publish on Wikisource texts and documents that are in the public domain (i.e. that are not copyrighted). In most cases works, that have been written by authors, who died 1940 or earlier, are in the public domain 2011. In other words: 70 years after the death of the author his works are free - in the most countries.

Details on the meaning of the term public domain see in en:Help:Public domain.

Special cases

• translations: all translations of works are copyrighted as well, that means: the translated work is free if both the author and the translator died more than 70 years ago
• fair use is not compatible with Wikisource
• official works: in many countries the so-called official works are free, but the definitions of "official work" vary from country to country. Some details you will find on commons:Commons:Licensing.
• works published before 1923: works published outside of the USA can be published on this domain even in the case that the author died less than 70 years ago; ask at the Scriptorium (see Template:PD-US-1923-abroad)
• life + 50: works of authors, who died at least 50 years ago, can be published on the project Wikilivres; ask at the Scriptorium

Terms by country

If you are like to know all details of a copyright law of a country so you have to study these laws. The following terms are general only and do not recognize many special exemptions.^[1]

Country	Copyright length
Albania	life + 70
Algeria	life + 50
Andorra	life + 70
Angola	life + 50
Argentina	life + 70
Armenia	life + 50
Aruba	unknown
Australia	life + 70 [2]
Austria	life + 70
Azerbaijan	life + 50
Bahrain	life + 50
Bangladesh	life + 50
Barbados	life + 50
Belarus	life + 50
Belgium	life + 70
Belize	life + 50
Benin	life + 50
Bhutan	life + 50
Bolivia	life + 50
Bosnia and Herzegovina	life + 70
Brazil	[3]
Brunei	life + 50
Bulgaria	life + 70
Burkina Faso	life + 50
Burundi	life + 50
Cambodia	life + 50
Cameroon	life + 50
Canada	life + 50
Cape Verde	life + 50
Chile	life + 50
China	life + 50
Colombia	life + 80
Costa Rica	life + 70
Cote d'Ivoire	life + 99
Croatia	life + 50 [4]
Cuba	life + 50
Czech Republic	life + 70
Denmark	life + 70
Djibouti	life + 25
Dominica	life + 70
Dominican Republic	life + 50
Ecuador	life + 70
Egypt	life + 50
El Salvador	life + 50
Estonia	life + 70
European Union	life + 70
Fiji	life + 50
Finland	life + 70
France	life + 70
Georgia	life + 50
Germany	life + 70
Ghana	life + 70
Greece	life + 70
Guatemala	life + 75
Honduras	life + 75
Hong Kong	life + 50
Hungary	life + 70
Iceland	life + 70
India	(life + 60)
Indonesia	life + 50
Iran	life + 30
Iraq	(life + 50)
Ireland	life + 70
Israel	life + 70
Italy	life + 70
Jamaica	life + 50
Japan	life + 50
Jordan	life + 50
Kazakhstan	life + 50
Kenya	life + 50
Korea (South)	life + 50
Kuwait	life + 50
Kyrgyzstan	life + 50
Latvia	life + 70

Country	Copyright length
Lebanon	life + 50
Libya	[3]
Liechtenstein	life + 70
Lithuania	life + 70
Luxembourg	life + 70
Macao	life + 50
Madagascar	life + 70
Malaysia	life + 50
Maldives	none
Mali	life + 50
Malta	life + 70
Marshall Islands	none
Mauritius	life + 50
Mexico	life + 100
Moldova	life + 50
Mongolia	life + 50
Montenegro	life + 70
Morocco	life + 50
Namibia	life + 50
The Netherlands	life + 70
New Zealand	life + 50
Nicaragua	life + 70
Niger	life + 50
Nigeria	Life + 70
Norway	life + 70
Oman	life + 50
Pakistan	life + 50
Palau	life + 50
Panama	life + 50
Papua New Guinea	life + 50
Paraguay	life + 70
Peru	life + 70
Philippines	life + 50
Poland	life + 70
Portugal	life + 70
Qatar	life + 50
Romania	life + 70
Russia	[3]
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	life + 50
Samoa	Life + 75
Saudi Arabia	life + 50
Serbia	life + 70
Seychelles	life + 25
Singapore	life + 70
Slovakia	life + 70
Slovenia	life + 70
Solomon Islands	life + 50
South Africa	life + 50
Spain	life + 70
Sudan	life + 50
Swaziland	life + 50
Sweden	life + 70
Switzerland	life + 70
Syria	life + 50
Taiwan	life + 50
Tajikistan	life + 50
Tanzania	life + 50
Thailand	life + 50
Togo	life + 50
Tonga	life + 50
Trinidad and Tobago	life + 50
Tunisia	life + 50
Turkey	life + 70
United Arab Emirates	life + 50
United Kingdom	life + 70
United States of America	life + 70 [3]
Uruguay	life + 50
Uzbekistan	life + 50
Venezuela	life + 60
Vietnam	life + 50
Yemen	life + 30
Zambia	life + 50
Zimbabwe	life + 50

1. Source: s:en:Help:Public domain
2. life + 50 if author died before 1955, otherwise life + 70
3. a rather complicated system of terms
4. life + 50 if author died before 1949, otherwise life + 70

Further reading

Some other information on the copyright terms in different countries you can get on commons:Commons:Licensing; see also:

• s:en:Wikisource:Copyright policy in English
• s:de:Wikisource:Urheberrecht in German
• s:es:Wikisource:Copyrights in Spanish
• s:fr:Wikisource:Respect du copyright in French