User:-jkb-/Copyright WS

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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)[edit]

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[edit]

  • 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[edit]

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. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 a rather complicated system of terms
  4. life + 50 if author died before 1949, otherwise life + 70

Further reading[edit]

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