Talk:Copyright status of work by the U.S. government

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[edit] Layers

I think it would be best to layer the sections a little more. The article seems to just contain a loosly related list. I'm not sure how exactly I would fix it, but I figured it would best be mentioned.

Anthony intially used this page as a redirect, now it is a disambiguation page to the page he wanted it redirtected to. He obviously just wants to pick a fight. GrazingshipIV 03:05, Apr 7, 2004 (UTC)

Heh, you are the one picking the fight. First you blanked the page, now you're trying to remove the examples. All of this with no explanation whatsoever. anthony (see warning) 03:07, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

not even close you know that you have no clue on how to create a page for this it's textbook disambiguation. Now it will go to the page you orginally wanted it to. GrazingshipIV 03:08, Apr 7, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] No Domestic Copyright Does Not Mean No International Copyright

(I made a comment substantially similar to this originally on http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:PD-USGov, but I guess it belongs in here--I'll try to clean it up to make it more understandable...)

There's a pretty fundamental problem with the way U.S. Government copyrights are being characterized here.

The problem is that 17 U.S.C. sec. 105 applies domestically, but under TRIPs, Berne and so forth, copyrights are entitled to national treatment. That means that 17 U.S.C. sec. 105 has no legal effect abroad, and the protection offered internationally under the conventions only places copyrights on par with homegrown copyrights, meaning that the protection offered to U.S. government coprights internationally is not protection "under this title," in the words of 105.

Long story short: while conventionally the U.S. has not asserted international copyright ownership, it IS NOT TRUE that (1) U.S. government works are in the public domain (because the statute doesn't purport to release it into the public domain, but merely denies domestic protection under U.S. law, which has no effect internationally because of the way the agreements have been written) or that (2) removing protection of U.S. copyright law has any effect internationally (because the domestic treatment standard removes the international effect of what is being used as the basis for the assertion).

There's precedent for this, too, and calling the Copyright Office should bring more details on it, but Japan called and asked for special permission to reprint the Starr Report. Although the Office found the question somewhat baffling (because they hadn't ever bothered to parse this out themselves until Japan's lawyers asked them to), they offered special, one-time permission to reprint the Starr report. In effect, they pulled something like a "judicial review"-style slight-of-hand trick and asserted the substance of what I'm articulating above.

The bottom line is the page is fundamentally wrong from the technical legal standpoint. Is the U.S. government likely to assert the copyrights it has internationally? No. Have they indicated they reserve the right to do so? Yes. Is Wikimedia's characterization misleading? Yes. I really can't tell the community how it should feel about this, but the bottom line is that Wikimedia's "Government Work" rights box is plain wrong as to international applicability. Junkmale 03:53, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

I believe the entire discussion above is fundamentally wrong. International copyright agreements apply only if the material is copyrightable in its country of origin; U.S. government documents produced in the U.S. are not copyrightable (the law in question is part of the U.S. copyright law), so they are in the public domain in the U.S., and thus internationally as well. (Under TRIPS and similar agreements, the U.S. has now essentially "revoked" public-domain status of works first published outside the U.S. that are still under copyright where first published but had lost copyright here, usually due to lack of renewal; thus other nations are bound to honor the copyright law of the country of origin. However, this does not apply to non-copyright restrictions such as the "letters patent" which protect the King James Bible in the UK, but not in the U.S. or internationally.) Japan's asking for reprint permission for the Starr Report was itself out of an abundance of caution, as most other English-speaking countries DO copyright their government documents; for example, see Crown copyright (for most Commonwealth realms including the UK, Canada, Australia & New Zealand) and Parliamentary copyright (a modern variant specifically for the UK Parliament). Please note that non-U.S. government documents subject to copyright in their country of origin are likewise protected in the U.S.; the statute in question specifically applies only to the U.S. government. (15 July 2006) 70.232.95.4 07:24, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

I believe the status is somewhat unclear, and would probably have to be tested in court for a definitive answer. The Berne Convention requires signatory countries to 'protect the copyright on works of authors from other countries in the same way it protects the copyright of its own nationals' - in other words, apply the national standard (subject to other requirements to establish more uniform regimes. There are minimum time periods that are set (e.g. life plus 50 years in most cases), but these can be extended by national laws.
On the other hand 'unless legislation provides otherwise, the copyright term shall not exceed the term fixed in the country of origin of the work' - it could be urgued that US Government works have a copyright term of zero years, and thus don't get protection - although personally I think that's unlikely.
82.153.96.176 22:41, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
Surely a zero year copyright term is exactly the same thing as no copyright term? And to cite the "protect the copyright" wording assumes the consequent - you can't argue that a copyright exists by starting from the assumption that it exists!—greenrd (talk) 19:54, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Protected

I protected this page on a IRC request. Please resolve your difference on the talk page, and I or someone else can unprotect it. Thanks, Dori | Talk 03:10, Apr 7, 2004 (UTC)

Thanks Dori well the ball is really in Anthony's court, he wanted to redirect now he wants a different page, ultimately he wants attention. GrazingshipIV 03:14, Apr 7, 2004 (UTC)

"Disambiguation in Wikipedia is the process of resolving the conflict that occurs when articles about two or more different topics have the same natural title." "Disambiguation pages serve a single purpose: To let the reader choose between different pages that might reside under the same title." If a page is created on the work of the United States Government, i.e., the activities of the United States Government, then a primary topic disambiguation, with a link to the activities page would be appropriate (clearly this would be a case of primary topic disambiguation, see google). Otherwise, this falls under "See Also", not disambiguation. anthony (see warning) 03:53, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Anthony we have discussed all this already you are blinded by your own point of view the point of having a link is for people who got there by mistake. You intially wanted a redirect and now refuse to compromise. There needs to be a link to United States government for people who to the page looking for how the government works. You include one in he current protected version, why be difficult just to be difficult? GrazingshipIV 04:12, Apr 7, 2004 (UTC)

You're both aware of the 3 revert guideline and quickpolls, so don't start reverting as soon as I unprotect. Start a poll if you can't agree, or something. Dori | Talk 14:34, Apr 8, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Shouldn't this be in the Wikipedia namespace?

Shouldn't it belong there? I don't think it's encyclopaedic, and it's more-or-less used to describe WP policy. Maybe it even belongs in the meta-wiki? splintax (talk) 09:54, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

Agree. Nimur 18:51, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Opening paragraph

In the opening paragraph it is written: "For example, the Central Intelligence Agency logo cannot be used deceptively without permission...». Is that wording correct and if so does it mean that the CIA logo can in effect be used deceptively with appropriate permission ? If not, I suggest re-writing this way: «For example, the Central Intelligence Agency logo cannot be used without permission...».

[edit] Question

If a picture appears in a US Government Internet site, will it be defined as a Work of the United States Government even if the painter/photographer doesnt belong to the government? For example pictures from the National Portrait Gallery [1] (belongs to the Smithsonian Institution which is administered and funded by the government of the United States)? (81.235.166.78 11:03, 30 June 2006)

Certainly not. Possession, display or distribution of copies or derivative works has nothing to do with ownership of the copyright, and ONLY works authored by a U.S. government officer or employee can be Works of the U.S. Govt. There may be a technical question of who made the collective work in which someone may claim very limited rights (e.g., selection, organization, indexing), or there could be statutory or implied licenses in certain administrative works submitted to the U.S. (e.g., patent applications, federal court filings, SEC filings, etc); but the ownership (or existence) of copyright in the underlying work (if any) is unaffected, and the right to its benefits typically belongs to someone else. Lupinelawyer 15:21, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
Thank you.


[edit] Stars and Stripes

I posted a question about copyright status at the Stars and Stripes (newspaper) article. However, I doubt many wikipedia editors with significant understanding of intellectual property intricacies frequent that talk page, so I'm posting a link here. Please leave any comments on that talk page! Thanks, Nimur 18:50, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)

--Timeshifter 17:13, 13 August 2006 (UTC). Are Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports in the public domain? Since BJS is a federal agency I assume that one can freely copy and post parts of this report?: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/pjim05.pdf

It is linked from this page: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/pjim05.htm

Table 1 from the BJS pdf report is on this page: http://gallery.marihemp.com/charts

Direct link to Table 1: http://gallery.marihemp.com/charts/USA_BJS_Bulletin_NCJ213133

I assume it is OK to copy and paste the tables from BJS reports to web pages, wikipedia, etc.. So I did. Here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:USA_BJS_Bulletin_NCJ213133.gif --Timeshifter 18:55, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bureau of Printing, Manila

Hi, just wanted to ask a question (and maybe it should be noted down in the article itself. Are works published by the "Bureau of Printing in Manila" (circa pre-1945) considered works of the US Government? The Philippines was under American control from 1898 all the way to the end of World War II so I'm wondering if it is.

The reason why I'm asking is that I have access to a lot of monographs that were published by the Bureau circa 1920's and I'd like to upload the images/diagrams to WP if possible. Shrumster 06:54, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Works donated to the Library of Congress.

This photograph was donated by the artist's estate in 1966 with a 20-year publication restriction.

I want to use the image of Beni Montresor. The LOC now claims the image is in public domain.

Rights and Restrictions
As a publicly supported institution the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections.
Summary: Donor restrictions expired in 1986 (see below for amplification). However, privacy and publicity rights may apply.
Access: Permitted; subject to P&P policy on serving originals.
Reproduction (photocopying, hand-held camera copying, photoduplication and other forms of copying allowed by "fair use"): Permitted; subject to P&P policy on copying, which prohibits photocopying of the original photographs in this collection.
Publication and other forms of distribution: Per the instrument of gift, "for a period of 20 years from the date of this Instrument [1966], none of the photographs contained in said collection may be sold, reproduced, published or given away in any form whatsoever except with my [Saul Mauriber, Photographic Executor for Van Vechten] express permission in writing." This restriction expired in 1986. In 1998 the Library’s Publishing Office was contacted by Bruce Kellner, Successor Trustee for the Van Vechten estate, who disputes Mr. Mauriber’s authority in executing the Instrument of Gift. Upon review of the relevant materials, the Library continues to believe that the photographs are in the public domain. However, patrons are advised that Mr. Kellner has expressed his concern that use of Van Vechten’s photographs "preserve the integrity" of his work, i.e, that photographs not be colorized or cropped, and that proper credit is given to the photographer. Privacy and publicity rights may apply.
Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-54231]

Wikipedia dose not have a copyright tag that matched this situation exactly. Any ideas? --Knulclunk 15:29, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Nevermind! I found the correct tag at WikkiCommons. All of Van Vechten pictures donated to the LOC are Public Domain. --Knulclunk 15:55, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Copy editing

I am copy editing this page as it has been listed since January 2007 --Careless hx 18:19, 1 August 2007 (UTC) Copy editing complete. Article needs additional cleanup and citation by someone more knowledgable than me, however I will remove the copyedit tag. --carelesshx talk 00:31, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry

TITLE 18 USC 33, Section 704 governs as follows:

Sec. 704. Military medals or decorations

(a) In General. - Whoever knowingly wears, manufactures, or sells any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States, or any of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces, or the ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration or medal, or any colorable imitation thereof, except when authorized under regulations made pursuant to law, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

see comment in article - feel this section may be incorrect, need citation of correct law --Careless hx 18:44, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NIST Standard copyrights

I think this page should mention the exception to copyright law created by the Standard Reference Data Act that allows the US Dept of Commerce to hold copyrights on works regarding standards, which is why many NIST standards have copyrights held by the government. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.64.133.112 (talk) 01:20, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

I just happened to have added this. TJRC (talk) 20:34, 5 June 2008 (UTC)