Image talk:Einstein patentoffice.jpg

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Is PD-Old the right tag here? PD-Old is to indicate that the image would satisfy a 100 year PMA expiration date, and that seems highly unlikely here. TheGrappler 13:17, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Probably not. My bad. Looks like (a) a classic mistake of just considering the creation date and thinking it was pre-1923 (I had tagged it as {{PD}}, before {{PD-old}} existed), and (b) I have learned a lot since then. See also commons:Commons:Deletion requests#Image:Albert_Einstein_Swss_Patent_Office_clerk_1905.jpg. I suggest reverting back to the original "fair use" tag, if someone can make a fair use case. Lupo 19:07, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] IFD discussion

This image was nominated for deletion on 2006 July 6. The result of the discussion was keep.

This image was nominated for deletion on 2007 July 18. The result of the discussion was keep.

I still see no evidence that this was indeed published before 1909 (or 1923). Lupo 22:30, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Background

(Copied from old version of the image description page.)

According to the investigations of the Swiss Copyright Office (officially the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property), who show that image on one of their websites, Mr. Chavan donated the image to the archive of his last employer, the Swiss Post (then called PTT). This archive is now the Museum of Communication in Berne, Switzerland. Later, the image was transferred to the Albert Einstein Society in Berne. However, no written contracts on these transferrals exist. To be on the safe side, the Swiss Copyright Office got permission from both the Museum of Communication and the Albert Einstein Society. They write in their e-mail that they do not have any indication that the Einstein Archive in Jerusalem held any rights on this image. They do not know when the image was first published. In any case, the image is still copyrighted in Switzerland (and other "70 years p.m.a" countries) until the end of 2012 (but that was clear from the beginning). Lupo 09:17, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I must correct myself. The image is in the public domain in Switzerland. Until 1993, Switzerland had a copyright term of 50 years p.m.a., and the extension in 1993 to 70 years p.m.a. applied only to works still copyrighted in 1993. See the Decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court of January 13, 1998. Since Chavan died in 1942, the Swiss copyright on this image expired on December 31, 1992. Lupo 18:59, 11 September 2007 (UTC)