G2G: Copyright on images -- should it be public domain in all countries?

Question

Hi there Wikitreers,

As of late I've been on a rampage adding obscure notables who lived in Japan (Meaning that I've mainly been using Wikipedia as a base for profiles I create).

I have added some images that were originally on Wikipedia to the profiles of some of these notables, primarily to aid in identification (plus it makes the profile look nicer, in my opinion). I have made sure to check the copyright info on images posted up on there to ensure that they are public domain. However, not all images fall under the public domain in every country.

When it comes to adding images from Wikipedia, should the images be in the public domain in every country? As of late I've only been posting images if they are public domain in their country of origin and in the USA, but I'm not sure if this is okay. It is not always clear or specified if an image is in the public domain of a particular country, especially if the image is undated.  If an image explicitly says its copyrighted in at least one country (even if its public domain in its country of origin), I don't upload it on here.

Japan has an interesting copyright law stating that all images published or photographed before Jan 1 1957 are public domain. I know the general rule is that photos taken 90 or so years ago are public domain everywhere, but that means that any images taken between 1929 (90 years ago) and 1957 in Japan fall into a grey area on whether they are public domain everywhere or not. Usually Wikipedia states if the image's copyright was renewed in the US before 1970, but most of the time it either has not been (meaning its US public domain as well) or it is unknown if it is or not.

Does Wikitree have a general guideline for images found on Wikipedia? Does an image have to be public domain in all countries to be posted on here?

Answer 1

I can't (and won't try to) speak on behalf of WikiTree, but this information from Wikipedia may be of some use:

Public domain images are not copyrighted, and copyright law does not restrict their use in any way. Wikipedia pages, including non-English language pages, are hosted on a server in the United States, so U.S. law governs whether a Wikipedia image is in the public domain.

So if the WikiTree servers are located and ran in the United States, it would make sense that the United States laws would apply in the same way.

It seems as if you are already trying your best to determine appropriate usage of images, but I would add to this that members should verify both the US copyright status and the copyright status of the image in the country they live in.

Comments

Steve is right that if the item is in the public domain in the country of origin, it is under public domain rules for the United States when hosted on a US and or its territories based server.

According to the Berne Convention (on international copyrights) and to an extent, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, signatories agree that the country of origin's copyright laws are the determination of actual copyright anywhere in the world.

So if the item is still under copyright where it was first published, then it is still under copyright in the United States. Though you could have a Fair Use right to reproduce some foreign copyrighted items hosted on US based servers, it just might not be worth the effort.

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Here is a list of Copyright Lengths for most countries in the world.

List of countries' copyright lengths Wikipedia

And you might want to take a look at Japan's Copyright rules again as well.  Some changes in 2018 where publications (photographs are considered publications) that were in the Public Domain could have their copyrights restored.

Copyright Law of Japan Wikipedia

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Oh, I was not aware of this change. Thanks for informing me. Most of the photo documentation regarding copyright must have not been updated recently.