Image copyright tags/Public domain

Remember that most images you find on the Web are not public domain, even if they list no explicit copyright information. Images only qualify as being in the public domain if they fall under certain specific categories described below &mdash; very old works, works by certain government employees, and works where an explicit disclaimer of copyright has been made in writing by the author.

For a simple chart on US Public Domain regulations (Wikipedia servers are located in the US and fall under US guidelines) see the chart here.

General

 * OldOS — for maps and sections of maps taken from Ordnance Survey (OS) maps over 50 years old.
 * PD-flag-50 — for images of national, governmental, or historical flags out of copyright in those countries with copyright terms of life of the author plus 50 years
 * PD-flag-70 — for images of national, governmental, or historical flags out of copyright in those countries with copyright terms of life of the author plus 70 years
 * PD-flag-100 — for images of national, governmental, or historical flags out of copyright in those countries with copyright terms of life of the author plus 100 years
 * PD-font — for images that consist solely of rasterized characters from one or more typefaces.
 * PD-ineligible — for images that are inherently ineligible for copyright protection because they are based exclusively on common knowledge with no element of creativity. An example would be Image:F Major key signature.png or things like multiplication tables. If you have any doubts, please ask.
 * PD-old — for images where the author died more than 100 years ago . (Note: not where the work, image, or subject is 100 or more years old)
 * PD-US — for images published in the U.S. before 1923 or in some other cases.
 * PD-US-1923-abroad - for images first published outside of the U.S. before 1923.
 * For images of pre-1923 foreign postage stamps use Stamp-PD-US-1923-abroad.
 * PD-US-1996 - for images first published outside of the U.S. from 1923 to 1977 (inclusive), but PD in the foreign source country on January 1, 1996. For the precise rules, see the template text.
 * PD-old-50 — for images where the author (e.g., photographer, painter, graphic artist) died more than 50 years ago (1957). (Note: not where the work, image, or subject is 50 or more years old.)
 * PD-old-70 — for images where the author (e.g., photographer, painter, graphic artist) died more than 70 years ago (1937). (Note: not where the work, image, or subject is 70 or more years old.)
 * Stamp-PD-US-1923-abroad - for images of postage stamps first published outside of the U.S. before 1923 and therefore PD in the U.S.
 * PD-Pre1978 — for images published in the United States prior to 1978 without explicit notice of "copyright, year, owner " or "©" attached.
 * PD-Pre1964 — for images published in the United States prior to 1964 for which copyright was not renewed within 28 years of the date of publication
 * PD-EU-no author disclosure — for images published more than 70 years ago without an attached claim of authorship.

Dedications
These tags are used for an author to attempt to release their work into the public domain, disclaiming any copyright. See Granting work into the public domain.


 * PD-link — a statement intended to release a contributor's own work into public domain and request an entirely optional link back to Wikipedia from anyone reproducing it
 * PD-self — a statement intended to release a contributor's own work into public domain
 * — a statement intended to release a particular user's own work into public domain by a Wikipedian. For Wikipedians not on the English Wikipedia, use where the language code is the two-character ISO 639-2 code (lowercase) that corresponds to the language of the Wikipedia where the user has an account.
 * — remarking that a previous PD work has been digitally enhanced, and re-released into public domain by a Wikipedian.
 * - — a statement intended to release a particular user's own work into public domain by a Wikipedian with no disclaimers.
 * — stating that the work is released into the public domain by its author, whose name is given

Art

 * PD-art — for images of 2-D (flat) works of art where the artist died more than 100 years ago.
 * PD-art-life-50 — for images of 2-D (flat) works of art published in the United States before 1923 where the artist died more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-art-life-70 — for images of 2-D (flat) works of art where the artist died more than 70 years ago.
 * PD-art-US — for images of 2-D (flat) works of art published prior to 1923.
 * PD-art-3d - for images of 3-D works of art where the artist died more than 100 years ago. This license ONLY covers the work of art. Photographic reproductions of 3-d objects attract their own copyright, therefore the appropriate image licensing tag should be used in addition.
 * PD-art-70-3d - for images of 3-D works of art where the artist died 70 or more years ago. This license ONLY covers the work of art. Photographic reproductions of 3-d objects attract their own copyright, therefore the appropriate image licensing tag should be used in addition.

Intergovernmental

 * — for public domain images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope as described on and
 * - for public domain images from PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health
 * PD-UN - for public information material designed primarily to inform the public about United Nations activities, not including public information material that is offered for sale
 * UN map - for UN maps in particular. The image should not claim to be a UN map, only to be based on one, and the original reference number should not be included.
 * PD-USGov - For works produced by an employee of the United States government in the performance of his or her duties. This blanket exemption does not apply to content published by other American governments, such as state, county, or city governments, who generally hold copyright unless they disclaim it.
 * PD-laws - There is an exception to the above. Edicts of government, such as judicial opinions, administrative rulings, legislative enactments, public ordinances, and similar official legal documents are not copyrightable for reasons of public policy. This applies to such works whether they are Federal, State, or local as well as to those of foreign governments.  (Note: this is a nascent template; reference and discussion here.  Please don't use 'till this note is removed.)
 * PD-CA-State-Capitol-Museum - Works published on the website of the California State Capitol Museum. Such works are in the public domain unless specifically noted otherwise.  This PD status includes their portrait gallery of Governors of California.
 * PD-US-patent - In general, the text and images of United States patents are not copyrighted. In specific cases, patent applicants and holders may claim copyright in portions of those documents. Such applicants are required to identify the portions that are protected under copyright, and are additionally required to state the following within the body of the application and patent:

Other countries
Whenever an image is tagged using one of these tags, the image description page should also contain some rationale as to whether and why the image is presumed to be in the public domain in the U.S., too! See also PD-US-1996, which can be used to state that the copyright on the image was not restored by the URAA.
 * PD-AR-Photo — for photographs first registered in Argentina over 25 years ago. (Law 11.723, Article 34)
 * PD-Albania — for works after the author has died at least 70 years ago, or for joint works created or published more than 70 years ago.
 * PD-Australia — for published photographs where the creator has died at least 70 years ago, or photographs taken prior to 1955.
 * PD-AustraliaGov — for works published by the Australian government or held under Crown Copyright in Australia more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-AzGov - for official signs and emblems of Azerbaijan.
 * PD-Bangladesh — for photographs published in Bangladesh over 60 years ago.
 * PD-BrazilGov — for "Brazilian official symbols" i.e. flags and symbols.
 * PD-Brazil-no author disclosure — for images published more than 70 years ago with neither an attached nor subsequent claim of authorship.
 * PD-BritishGov — for images created by the British Government and published prior to 1956.
 * PD-Canada — for Canadian photographs not subject to Crown copyright taken before 1949.
 * PD-China — for photographs taken in China over 50 years ago, or for non-photographic images where the author died more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-Col - for all "works of art and literature" in Colombia whose creators died more than 80 years ago, for "folkloric works" or unknown authors, and for works whose creators had renounced to rights
 * PD-CzechGov — for state symbols and symbols of other self-governing units.
 * PD-Coa-Germany — for coats of arms of German corporations governed by public law ("Körperschaften des öffentlichen Rechts"). Note that while the design is free their use is restricted
 * PD-GermanGov — for statutes, ordinances, official decrees or judgments issued by a German federal or state authority, or court
 * PD-HK for images and photographs taken in Hong Kong where the author died more than 50 years ago, or unknown authorship works which were published over 50 years.
 * PD-India — for photographs, audio and videos first published by Indian citizens or the Indian government (and international organisations, per section 29) prior to 1947-01-01. See section 25 here.
 * PD-Iran — for works first published in Iran where all the authors have died more than 30 years ago, or photos or movies first published in Iran and published more than 30 years ago.
 * PD-Ireland — for works first published in the Republic of Ireland where all the authors died over 70 calendar years ago, or if the authors are not known, where the works were published over 70 calendar years ago.
 * PD-IrelandGov - for works created by the Irish government or Oireachtas more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-Israel-FOP - for photographs of a work of sculpture or artistic craftsmanship, if permanently situated in a public place or building in Israel.
 * PD-Israel-Photo — for photographs taken in Israel or the British Mandate of Palestine over 50 years ago.
 * PD-Italy — for photographs taken in Italy over 20 years ago, or artistic photos taken over 70 years ago.
 * PD-Japan-Film — for Japanese films and images therefrom produced in 1953 or earlier
 * PD-Lebanon
 * PD-LithuaniaGov — Republic of Lithuania Law on Copyright and Related Rights says: "Copyright shall not apply to official State symbols and insignia (flags, coat-of-arms, anthems, banknote designs, and other State symbols and insignia)."
 * PD-MalaysiaGov — for works of the government of Malaysia first published more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-MD-exempt — Law of the Republic of Moldova on copyright and neighbouring rights (Chapter II, Art. 7b) states: "Copyright shall not extend to State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs, etc.)"
 * PD-Netherlands — for works published in the Netherlands, Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands New Guinea over 70 years after the following January 1 when the work was published and works published by authors who died more than 70 years after the next January 1 of the author's death.
 * PD-NZ - for works made in New Zealand whose author died more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-Pakistan — for photographs taken in Pakistan over 50 years ago, or for non-photographic images where the author died more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-Philippines — for works whose copyrights have already expired, released into the public domain, or ineligible for copyright as stated by Philippine copyright law.
 * PD-PhilippinesPubDoc — for official public documents (or portions thereof) made in the Philippines of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature.
 * PD-Poland — for Polish photographs published in Poland without a copyright notice prior to May 23 1994.
 * PD-PolishGov — for Polish government documents, materials, signs and symbols.
 * PD-ROC - for photographs taken in Taiwan or the Republic of China over 50 years ago, or for non-photographic images where the author died more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-ROC-GOV - For works of the ROC Government under the terms of Article 9 of the Copyright Act of the Republic of China is public domain.
 * PD-RomaniaGov — for Romanian state symbols and symbols of public authorities and organisation, and for Romanian currencies
 * PD-RU-exempt — exempt from copyright protection under the Russian law as per tag text.
 * PD-South-Africa — For works published in South Africa that are more than 50 years old.
 * PD-South Korea — For works published in South Korea whose most recently deceased creator died more than 50 years ago.
 * PD-Sweden for public domain images taken by Swedish photographers before 1944
 * PD-Vägverket for Swedish road signs from the website of the Swedish Road Administration (Vägverket)
 * PD-Thailand — for works of which copyright has expired in Thailand.
 * PD-TH-exempt — for works exempt from copyright protection under Thai law as per tag text.
 * PD-UA-exempt — exempt from copyright protection under Ukrainan law as per tag text.
 * PD-BY-exempt — exempt from copyright protection under the law of the Republic of Belarus.
 * PD-VenezuelaGov — for "Venezuelan official symbols" i.e. flags and symbols.
 * PD-Yugoslavia -  exempt from copyright protection by the Agreement on succession issues; Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Slovenia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, being in sovereign equality the five successor States to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, have agreed in Vienna on 29 June 2001. The Agreement came to power on 2004-03-25.

Other

 * Gray's Anatomy plate or GAP — illustrations from the online edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th U.S. edition, originally published in 1918.
 * PD-8BS — for Acorn/BBC images from http://www.8BS.com — this refers to the 8-bit computers, NOT the BBC in general.
 * PD-Bain - for images from the Bain collection of the Library of Congress
 * PD-GWPDA — images from public domain source scanned by the Great War Primary Documents Archive
 * PD-Meyers — image comes from the 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (1888)
 * PD-OpenClipart — for images from the Open Clipart Library
 * PD-PCL — a map from the map collection of the Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL) of the University of Texas at Austin.
 * PD-PDphoto.org — for images from http://www.PDphoto.org
 * PD-Catholic — For public domain images found on the Catholic Encyclopedia
 * money-US — for images of the official currency of the U.S. These are ineligible for copyright, and therefore in the public domain.
 * AMI — For images digitized by the Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland.
 * PD-software — The image is a screenshot of public domain software. The image itself is also in the public domain.
 * CopyrightedFreeUse-Link — The image is free to use for any purpose, but requests an entirely optional link back to either Wikipedia or another site.
 * PD-because — for public domain images with a special reason. Use the format.
 * PD-UTportrait - for portraits from the University of Texas portrait gallery.
 * PD-screenshot - for screenshots of public domain films

New Zealand government
Almost everything is covered by either regular copyright, or if it is a public service department, by Crown copyright, which in New Zealand has a 100-year term under Section 26(3)(b) of the Copyright Act 1994. This puts most recent material out of bounds. However, there is an exception to these provisions for some documents:
 * PD-NZSection27 — for works created by some New Zealand government entities, which are covered by Section 27(1) of the Copyright Act 1994 . The section excludes from copyright protection the following NZ works: Bills, Acts, regulations, municipal bylaws, Hansard, select committee reports, court judgments, Royal commission reports, commission of inquiry reports, ministerial inquiry reports and statutory inquiry reports. Note that sourcing these from a third party provider that, say, annotated Acts, is dangerous — they would have copyright in those annotations, and/or copyright in a new typographical arrangement.

Deprecated

 * PD — Non-specific public domain tag. Use a more specific one from the list above instead.
 * PD-Russia - Used for works that were public domain under the Russian copyright law of 1993. Obsolete as of 1 January 2008 due to new Russian legislation.