Copyright expiration in Australia#Public domain photos before 1955

• Photographs taken before 1955 are now in the public domain
• Photographs taken since 1955 will not be in the public domain until 1 January 2026 at the earliest, unless under crown copyright which expires 50 years after first publication.

Any photo, published or unpublished, anonymous or attributed, taken before 1 January 1955 is out of copyright and in the public domain. The Australian Copyright Council is quite specific and unambiguous in regard to copyright law on photographs taken prior to 1 January 1955:

:"If photographs were taken prior to 1 January 1955, copyright has now expired."[https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Photographers___Copyright.aspx?WebsiteKey=8a471e74-3f78-4994-9023-316f0ecef4ef> Photographers & Copyright information sheet No. G011] p. 1. Retrieved 5 December 2011.

:"The duration of copyright in photographs has changed significantly as a result of Australia implementing its obligations under the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA). New rules have been introduced to determine the duration of photographs that were still protected by copyright on 1 January 2005 or that were taken after that date. These rules came into effect on 1 January 2005:

:"For photographs which were still in copyright on 1 January 2005, or which were created on or after that date, copyright now lasts until 70 years from the end of the year the photographer died.

:"If the photographer is unknown or used a pseudonym, duration continues indefinitely until the photograph is published. Once it is published, duration will then last until 70 years from the end of the year in which it was published

:"All photographs taken before 1 January 1955 are now out of copyright and do not benefit from the new rules."[https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Photographers___Copyright.aspx?WebsiteKey=8a471e74-3f78-4994-9023-316f0ecef4ef> Photographers & Copyright information sheet No. G011] p. 4. Retrieved 5 December 2011.

File:Copyright duration infographic v3.jpg

Under the old pre-FTA system, all photos taken before 1 January 1969 were out of copyright 50 years from when taken. After 1 January 1969, it was 50 years from the end of the year it was first published. Thus, when the FTA came into effect on 1 January 2005, only photos taken before 1 January 1955 were out of copyright under the old system. Now, for a photo taken on or after 1 January 1955, copyright for non-Crown Copyright photos is "life of creator plus 70".

The copyright in the words for a newspaper article (or in a drawing) is owned by the writer (or illustrator, etc.). If the writer died before 1 January 1955, then the work is out of copyright; alternatively if the author is unknown (and cannot be discovered by reasonable enquiry), and if first published before 1 January 1955, then the work is out of copyright. The copyright in the layout expires 25 years after the end of the year in which it was first published. For artistic works other than photographs and engravings (so including drawings, paintings, sculpture) it was "life plus 50" and is now "life plus 70". If the creator is unknown, it was "first published plus 50" and is now "first published plus 70". So if the creator died before 1 January 1955 or is unknown and the work was first published before 1 January 1955, then the work is out of copyright. This "in general" applies even if the creator was an employee of the newspaper which holds the actual copyright.[https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Duration_of_Copyright.aspx?WebsiteKey=8a471e74-3f78-4994-9023-316f0ecef4ef] See the tables of the duration of copyright.] January 2019.

For artistic works other than photographs and engravings (so including drawings, paintings, sculpture) it was "life plus 50" and is now "life plus 70". If the creator is unknown, it was "first published plus 50" and is now "first published plus 70". So if the creator died before 1 January 1955 or is unknown and the work was first published before 1 January 1955, then the work is out of copyright. This "in general" applies even if the creator was an employee of the newspaper which holds the actual copyright.

For government owned photographs: copyright expires 50 years from the end of the year they were taken. Thus government-owned images made before {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}-50}} are out of copyright.

In 2015, ALIA announced a campaign called "Cooking for Copyright", highlighting the perpetual copyright status of unpublished works such as diaries, letters, company records and handwritten recipes.{{cite news|title=Librarians cook up vintage recipes in bid to change copyright laws|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-28/librarians-cook-up-copyright-campaign-to-try-and-change-laws/6653402|work=ABC News|date=28 July 2015}} Recipes including Captain Cook's carrot marmalade{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=Peter|title=Indefinite copyright is a joke - the recipe for carrot marmalade proves it|url=http://www.smh.com.au/comment/indefinite-copyright-is-a-joke--the-recipe-for-carrot-marmalade-proves-it-20150807-gito59.html|access-date=3 January 2018|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=8 August 2015}} were published on FAIR's website, breaking the existing law.{{cite web|url=https://fair.alia.org.au/sites/fair.alia.org.au/files/u4/Cooking%20for%20Copyright%20Report%20-%20Full%20Version_0.pdf|title=Report: Cooking for Copyright|access-date=3 January 2018}} In June 2017, a law was passed which included a 'life of the author plus 70 years' copyright term for unpublished works,{{cite web|title=Cooking for Copyright! – the Second Course – The Copyright Office Blog|url=https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/copyright/2017/07/31/cooking-for-copyright-the-second-course/|website=blogs.unimelb.edu.au|access-date=9 January 2018}} which came into effect on 1 January 2019.{{cite web|url=http://libcopyright.org.au/media/2019-australias-year-public-domain | title=2019 Australia's Year of the Public Domain | date=27 December 2018 | publisher=Australian Libraries copyright committee.}}

The National Library Picture Catalogue{{cite web|url=http://www.nla.gov.au/catalogue/pictures/ |title=Pictures | National Library of Australia |publisher=Nla.gov.au |access-date=2011-12-27}} states that permission must be asked to copy photos from their site. However, in the case of images taken before 1955, it is seen as possibly being a request with no legal basis because the images are public domain (when copied within Australia). Once something is in the public domain, the copyright belongs to everyone. An argument given by the British Library online[http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishlibrary/ ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030022107/http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishlibrary/ |date=30 October 2005 }} is that "The original work(s) are in the public domain, the copies the Library supplies are in copyright as they are new copies of the original materials which are what copyright is held. This is why you will need to clear permission." The National Library, for its part, states that photographs taken before 1 January 1955 are indeed "all out of copyright", but requires a formal declaration of intent to publish, and an acknowledgement of the National Library "as custodian of the material"{{cite web|title=Rights and the Pictures Collection|work=National Library of Australia |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/copyright-and-the-pictures-collection|access-date=28 January 2014}}

The State Library of Victoria, which does not hold copyright for some of its works says that "It must be stressed that obtaining permission to reproduce an item is not the same as copyright. The State Library of Victoria often does not hold the copyright for items in its collections"[http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/about/using/copying/permission/index.html ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051108153456/http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/about/using/copying/permission/index.html |date=8 November 2005 }}

Under lex loci protectionis, a court in a particular country will apply its own copyright laws when

determining expiry dates. Under Part VIII, Division 1, of Australian copyright law, foreign works, foreign citizens, and foreign residents are treated as though Australian, provided the foreign country is party to a relevant international agreement and gives "adequate protection" to owners of copyright. Australia does not apply the rule of the shorter term, so the expiry date of a work in its country of origin has no effect on its status in Australia.

{{original research section|date=January 2019}}

• Works published outside the United States before 1978 without compliance with US formalities that are in the public domain in their home country as of 1 January 1996 are in the public domain in the United States.{{cite web |url=http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm |title=Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States |publisher=cornell.edu |access-date=2011-12-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120704071954/http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm |archive-date=4 July 2012}}

American Fair Use entitles the use of copyrighted material in articles directly about the copyrighted material, for such uses as parody or critique. A question has arisen as to what the status of copyright law is for material which is loaded onto an American site, from Australia, whether it falls under Australian or American copyright law. It has been regarded that images in the public domain in Australia are not necessarily so in the U.S. An image being in the public domain in Australia may not necessarily imply that it is in the public domain in the U.S.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}"

• Copyright law of Australia
• Berne Convention
• History of fair use proposals in Australia

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051022203140/http://www.copyright.org.au/pdf/acc/InfoSheets/G011.pdf Copyright infosheet 11 pdf]
• [https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Duration_of_Copyright.aspx?WebsiteKey=8a471e74-3f78-4994-9023-316f0ecef4ef]
• [http://www.nla.gov.au/pict/pic_copyright.html National Library copyright]
• [http://www.nla.gov.au/catalogue/pictures/copyright.html NLA pictures copyright]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051109010954/http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permissfaq.html British library online FAQ permission]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051108153456/http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/about/using/copying/permission/index.html State Library of Victoria permission]
• [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/copyrite.asp NPG copyright]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050908201508/http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/std/faq/copyright/photo_book.htm Intellectual property copyright UK]
• [http://englishhistory.net/tudor/art.html The right to display public domain images]
• [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s180.html COPYRIGHT ACT 1968 - SECT 180]

Australia

Expiration of Copyright, Australian

Category:Australian public domain photographs