User:Lupo/Notes

Soviet Copyrights
commons:Template:PD-Russia

Due to the territorial nature of laws, I think (and Soufron has even hinted at that, too, in my e-mail conversation with him) that we can apply Russian law only with Russia. But some former Soviet works might today be considered not Russian works but works of some other CIS country, or even a work of one of the three Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia, and Estnia.

The Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991.

CIS states accepted international treaties concluded by the Soviets and thus became UCC members with a retroactive adherance date of May 27, 1973. The three Baltic states did not do so, and thus did not become UCC members.

Cases: (country X is one of the successor countries on the territory of the USSR, including the Baltic states) These are first thoughts only, and the table may be incorrect. No warranties given or implied :-) Comments welcome.

The following tables all concern works published in the Soviet Union. For works first published later, the place of first publication determines the applicable law for determination whether a work is out of copyright.

Corporate copyright ownership

Private copyright ownership

Basically all the copyright laws of the successor states of the USSR (including the Baltic states) exempt about the same kinds of works from copyright, in particular official signs and symbols and folklore works. Needs to be checked.

If the law of country X applies, need to check implementation acts that governed transition from old Soviet law (25y term) to modern law. If retroactive (e.g., Russia or Georgia), older laws are mostly irrelevant for determining whether a work is still copyrighted (although such older laws are still important to determine copyright ownership, but that's a question of no concern to us when trying to figure out whether a work was in the public domain). If not retroactive, expiration of old and short Soviet terms may give rise to interesting (i.e., relatively recent) cut-off dates unless "simultaneous publication" bites, in which case we can't under any circumstances get more recent dates than those for Russia, and maybe even have to go with 70y p.m.a. from the Georgian retroactive law (if that law, passed in 1999, has an effect on CIS nations who joined the Berne Convention earlier, which may be doubtful).

Country of origin

 * Berne Convention: §5(4) defines country of origin the country where a work is first published, irrespective of the nationality of the author. Only if the work was first published in a non-Berne country without simultaneous publication in a Berne country, the country of origin is given by the author's nationality. The USSR was not a Berne country.


 * [17 USC 104A(b)] says that the restored copyright vests in the original copyright holder as determined by the laws of the source country.


 * [17 USC 104A(h)(8)] defines "source country" to be the country where the work was first published, or, if published simultaneously in several countries, the one with "the most significant contacts with the work". For unpublished works, the nationality of (the majority of) the author(s) defines the source country. If that majority are U.S. citizens, the "source country" is that foreign country with "the most significant contacts with the work".

The U.S. rules are a bit unclear because "most significant contacts" is subjective and may be interpreted this or that way by a court. The U.S. uses "country of first publication", whereas the Berne Convention uses "nationality of author" (in the case of Soviet works).

If we assume that we start from the current states' (which are Berne countries) laws, Berne agrees with the U.S. 104A rule and also defines "country of origin" by first publication.

I think, we should indeed use "first publication" as our criterion.

Soviet copyrights, 2nd attempt
Corporate copyright ownership

Private copyright ownership

Looks better, doesn't it? There's only one uncertainty left (compulsory purchase by the state). I propose that we resolve this by applying country X's laws, too.

If the place of publication is unknown, but the publisher is known and is today based in country X, go by that country. If the publisher ceased to exist in Soviet times, go by the author's post-Soviet nationality. If the author died in Soviet times or emigrated to become a citizen of a totally unrelated country, or is unknown, apply PD-Russia.

Countries
Old Soviet laws (chapter 4 of the Civil Code):
 * 1991 Fundamentals: 50 years p.m.a. Accepted by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on May 31, 1991. Did not enter in force in the USSR. Entered in force for a short time in Russia (from August 3 1992 until the 1993 Copyright Law became effective).
 * Copyright Act of the RSFSR of 1964; edition from 1974 (after the accession to the UCC): 25 years p.m.a.
 * 1961 Fundamentals

Interesting overviews:
 * Janice T. Pilch's overview articles in SEEIR 4(1), 5(1), and 6(1).
 * Janice T. Pilch: Fair Use and Beyond: The Status of Copyright Limitations and Exceptions in the Commonwealth of Independent States, College and Research Libraries 65(6), Nov. 2004; pp. 468 – 504.


 * Books:
 * Levitsky, S. : Introduction to Soviet Copyright Law, Law in Eastern Europe No. 8, Sythoff, Leyden; 1964. No ISBN.
 * Newcity, M.: Copyright Law in the Soviet Union, Praeger Publishers, New York, London; 1978. ISBN 0-275-56450-9.
 * Elst, M.: Copyright, Freedom of Speech, and Cultural Policy in the Russian Federation, Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston, 2005; ISBN 9-004-14087-5.

Lithuania
See this discussion (still needs refinement).

Russia
I'm not going to re-iterate all this. See Template talk:PD-USSR, commons:Template talk:PD-Soviet, and also commons:Commons:Deletion requests/Template:PD-Soviet.

Rules if brief:
 * within Russia, PD if published before 1954 and author, if known, died before 1954. 1950 for authors who are or were veterans of WWII. Corporate ownership: PD if published before 1954.
 * in the U.S.: Same, with 1946 (1942 for WWII veterans) as the year.
 * in the EU: as in Russia, due to the rule of the shorter term (§7 of directive 93/98/EEC), i.e. 1954 (1950) as the date. Corporate ownership: unclear, as several (all?) EU countries do not know that concept. If they'd consider the true author of a work the copyright owner (lex loci delicti, i.e. according to their own laws), only works of authors who died before 1954 (1950) would be PD. If they'd honor corporate copyright ownership (lex originis), as in Russia.

Template: PD-Russia.

The following are explicitly exempt from copyright (Russian copyright law, §8):
 * 1) official documents (laws, judicial decisions, other legislative, administrative and judicial texts), and their official translations;
 * 2) state symbols and marks (flags, emblems, orders, banknotes and other state symbols and marks);
 * 3) works of folk art (folklore);
 * 4) information reports of events and facts.

Point 2 arguably includes postage stamps. On point 3: the law does not define "folk art". Point 4 refers to basic facts, not to newspaper reports in general. News agency and newspaper reports that go beyond a minimal statement of bare facts are copyrighted. Note that the Berne Convention, §2(8) has the same provision.

The moral rights always vest in the author, and are non-transferrable (§15). Furthermore, moral rights are perpetual (§27(1)).

Panorama freedom is restricted to non-commercial uses of the image, and only to images where the portrayed copyrighted building, photograph, or sculpture is not the main subject of the photo. (§21)

The general copyright term was 50 years p.m.a. (introduced in 1993, restoring also expired Soviet copyrights, retroactive for 50 years ), changed in 2004 to 70 years p.m.a.