Commons:Multi-license copyright tags

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 This page is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Commons contributors.
It is not a Commons policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it. Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page.

Many files on Commons require multiple copyright tags (also known as license templates), with separate tag for different jurisdictions or different contributors. For example:

  1. Public domain files should indicate copyright status in the country of origin and in the US
  2. Photographs of 3D objects like sculptures should indicate copyright status of both the sculpture and the photograph, possibly in the country of origin and in the US.
  3. Photographs of 2D objects like paintings should indicate copyright status of the originals and the photographers. Alternatively (or in addition) they should use {{PD-Art}} to explain why photographers copyrights are not considered.
  4. Scans of books should indicate copyright status of the originals (in country of the origin and US) and {{PD-Scan}} to explain why copyrights of people digitizing the work are not considered.
  5. Copyrights related to different jurisdictions. For example US file can be in public domain in US for one reason, but additional (optional) license templates could explain why it is in public domain in other countries.

That is independent to the fact that many non public domain files on Commons are multi-licensed, meaning creators released the content under multiple licenses to allow reusers to choose one of the multiple licenses, which best suits their needs. As a result files could end up with several license templates and in order to clarify what each template is for over the years Commons community developed many ways of combining them. This page is trying to capture best practices on how to use multi-license files.

Images of 2D objects[edit]

legend
Best
Acceptable
Should not be used for new uploads
Unclear US status
Country of origin license template US license template Digitization license template Combination license template # files notes
{{PD-old-auto}} not specified not specified {{PD-old-auto|deathyear=yyyy}}
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-auto|deathyear=yyyy}} 81,963
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-auto|deathyear=yyyy}} 4,758
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=yyyy}}
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=yyyy}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-auto|PD-US-expired|deathyear=yyyy}}
{{PD-Art-two-auto|deathyear=yyyy}} 		217,143
{{PD-Art}}+{{Cc-by-sa-4.0}}[1] {{Licensed-PD-Art|PD-old-auto-expired|Cc-by-sa-4.0|deathyear=yyyy}}
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=yyyy}} 102,620
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-old-auto-1996|deathyear=yyyy}}
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-auto-1996|deathyear=yyyy}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-auto|PD-US-expired|deathyear=yyyy}} 		1,215
{{PD-Art}}+{{Cc-by-sa-4.0}}[1] {{Licensed-PD-Art|PD-old-auto-1996|Cc-by-sa-4.0|deathyear=yyyy}}
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-auto-1996|deathyear=yyyy}} 11,564
{{PD-old-100}}[2] not specified not specified {{PD-old-100}} 587,447
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
{{PD-Art-100}} 		339,576
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-100}} 23,604
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-old-100-expired}} 3,138,328
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-100-expired}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-100|PD-US-expired}} 		738,582
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-100-expired}} 562,097
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-old-100-1996}} 61,801
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-100-1996}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-100|PD-1996}} 		40
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-100-1996}} 0
{{PD-old-95}}[3] not specified not specified {{PD-old-95}} 986
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-95}} 25
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-95}} 9
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-old-95-expired}} 70,527
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-95-expired}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-95|PD-US-expired}} 		64
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-95-expired}} 7
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-old-95-1996}} 6,683
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-95-1996}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-95|PD-1996}} 		0
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-95-1996}} 0
{{PD-old-80}}[3] not specified not specified {{PD-old-80}} 45,596
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-80}} 22,193
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-80}} 4,816
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-old-80-expired}} 307,127
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-80-expired}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-80|PD-US-expired}} 		17,227
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-80-expired}} 14,112
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-old-80-1996}} 28,707
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-80-1996}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-80|PD-1996}} 		0
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-80-1996}} 4
{{PD-old-75}}[3] not specified not specified {{PD-old-75}} 3,321
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-75}} 306
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-75}} 27
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-old-75-expired}} 63,634
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-75-expired}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-75|PD-US-expired}} 		667
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-75-expired}} 5,146
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-old-75-1996}} 7,171
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-75-1996}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-75|PD-1996}} 		0
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-75-1996}} 0
{{PD-old-70}}[4] not specified not specified {{PD-old-70}} 323,575
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-70}} 261,694
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-70}} 240,369
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-old-70-expired}} 1,279,345
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-70-expired}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-70|PD-US-expired}} 		77,410
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-70-expired}} 321,260
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-old-70-1996}} 2,721
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-70-1996}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-70|PD-1996}} 		1,183
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-70-1996}} 12
{{PD-old-60}}[3] not specified {{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-60}} 0
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-60}} 0
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-old-60-expired}} 5,350
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-60-expired}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-60|PD-US-expired}} 		120
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-60-expired}} 10
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-old-60-1996}} 58
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-60-1996}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-60|PD-1996}} 		0
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-60-1996}} 0
{{PD-old-50}}[3] not specified not specified {{PD-old-50}} 938
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-50}} 30
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-50}} 7
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-old-50-expired}} 1,914
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-50-expired}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-50|PD-US-expired}} 		31
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-50-expired}} 25
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-old-50-1996}} 406
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-old-50-1996}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-old-50|PD-1996}} 		39
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-old-50-1996}} 196
{{PD-anon-70-EU}} or
{{PD-anon-70}}[5] 		not specified not specified {{PD-anon-70-EU}} or {{PD-anon-70}} 3,596 +

7,713

{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-anon-70-EU}} 0
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-anon-70-EU}} 0
{{PD-US-expired}} not specified {{PD-anon-expired}} 162,639
{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art|PD-anon-expired}} 1,217
{{PD-scan}} {{PD-scan|PD-anon-expired}} 2,118
{{PD-1996}} not specified {{PD-anon-auto-1996|publication=XXXX}}
{{PD-two|PD-anon-70-EU|PD-1996}} 		49 +

311 + 10,204

{{PD-Art}} {{PD-Art-two|PD-anon-70|PD-1996}}
{{PD-Art-two|PD-anon-70-EU|PD-1996}} 		??
{{PD-scan}} ?? ??

Images of 3D objects[edit]

Sculptures require copyright tags for both sculptor and the photographer.

See Also[edit]

Art related license tags:


References[edit]

  1. ↑ a b {{Cc-by-sa-4.0}} can be replaced with any other user license.
  2. ↑ Simpler than {{PD-old-auto}} and can be used for ancient artists with unknown date of death
  3. ↑ a b c d e Use {{PD-old-auto}} template instead
  4. ↑ In most cases {{PD-old-auto}} template should be used instead. However it is OK to use in case of works of known authors with unknown year of death if the works were created more than 150 years ago (assuming that most authors did not live more than 80 years since the day of the work creation).
  5. ↑ See Commons:Anonymous works

See Also[edit]

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