Template talk:PD-US-patent

Looking for the right copyright tag?

See Wikipedia:Image copyright tags for a full list of tags available. The following are applicable within the United States. The following copyright tags are among those applicable to photographs and graphic images originating from the United States of America and created by people other than the uploader. Please see the text of each tag for specific disclaimers.

General Public Domain tags

• {{PD-US}}—for copyright-expired works in the U.S. (mainly those published before 1929). Also for works not eligible for copyright under American law.
• {{PD-Pre1978}} — for works first published in the United States prior to 1978 without explicit notice of "copyright, year, owner" or "©" attached.
• {{PD-art-US}}—for images of two-dimensional (flat) works of art published in the United States prior to 1929.
• {{PD-US-expired-abroad}} — for non-US works first published outside the USA prior to 1929 (certain exceptions may apply in 9th District, US Circuit Court)
• {{PD currency}} / {{PD-USGov}} — for images of the official currency of the United States. These are in the public domain. (See also {{Non-free currency}} and {{ir-Money}}.)
• {{PD-US-patent}} — for text and images of United States patents, which are in general are not copyrighted.[1] 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.

American Non-Free Files tags

For a complete set of tags for non-free images, see Wikipedia:File copyright tags/Non-free.

• {{Non-free historic image}} — for non-free images of historically significant deceased individuals. (Note: Images using this tag must be irreplaceable with a copyright-free image and accompanied by a valid fair use rationale.)
• {{Non-free USGov-USPS stamp}} — for images of U.S. stamps issued in 1978 or later.

State Government Public Domain tags

• {{PD-CAGov}} - for works created by the State of California that are ineligible for copyright.
• {{PD-FLGov}} – for works created by the State of Florida that are ineligible for copyright.

U.S. Federal Government tags

General Federal Government copyright tag

• {{PD-USGov}} — for images produced by an employee of the United States government in the performance of his or her duties which do not fit under the following specialized tags:

Specialized Federal Government copyright tags

• {{PD-USGov-Congress}}—Congress
• Department of Homeland Security
  • {{PD-USGov-DHS-CG}}—Coast Guard
• Department of Commerce
  • {{PD-USGov-DOC-Census}}—U.S. Census Bureau
  • {{PD-USGov-DOC-NOAA}}—National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Department of Defense—use {{PD-USGov-Military}}
• {{PD-USGov-DOE}}—Department of Energy (NOTE: Some operating units, including some DOE national labs, have separate, non-free copyright policies. See the notice on the template talk page before using.)
• {{PD-USGov-DOJ}}—Department of Justice
• {{PD-USGov-DOT}}—Department of Transportation
• {{PD-USGov-Treasury}}—Department of the Treasury
• {{PD-USGov-EPA}}—Environmental Protection Agency
• {{PD-USGov-FBI}}—Federal Bureau of Investigation
• {{PD-USGov-GSA}}—General Services Administration
• Department of Health and Human Services
  • {{PD-USGov-HHS-CDC}}—Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • {{PD-USGov-HHS-NIH}}—National Institutes of Health
• Department of the Interior
  • {{PD-USGov-Interior-NPS}}—U.S. National Park Service
  • {{PD-USGov-Interior-USGS}}—U.S. Geological Survey
• {{PD-USGov-NASA}}—for public domain records from NASA as described on Category:NASA images.
• {{PD-USGov-State}}—State Department
• {{PD-USGov-SI}}—Smithsonian Institution
• {{PD-USGov-SCOTUS}}—Supreme Court

Collections of US government agencies

• {{LOC-image}}—Library of Congress collections (NOTE: This is not a license tag, but a source tag. It must be accompanied by an appropriate license tag.)
  • {{PD-Bain}} — Public domain image from the Library of Congress's George Grantham Bain collection
  • {{PD-Brady-Handy}} — Public domain image from the Library of Congress's Brady-Handy collection
  • {{PD-Harris-Ewing}} — Public domain image from the Library of Congress's Harris & Ewing collection
  • {{PD-Highsmith}} — Public domain image from the Library of Congress's Carol M. Highsmith collection
• {{NARA-image}}—National Archives and Records Administration collections (NOTE: This is not a license tag, but a source tag. It must be accompanied by an appropriate license tag.)

U.S. Military tags

General U.S. Military copyright tag

• {{PD-USGov-Military}} — for images produced by an employee of the United States Armed Forces in the performance of his or her duties which do not fit under the following specialized tags:

Specialized U.S. Military copyright tags

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Air Force}}—U.S. Air Force works

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Army}}—U.S. Army works
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-Army-USACMH}}—U.S. Army Center for Military History
  • {{PD-USGov-Military-Army-USAIOH}}—U.S. Army Institute Of Heraldry

• {{PD-USGov-Military-Award}}—for military medals
• {{PD-USGov-Military-Badge}}—U.S. military badges and insignia
• See also general U.S. military from the Defense Visual Information Center w/parameters
• {{PD-USGov-Military-Navy}}—U.S. Navy works

Copyright

To quote:

"Patents are published into the public domain as part of the terms of granting the patent to the inventor. As such, they are not subject to copyright restrictions. The inventors' right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States for a limited time is not compromised by the publication of the description of the invention. In other words, the fact that a patent's description is in the public domain does not give you permission to manufacture or use the invention without permission from the inventor during the active life of the patent." — USPTO.

— Matt Crypto 11:13, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

U.S. patent law has two things to say about copyright and patent illustrations.

1. Applications are specifically allowed to claim copyright in patent drawings.
2. If copyright is claimed, the following permission must also be given:

"A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to (copyright or mask work) protection. The (copyright or mask work) owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any­one of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all (copyright or mask work) rights whatsoever." [2]

In other words, verbatim copies of patent illustrations are fine, derivatives would be more questionable. iMeowbot~Mw 03:41, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Now we need another template, or a parameter, to indicate lack of copyright verified.

The only template we have for US patents is this one. A bot (or bot-like editor) has been placing this template on many images previously considered publications of the U.S. Government and uncopyrightable. This may make them subject to deletion by some later bot (or bot-like editor). We need a way to specify that the patent has been checked and found to be clear of copyright language. --John Nagle (talk) 04:21, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Coincidentally, I just copied {{PD-US-patent-no notice}} from Commons for that very reason before checking this talk page for any relevant discussion. Anomie⚔ 13:06, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

That Template is absolutely terrible and opens the door for uninformed abuse. Really it's not even a valid concept. All published works are copyright the moment they are published (even public domain works!). Public domain indicates the reproduction rights. Including the work in a Patent does not void the copyright. Please see the quote at the top of this discussion page as it is clear and concise in it's wording. BcRIPster (talk) 20:27, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

BcRIPster, I do not believe that you are correct. Please see c:COM:Village pump/Copyright#Reproductions_of_patent_text_and_illustrations —Catsquisher (talk) 19:43, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Note on discrepancy with Commons policy

Commons policy is to delete images from US patents published after March 1, 1989. See c:Commons:Deletion requests/Template:PD-US-patent-no notice, c:Template talk:PD-US-patent, and c:Template talk:PD-US-patent-no notice and examples 1, 2, 3, 4 (though with exceptions 1). Meanwhile, policy here is generally to treat such images as public domain (see the text of this template and Template:PD-US-patent-no notice and discussions 1, 2) though with exceptions (1).

I suggest that, as long as the discrepancy exists, images from patents published after March 1, 1989 should be tagged {{Do not move to Commons}}. Wikiacc (¶) 01:02, 9 June 2020 (UTC)