Wikisource:Licensing form

User interface
The user interface might look something like the example path below, using AJAX to dynamically generate the appropriate questions based on the previous answers.


 * 1) Where was the work published?
 * In the United States, or in the US within 30 days of publication elsewhere.
 * Elsewhere (but not in the US):
 * 1) Who was the author?
 * Don't know
 * US citizen
 * US corporation
 * US federal government
 * non-US citizen
 * 1) What was the year of first publication in the above?
 * 2) Does a copyright notice (text like "&copy; name") appear anywhere in the original edition?
 * Yes.
 * No.
 * I don't know.
 * No.
 * I don't know.

Result: The text is in the public domain in the United States, because the Copyright Act of 1909 in force in 1971 required that a copyright notice appear on distributed copies. (Wikisource template: .)

Copyright laws
This is a comprehensive tree of questions the script will ask to determine a work's status, divided by where it was published. For the sake of simplicity, the following abbreviations are used:

Canada
Canadian copyright and moral rights are automatic for any work created by a citizen or resident of Canada, a country with which it has a copyright treaty, or a country to which the Minister has extended protection by notice in the Canada Gazette. Copyright extends until the end of the calendar year (so, for example, a 50-year copyright might actually last 50 years and 11 months).

The general rule is that copyright extends fifty years after the death of the author, but numerous exceptions exist. If there is more than one author, the last-surviving author is used. Moral rights can be waived, but cannot transferred and are not automatically waived when copyright is transferred or waived.


 * 1) Works by known living authors
 * 2) Photographs
 * 3) by an individual author: 50pma.
 * 4) works for hire (copyright held for a corporation)
 * 5) with the individual author as majority voting shareholder: public domain for works by authors who died before  (50pma).
 * 6) with the individual author not a majority voting shareholder: public domain for works created before  (50ysc). If there is an original plate or negative, these are used for the date of creation.
 * 7) Cinematographic works
 * 8) having an original arrangement, acting form or combination of incidents (ie, most home movies): public domain for works published before  (50yspub) if published within 50 years of creation, or created before  (50ysc) otherwise.
 * 9) not having an original arrangement, acting form or combination of incidents (ie, motion pictures): public domain for works published before  (50yspub).
 * 10) Sound recordings: public domain for works fixed before  (50 years after fixation).
 * 11) Performer's performance (ie, theatre):
 * 12) fixed: public domain for works first fixed before  (50 years from fixation).
 * 13) not fixed: public domain for works first performed before  (50 years from performance).
 * 14) Communications signals: public domain for signals first broadcast before  (50 years from broadcast).
 * 15) Government works
 * 16) published: public domain for works published before  (50yspub).
 * 17) not published: copyrighted perpetually.
 * 18) Works by unknown living authors: public domain for works published before  (50yspub) or created before  (75ysc), whichever is shorter.
 * 19) Works published posthumously
 * 20) created before 25 July 1997
 * 21) published before 25 July 1997: public domain for works published before  (50yspub).
 * 22) published after 25 July 1997: public domain.
 * 23) created after 25 July 1997: public domain for authors who died before  (50pma).

United States

 * See librarycopyright.net

Unpublished works
These may still be copyrighted, but certification from the Copyright Office that it has no record to indicate whether the person is living or died less than 70 years before is a complete defense to any action for infringement. This criteria cannot be used without such certification.
 * 1) anonymous or pseudonymous: public domain for works created before  (120ysc).
 * 2) by authors of unknown death date: likely public domain for works created before  (120ysc).
 * 1) made for hire (copyright owned by a corporation): public domain for works created before  (120ysc).
 * 2) by an individual author: public domain for authors who died before  (70pma).
 * 3) created before 1978 and later published
 * 4) 1978–2002 (inclusive): copyrighted until 1 January 2048 (70pma or until 31 December 2047, whichever is later).
 * 5) 2003+: public domain for authors who died before  (70pma).

Published works
For more information determining renewal status, see "How Can I Tell Whether a Copyright Was Renewed?" (The Online Books Page). US formalities include copyright notice, registration and renewal, publication, the deposit of two copies of the work to the Library of Congress within three months of publication, and the manufacture of the work in the US.
 * 1) Legally published in the United States (including works published in the US within 30 days of foreign publication )
 * 2) before 1923: public domain.
 * 3) 1923–1963
 * 4) with copyright notice (ie, "Copyright John Doe 1935")
 * 5) copyright not renewed: public domain.
 * 1) copyright renewed: copyrighted until - (95yspub).
 * 2) without notice: public domain.
 * 3) 1964–1977
 * 4) with notice: copyrighted until - (95yspub).
 * 5) without notice: public domain.
 * 6) 1978–1 March 1989
 * 7) with notice
 * 8) individual author: public domain for works published before  (70pma).
 * 9) made for hire
 * 10) created before : public domain (120ysc).
 * 11) created after : copyrighted until - (95yspub).
 * 12) without notice
 * 13) without subsequent registration: public domain.
 * 14) with subsequent registration
 * 15) individual author: public domain for works published before  (70pma).
 * 16) made for hire
 * 17) created before : public domain (120ysc).
 * 18) created after : copyrighted until  (95yspub).
 * 19) with notice
 * 20) without copyright renewal: public domain.
 * 21) with copyright renewal: copyrighted until - (95yspub).
 * 22) after 1 March 1989
 * 23) individual author: copyrighted until - (70pma).
 * 24) made for hire: copyrighted until - (95yspub) or - (120ysc), whichever is shorter.
 * 25) Legally published outside the United States (excluding works published in the US within 30 days of foreign publication )
 * 26) before 1 July 1909: public domain.
 * 27) 1 July 1909–1922
 * 28) in compliance with US formalities: public domain.
 * 1) in non-compliance with US formalities: see URAA-restored copyright.
 * 2) 1923–1977
 * 3) with notice and compliance with US formalities, and copyright in its home country as of 1 January 1996: copyrighted until - (95yspub).
 * 4) in non-compliance with US formalities
 * 5) in the public domain in its home country as of 1 January 1996: public domain.
 * 6) copyrighted in its home country as of 1 January 1996: see URAA-restored copyright.
 * 7) after 1 January 1978
 * 8) in the public domain in its home country as of 1 January 1996: public domain.
 * 9) copyright in its home country as of 1 January 1996
 * 10) individual authors: public domain for authors who died before  (70pma).
 * 11) made for hire: copyrighted until - (95yspub) or - (120ysc).

URAA-restored copyright
This section provides additional information for certain cases above; if it is relevant, it will be linked from the tree above.

The Uruguay Round Agreements Act retroactively restores copyright for any work meeting all of the following criteria on 01 January 1996:
 * 1) When the work was created, at least one author (or rightholder of a sound recording) was a citizen or inhabitant of an eligible country;
 * 2) If published, it was first published in an eligible country and not published in the US within 30 days of that publication.
 * 3) The work was not in the public domain in its source country due to expiry of protection;
 * 4) The work was in the US public domain because (one of):
 * 5) * it did not comply with any US formalities (including registration, renewal, et cetera);
 * 6) * the work is a sound recording fixed before 15 February 1972;
 * 7) * the work lacked national eligibility in the United States.

The copyright terms for eligible works are restored as such, depending on the year of publication:
 * 1) before 1923: public domain.
 * 2) 1923–01 January 1978: copyrighted for 95 years from the year of first publication. This also applies to sound recordings, even though they were not subject to copyright law before 1972.
 * 3) after 01 January 1978: copyrighted for 70 years after the author's death.