Template talk:Non-free USGov-USPS stamp

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

Clarify fair use

Not sure where to ask this question, but every stamp in Category:USPS large-letter greetings stamps is used to illustrate the subject of the stamp not the stamp itself.

Are the bullet points:

• to illustrate the stamp in question

AND

• on the English-language Wikipedia

Or is it:

• to illustrate the stamp in question

OR

• on the English-language Wikipedia

Many of the copyrighted stamps that use this template are using the stamps to illustrate things appearing in the stamp's design, not the stamp itself despite the words on the template, is this proper usage simply because it is on the English-language Wikipedia? Thanks, --Dual Freq 13:59, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Policy

The text of this template suggests that USPS images are easier to justify as fair use than other images, but policy says they have to pass the same NFCC criteria as everything else.

Either text or policy should change. Example DRV where this is relevant: Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2009 June 26. — Charles Stewart (talk) 14:43, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Why 1978?

This template says "This image is of a United States postage stamp produced in 1978 or later." Why 1978? I know that the 1976 Copyright Act went into effect in 1978, but that seems to be a coincidence. If the idea is that stamps that were produced when the Post Office was part of the U.S. Government are PD under section 105, the transition from being a branch of the U.S. GOvernment to being a separate corporation occurred with the Postal Reorganization Act in 1970, not 1978.

So why 1978? TJRC (talk) 01:29, 8 June 2010 (UTC)

U.S. Stamps published prior to the reoranganization of the USPS (Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, effective July 1, 1971) are public domain as U.S. Government works. It was intended that the USPS would be able to hold copyright in stamps from this point forward, but this wasn't clarified until the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 (effective January 1, 1978). See [2]. But it turns out this is all irrelevant, as any work published before January 1, 1978 is public domain if it was published without copyright notice. Since all U.S. stamps published from July 1, 1971 to January 1, 1978 were published without a copyright notice on them, they're all public domain.

In theory some U.S. stamps published from 1978 to 1 March 1989 might also be public domain, as works published in this period without notice and without subsequent registration within 5 years are public domain. However, I haven't checked to see if the USPS registered the copyright for its stamps in this period (but I would be very surprised to learn that they had not). —RP88 ^(talk) 18:52, 15 June 2010 (UTC)