Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Iraq

Copyright rules: Iraq Shortcut: COM:IRAQ
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Collective	Publish + 50 years
Applied art	Publish + 50 years
Other
Common licence tags	{{PD-Iraq}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	IRQ
Treaties
URAA restoration date‌*	none
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Iraq relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Iraq must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Iraq and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Iraq, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

Iraq was long part of the Ottoman empire, then during World War I came under British control. It gained nominal independence in 1932 as the Kingdom of Iraq, and became a republic after a coup in 1958.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 3 of 1971 on Copyright as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Iraq. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.This law was amended on 1 May 2004 by Order No. 83, Amendment to the Copyright Law.

Since 2013, Kurdistan Region of Iraq had its own copyright law. Refer to COM:IRAQI KURDISTAN for relevant information.

General rules

Under the Copyright Law No.3 of 1971,

• Copyright expired 25 years after the death of the author, provided that the period of protection shall not be less than 50 years from the date of publication of the work.^{[3/1971 Art. 20]}
• Copyright in photographic and cinematographic works which only give automatic transfer of landscapes expired 5 years from the date of the first publication of the work.^{[3/1971 Art. 20]}
• The duration of the joint works was calculated from the date of death of the last surviving participant.^{[3/1971 Art. 20]}
• If the right holder was a public or private legal person, the rights expired 30 years from the date of first publication.^{[3/1971 Art. 20]}
• There was no protection for anonymous or pseudonymous works unless the author or his heirs revealed his identity.^{[3/1971 Art. 21]}
• The term of protection for works published for the first time after the death of the author was calculated from the date of his death.^{[3/1971 Art. 22]}

In 2004, the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) non-retroactively amended the law by Order No. 83 so that,

• The author’s economic rights provided are protected throughout the lifetime of the author and for 50 years from the date of his death.^{[83/2004 Art. 20 (1)]}
• The economic rights relating to works of joint authorship are protected throughout the lives of all co-authors and for 50 years from the death of the last survivor.^{[83/2004 Art. 20 (2)]}
• For collective works other than works of applied arts,
  • Where the copyright holder is a legal entity, the economic rights are protected for 50 years from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes first.^{[83/2004 Art. 20 (3)]}
  • Where the copyright holder is a natural person, the protection period shall be calculated for their life plus 50 years.^{[83/2004 Art. 20 (3)]}
• The economic rights relating to a work published for the first time after the death of the author expire after 50 years from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes first.^{[83/2004 Art. 20 (3)]}
• The economic rights relating to a work published anonymously or under pseudonym shall be protected for a period of 50 years, from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes first.^{[83/2004 Art. 20 (4)]}
• The economic rights of the author of a work of applied art expire after a period of 50 years from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes first.^{[83/2004 Art. 20 (5)]}
• The provisions of the 2004 Law apply to works existing at the time it took effect, provided the term of protection for those works had not yet fallen into the public domain.^{[83/2004 Art. 49a]}

Copyright treaties

Per U.S. Circ. 38a, the following countries are not participants in the Berne Convention or Universal Copyright Convention and there is no presidential proclamation restoring U.S. copyright protection to works of these countries on the basis of reciprocal treatment of the works of U.S. nationals or domiciliaries: East Timor, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Marshall Islands, Palau, Somalia, Somaliland, and South Sudan. As such, works published by citizens of these countries in these countries are usually not subject to copyright protection outside of these countries. Hence, such works may be in the public domain in most other countries worldwide. However: Works published in these countries by citizens or permanent residents of other countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention or any other treaty on copyright will still be protected in their home country and internationally as well as locally by local copyright law (if it exists). Similarly, works published outside of these countries within 30 days of publication within these countries will also usually be subject to protection in the foreign country of publication. When works are subject to copyright outside of these countries, the term of such copyright protection may exceed the term of copyright inside them. Unpublished works from these countries may be fully copyrighted. A work from one of these countries may become copyrighted in the United States under the URAA if the work's home country enters a copyright treaty or agreement with the United States and the work is still under copyright in its home country. Iraq has enacted Law No. 3 of 1971 on Copyright (Arabic) which came into force on 21 January 1971. Iraq has enacted Regulation No. 10 of 1985 on the National Committee for the Protection of Copyright (Arabic) which came into force on 2 September 1985. Iraq has enacted Order No. 83, Amendment to the Copyright Law (Arabic) (unofficial English (WIPO) translation) which came into force on 1 May 2004.

Not protected

Shortcut

• COM:NOP Iraq

See also: Commons:Unprotected works

Under the 1971 law the following are not protected:^{[3/1971 Art. 6]}

1. Anthologies of poetry, prose, music and other collections, without prejudice to the rights of the author of each work.
2. Collections of works that have fallen into the public domain.
3. Collections of official documents such as texts of laws, regulations, international agreements, judicial rulings, and other official documents.

The aforementioned group enjoys protection if it is distinguished due to innovation, arrangement, or any other personal effort that deserves protection.

Copyright tags

Shortcut

• COM:TAG Iraq

See also: Commons:Copyright tags

• {{PD-Iraq}} – photos 50 years after publication, starting from the publication date.

Currency

Shortcut

• COM:CUR Iraq

See also: Commons:Currency

OK for currency issued before 1974, per this deletion discussion. Use {{PD-Iraq}}.

 Not OK for currency issued after 1974. Banknotes and coins are not covered by any known exception from copyright protection under Iraqi law. The website of the Central Bank of Iraq, which included depictions of Iraqi coins and banknotes, had the following footer: "Copyright © 2011. Central Bank of Iraq. All rights reserved. Please read important disclaimer." The disclaimer stated: "All texts, data and information on this site are owned by the CBI. Digitized photographs, graphics, and logos contained are the property of the CBI, and may not be used without permission."

Freedom of panorama

Shortcut

• COM:FOP Iraq

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

 Not OK: Under the 2004 revision to Iraq's Copyright Law No. 3,

• The protection shall include the works whose method of expression is in writing, sound, drawing, painting or movement, and in particular the following: ... Works entered under the arts of drawing and painting with lines and colors, engraving, sculpture and architecture.^{[83/2004 Art. 2(4)]}
• Without the written permission of the author or his/her successors, no person shall do any of the following acts: ... Reproduce a work in any manner or form, whether transitory or permanent, including onto photographic (including cinematographic) film or onto a digital or electronic storage medium.^{[83/2004 Art. 8(1)]}

Stamps

See also: Commons:Stamps

: For stamps published more than 50 years ago (before 1^st of January 1974) use {{PD-Iraq}}.

See also

• Iraq
• Category:Iraqi FOP cases
• Category:Stamps of Iraq
• Commons:Deletion requests/Iraqi currency

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer