Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Russia

Copyright rules: the Russian Federation Shortcut: COM:Russia
Durations
Standard	Life + 70(74) years
Anonymous	Publish + 70 years
Posthumous	Publish + 70(74) years
Other
Terms run to year end	yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-old-auto}} {{PD-RusEmpire}} {{PD-Russia-expired}} {{PD-Russia-1996}}
Treaties
Berne convention	13 March 1995
Univ. Copyright Convention	27 May 1973
WTO member	22 August 2012
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	9 February 2009
*‌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 the Russian Federation relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Russia must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both the Russian Federation 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 Russia, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

The Russian Federation has been a member of the Berne Convention since 13 March 1995, the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 5 February 2009 and the World Trade Organization since 22 August 2012.

Since January 1, 2008, intellectual property rights are regulated by Part IV of the Civil Code and the Implementation act for Part IV of the Civil Code. This new law replaced all previous IP laws in Russia. The same law applies to the works from the former Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR, 1917-1991, the main republic of the Soviet Union, 1922-1991), because the Russian Federation is the direct legal successor of the RSFSR since 1991 (when the RSFSR was renamed to the Russian Federation). Copyrights of works originating from other 14 former Soviet republics may be claimed by the corresponding post-Soviet states.

Durations

According to article 1256 of Book IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation No. 230-FZ of December 18, 2006, a work is non-copyrighted in Russia if it was published on territory of the Russian Empire (Russian Republic) except for territories of the Grand Duchy of Finland and Congress Poland before 7 November 1917 and was not re-published for 30 days following initial publications on the territory of Soviet Russia or any other states.

According to article 1281 of Book IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation No. 230-FZ of December 18, 2006 and articles 5 and 6 of Law No. 231-FZ of the Russian Federation of December 18, 2006 (the Implementation Act for Book IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), a work is in the public domain in Russia if:

• The author died:
  • (a) before January 1, 1950 or
  • (b) between January 1, 1950 and January 1, 1954, did not work during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) and did not participate in it.
• The work was originally published anonymously or under a pseudonym:
  • (a) before January 1, 1943 and the name of the author did not become known during 50 years after publication, counted from January 1 of the year following the year of publication, or
  • (b) between January 1, 1943 and January 1, 1954, and the name of the author did not become known during 70 years after publication, counted from January 1 of the year following the year of publication.
• The work is a film (a video fragment or a single shot from it):
  • (a) which was first shown before January 1, 1943 or
  • (b) which was created by legal entity between January 1, 1929 and January 1, 1954, provided that it was first shown in the stated period or was not shown until August 3, 1993.
• The work is an information report (including photo report), which was created by an employee of TASS, ROSTA, or KarelfinTAG as part of that person’s official duties between July 10, 1925 and January 1, 1954, provided that it was first released in the stated period or was not released until August 3, 1993.

If the author was subjected to repression and rehabilitated posthumously, countdown of copyright protection is to begin not from the death date, but from the rehabilitation date. If the work was first published posthumously, the copyright term is counted from the date of that first publication, unless the author was later rehabilitated, in which case it runs again from that later rehabilitation date.

Before 2008 Russian copyright legislation was based on the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (1993) and copyright term was 50(54) years. In 2004 copyright term was extended to 70(74) years non-retroactively, and then in 2008 70(74) years term became retroactive (if 50 years term had not been expired till January 1, 1993).

Copyright tags

Shortcut

• COM:TAG Russia

See also: Commons:Copyright tags

PD tags

See also: PD Russia license tags

Since January 1, 2008, intellectual property rights are regulated by Russian law 230-FL of 2006: Part IV of the Civil Code, together with the Russian law 231-FL of 2006: Implementation act for Part IV of the Civil Code. This new law replaced all previous IP laws in Russia.

• In general, {{PD-Russia}} applies.
• {{PD-RusEmpire}} for works that was published on territory of the Russian Empire (Russian Republic) except for territories of the Grand Duchy of Finland and Congress Poland before 7 November 1917 and wasn't re-published for 30 days following initial publications on the territory of the Soviet Russia or any other states.
• {{PD-Russia-1996}} - This work is in the public domain both in Russia and USA because:
  • The author died before January 1, 1942.
  • The author died between January 1, 1942 and January 1, 1946, did not work during the Great Patriotic War (Eastern Front of World War II) and did not participate in it.
  • The work was originally published anonymously or under a pseudonym before January 1, 1943 and the name of the author did not become known during 50 years after publication.
  • The work was originally published anonymously or under a pseudonym between January 1, 1943 and January 1, 1946, and the name of the author did not become known during 70 years after publication.
  • The work is non-amateur cinema or television film (or shot, or fragment from it), which was first shown between January 1, 1929 and January 1, 1946.
• {{PD-RU-exempt}} for state symbols and signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs) of Russian Federation.
• {{PD-Brockhaus&Efron}} – for images from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890–1907).

For works first published not only in the RSFSR but in one of the other SSRs too, or simultaneously in various republics of Soviet Union, see the corresponding successor state of the Soviet Union. For instance, for a Soviet work first published in the Ukrainian SSR, see the entry Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Ukraine:Copyright tags. ({{PD-Ukraine}}, in this case.)

Creative Commons tags

• License tags of Russia

Currency

Shortcut

• COM:CUR Russia

See also: Commons:Currency

OK Russian currency is not copyrighted. Monetary items, together with other state symbols, are explicitly excluded from copyright by article 1259(6) of Part IV of the Civil Code of Russia (which covers intellectual property rights). Drafts for such items, however, are copyrighted by their authors. When a public body adopts such a draft and turns it into an official symbol, the resulting official symbol is not copyrighted and may be reproduced without mentioning the original author(s) of the draft. (See article 1264.)

Monetary items were already excluded from copyright in the 1993 legislation, which was in effect until the end of 2007. See article 8 of the 1993 law, as amended in 2004.

Please use {{PD-RU-exempt}} for images of Russian currency.

Freedom of panorama

Shortcut

• COM:FOP Russia

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

• OK for buildings: {{FoP-Russia}}
• OK for works of garden design: {{FoP-Russia}}
•  Not OK for artwork, including sculptures: {{NoFoP-Russia}}

Article 1276 of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states:

• Free Use of Work Permanently Situated in Places Open for Free Attendance
  1. It is allowed without the consent of the author or other right holder and without paying a fee to reproduce and distribute produced copies, to transmit on air or through a cable, to bring to public knowledge works of fine arts or photographic works which are permanently located in a public place, except if the image of the work is the main object of use or the image of a work is used for the purpose of deriving profit.
  2. It is allowed to freely use by way of reproduction and distribution of produced copies, transmission on air or through a cable, bringing to public knowledge in the form of images the works of architecture, town-planning and landscape arts located in a public place or visible from that place.

The FoP exceptions for works of architecture, urban development, and garden and landscape design, which were added under consultation with Wikimedia Russia, have taken effect with the Civil Code amendments as of October 1, 2014.

Concerning non-architectural artwork, there is still a copyright exception for non-commercial use, but non-commercial use only is not allowed on Commons and unfortunately, we don't have sufficient number of court decisions to clarify the situation.

Some court decisions

• An important court decision states that the copying of a showcase photo is not a creation of a 3D-object in 2 dimensions. See discussion at Commons:Форум/Архив/2010#Судебное решение о фотографиях трёхмерных объектов.
• A recent court case (2019–21) regarding a Yekaterinburg sculpture used commercially by a postcard company concluded in the Supreme Court, which overturned the decisions of the lower courts and returned the case to the court of first instance that denied the sculptor's copyright infringement claim. The latter court ruled that the monument was only reproduced in one of the postcards in a set, making it not the main subject of the entire postcard set. In theory, this may mean a collage or montage of a Russian city that shows at most one copyrighted public art is acceptable under this new development in Russian freedom of panorama jurisprudence, as that component is not the main subject of the entire reproduction (a collage or a montage). However, Wikimedia Commons requires that source image of each component of the collage or montage be attributed and existing for licensing verification (no source image must be in the deleted state), thus this new development is still not suitable for Wikimedia Commons. See: Commons:Undeletion requests/Archive/2024-10#File:Дмитров1.jpg.

More on Russian freedom of panorama

Before January 1 2008, freedom of panorama was regulated by the similar (but not the same) article 21 of Copyright Law of Russia.

Copyright protection expires 70 years after the death of the original author (who is defined as the creator or designer) here. On January 1st of the following year (ie. January 1 of the 71st Year), freely licensed images of the author's 3D works such as sculptures, or monuments are now free and can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. The lack of Freedom of Panorama is no longer relevant here for states with no formal FOP since the author's works are now copyright free."

It is not clear if copyrighted buildings in Crimea are subject to the Russian or the more restrictive Ukrainian law. Following the Commons precautionary principle, images of knowingly unfree Crimean buildings should not be uploaded to Commons. See Commons:Village_pump/Copyright/Archive/2014/09#Buildings_in_Crimea. Nevertheless, photographic work created in Crimea before February 19, 1954 is the subject of the Russian law.

Stamps

See also: Commons:Stamps

use {{PD-RU-exempt|stamps}}

Pursuant to Article 1259.6 of Part IV of the Civil Code (No. 230-FZ) of the Russian Federation dated 8 December 2006, official symbols and signs (flags, emblems, orders, banknotes, and the like), as well as symbols and signs of municipal formations are not copyrighted. Pursuant to Article 2 of Federal Law No. 176-FZ of the Russian Federation On Postal Service dated July 17, 1999, official signs of postage include "postage stamps and other signs put on mail that give evidence that postage has been paid".

Article 1.1 of Official Postage Signs and Special Postmarks Regulations, put into force on 26 May 1994 by Order 115 of the Ministry of Communication of the Russian Federation, defines the official postage signs concretely and labels postage stamps, souvenir and miniature sheets, stamped envelopes, and postal stationery cards as the postage signs. Even works still under copyright can be used by the Russian post, without altering the copyright status of the work used.

A copyrighted painting can be used on an envelope or such and {{PD-RU-exempt}} will apply, without turning the painting into a Public Domain work. Prerequisite is that the Russian post acquired permission from the copyright-holder. We can safely assume that the Russian post has come to an agreement with the copyright-holder of such work.

Tuva stamps

use {{PD-RU-exempt}}.

From 1921 to 1944, Tuva constituted a sovereign, independent nation under the name of Tannu Tuva, officially, the Tuvan People's Republic, or the People's Republic of Tannu Tuva. The independence of Tannu Tuva, however, was recognized only by its neighbors: the Soviet Union and Mongolia. Since 1944 Tuva has been part of the Russian Federation.

Threshold of originality

Shortcut

• COM:TOO Russia

See also: Commons:Threshold of originality

Automatic camera works

use {{PD-RU-exempt-autocam}}

OK A photowork or a videowork made by automatic camera (Russian: автоматическая камера, not to be confused with automated camera: автоматизированная камера) is not the subject of copyright, because such work is made by technical tool without creative human activity. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Part 80 of Session Resolution No. 10 of April 23, 2019 on Application of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

Examples

• Any photowork or videowork made by automatic camera for administrative violation record (for example, by automatic camera for driving offense record). The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Part 80 of Session Resolution No. 10 of April 23, 2019 on Application of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

Simple creative works

 Not OK Simple result of creative work (creative human activity) is copyrightable. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Part 80 of Session Resolution No. 10 of April 23, 2019 on Application of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

Examples

• Simple black square as geometric shape is uncopyrightable as itself. However Black Square by Kazimir Malevich was copyrightable because this painting was the result of creative work in recognized art style - suprematism, and it is in Public Domain because of copyright term expiry, not because of result simplicity.

Logos

 In doubt There is no clear precedent in Russian courts for the threshold of originality for simple logos.

Signatures

Shortcut

• COM:SIG Russia

See also: Commons:When to use the PD-signature tag

OK. Signature used for expression of will, for identification, or in similar cases is a legal or technical tool, it is not work of science, literature, or art, so it is not copyrightable.
 Depend on case. Signature used for other purposes can be protected depending on its creativity.

See also

• Russia
• Category:License tags of Russia
• Category:Russian FOP cases
• Category:Stamps of Russia
• Category:Stamps of Tuva
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Soviet Union

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