This image shows a flag, a coat of arms, a seal or some other official insignia. The use of such symbols is restricted in many countries. These restrictions are independent of the copyright status.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
This image was first published in South Africa and is in the public domain because it is an image of or from:
Official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or in official translations of such texts.
Political speeches or speeches delivered in the course of legal proceedings. (However, the author of speeches has the exclusive right to create a collection of such speeches.)
News of the day that are mere items of press information.
According to the Copyright Act, 1978 (as amended), § 12 (8) (a), "No copyright shall subsist in official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or in official translations of such texts; or in speeches of a political nature or in speeches delivered in the course of legal proceedings, or in news of the day that are mere items of press information."
South Africa
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
Public domain in U.S.
This work is in the public domain in the U.S. because it is an edict of a government, local or foreign. See § 313.6(C)(2) of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, 3rd ed. 2014 (Compendium (Third)). Such documents include "legislative enactments, judicial decisions, administrative rulings, public ordinances, or similar types of official legal materials."
These do not include works first published by the United Nations or any of its specialized agencies, or by the Organization of American States. See Compendium (Third) § 313.6(C)(2) and 17 U.S.C. § 104(b)(5).
A non-American governmental edict may still be copyrighted outside the U.S. Similarly, the above U.S. Copyright Office Practice does not prevent U.S. states or localities from holding copyright abroad, depending on foreign copyright laws and regulations.
