Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Ethiopia

Copyright rules: Ethiopia Shortcut: COM:ETHIOPIA
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Photograph	Creation + 25 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Audiovisual	Create/publish + 5 years
Collective	Create/publish + 5 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	No
Common licence tags	{{PD-Ethiopia}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	ETH
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 1926 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Ethiopia relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Ethiopia must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Ethiopia 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 Ethiopia, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

During the late 19th-century Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia was one of two nations to retain its sovereignty from long-term colonialism by a European colonial power, although it was occupied by Italy between 1936 and 1941.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Protection Proclamation No. 410/2004 as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Ethiopia. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. The law was amended in some aspects by the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Protection (Amendment) Proclamation No. 872/2014.

Applicability

"Work" means a production in the literary, scientific and Artistic fields. It includes in particular: a) books, booklets, articles in reviews and newspaper, computer programs; b) speeches, lectures, addresses, sermons, and other oral works; c) dramatic, dramatico-musical works, pantomimes, choreographic works, and other works created for stage production; d) musical compositions; e) audiovisual works; f) works of architecture; g) works of drawing, painting, sculpture, engraving, lithography, tapestry, and other works of fine arts; h) photographic works; i) illustrations, maps, plans, sketches, and three dimensional works related to geography, topography, architecture or science.^{[410/2004 Article 2(30)]}

The following are also protected as works: a) translation, adaptations, arrangements and other transformations or modifications of works, b) collection of works such as encyclopedia or anthologies or databases whether in machine readable or other form provided that such collections are original by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents.^{[410/2004 Article 4]} The author of a work shall be entitled to protection for his work without any formality where it is original and fixed. Photographic works, in addition to the above, shall be protected where they a) form part of a collection or are published in a book or b) bear the name and address of the author or his agent.^{[410/2004 Article 6]}

General rules

Under the Proclamation No. 410/2004 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights Protection (Federal Negarit Gazeta):

• Economic rights shall belong to the author during his lifetime and to the heirs or legatees for 50 years from the date of death of the author.^{[410/2004 Article 20/1]}
• In case of a work of joint authorship, the term of 50 years shall commence from the death of the last surviving author.^{[410/2004 Article 20/2]}
• The term of 50 years of a posthumous work shall commence to run from the date of publication of the work.^{[410/2004 Article 20/3]}
• Where the work is a work of collective work, other than an audiovisual work, the economic rights shall be protected for 50 years from the date on which the work was either made or first made available to the public, or first published, whichever date is the latest.^{[410/2004 Article 20/4]}
• Where the work is a work published anonymously or under a pseudonym, the economic rights shall be protected for 50 years from the date on which the work was either made or first made available to the public or first published, whichever date is the latest.^{[410/2004 Article 20/5]}
• The economic rights relating to a photographic work shall be protected for 25 years from the making of the work.^{[410/2004 Article 20/7]}
• The economic rights relating to an audiovisual work shall be protected for 50 years beginning from the date of making of the work or communication of the work to the public, whichever date is the latest.^{[410/2004 Article 20/8]}
• Any official text of a legislative, administrative or of legal nature, as well as official translations thereof, is not protected.^{[410/2004 Article 5(b)]}

Commissioned works

Shortcut

• COM:COMM Ethiopia

See also: Commons:Commissioned works

Under the Proclamation No. 410/2004 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights Protection (Federal Negarit Gazeta):

• Where the work is a work created by an author employed or Commissioned by a person in the course of his employment or contract of service, unless agreed otherwise, the original owner of the rights shall be the employer or the person who commissioned the work.^{[410/2004 Article 21/4]}

Lack of 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. Ethiopia has enacted a copyright law as published in the Official Gazette (unofficial English (WIPO) translation) which came into force on 19 July 2004.

Copyright tags

Shortcut

• COM:TAG Ethiopia

See also: Commons:Copyright tags

• {{PD-Ethiopia}} – copyright term is generally 50 years after the author's death, or from the making of an audiovisual work or communication of said work to the public, whichever date is the latest. Copyright of a photographic work is 25 years from the making of the work.^{[410/2004 Article 20/1,7,8]}

Currency

Shortcut

• COM:CUR Ethiopia

See also: Commons:Currency

 Not OK. Ethiopia's copyright law excepts "any official text of a legislative, administrative or of legal nature, as well as official translations thereof".^{[410/2004 Article 5(b)]} The term "official text" does not seem to include banknotes. Note that, as of May 2016, Ethiopia is not a party to the Berne Convention, so Ethiopian banknotes are not protected by US copyright law. However, Commons' policy is that works must be free in both the US and the source country.

Freedom of panorama

Shortcut

• COM:FOP Ethiopia

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

 Not OK. {{NoFoP-Ethiopia}} Ethiopian law includes buildings and sculptures and fine arts works among the works subject to rights of copyright (Part 1 - article 3 : Scope of application ) and there is no "freedom of panorama" exception.

Note that due to lack of a copyright treaty, most works from Ethiopia are in the public domain in the United States and most other countries. However, files uploaded to Commons must also be free in the country of origin.

Stamps

See also: Commons:Stamps

. There are no specific laws on the copyright status of stamps. Ethiopian stamps are in the public domain 50 years after the date of issue, per the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Proclamation No. 410/2004, which states that "Economic rights shall belong to the author during his lifetime and to the heirs or legatees for fifty years from the date of death of the author" (Art. 20) and "The economic rights relating to an audiovisual work shall be protected for fifty years beginning from the date of making of the work or communication of the work to the public, which ever date is the latest."

See also

• Ethiopia
• Category:Ethiopian FOP cases
• Category:Stamps of Ethiopia

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