Cheques are widely used as a means of payment along with currency. Cheques for specific countries can be digitized by almost anyone using a scanner. However, Cheques are the work of banks and are subject to country-specific copyright laws and the terms of use of cheque designs. Moreover, the use of reproductions of cheques may be controlled by counterfeiting law. This page documents licensing requirements of various kinds of cheque around the world and links the relevant categories on Wikimedia Commons.

Important points edit

  • With respect to similar images of cheques, please respect others' work and avoid overwriting existing files (those uploaded by other users). In general, it is better to upload a new file, please refer to Commons:Overwriting existing files.
  • The {{Counterfeiting}} tag is used to describe the terms under which an image on Commons may be printed without violating criminal counterfeiting law. This is particularly important for projects such as the print version of Wikipedia and other derivative print uses, which would wish to avoid inadvertently violating these laws. See the template page for an example of how this message is displayed.

Countries edit

Text transcluded from
COM:CHQ China

China

  OK {{PD-shape}} for cheques with simple designs. However, many Chinese cheques have security features that exceed threshold of originality and therefore   Not OK.

Text transcluded from
COM:CHQ Peru

Peru

  OK in some cases Cheques are also not exempt from copyright law. However, pre-1971 designs are public domain and recent cheques often lack originality by bearing simple data, signatures or common identification codes. So templates must be taken: {{PD-Peru-organization}} or {{PD-simple}}.

Text transcluded from
COM:CHQ South Korea

South Korea

  Not OK. South Korean cheques are copyrighted by Korea Federation of Banks. Korea Federation of Banks doesn't provide terms of use.

See also: Commons:Village pump/Copyright/Archive/2021/04#Is it OK to upload South Korean cheques?

  OK in some cases. The design of standard UK cheques is below threshold of originality. However, many cheques include logos, watermarks, and other features that are sufficiently original to be protected by copyright; these cheques can not be uploaded to Commons.

References edit

Some citation text may not have been transcluded