Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Eritrea

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

Background

Italian Eritrea, a colony of the Kingdom of Italy, was established in 1889. The British took over from 1941 to 1950, when Eritrea became loosely federated with Ethiopia. Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia in 1991 and declared independence in May 1993.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Provisional Commercial Code of Eritrea and Provisional Civil Code of Eritrea of 1993 (Extracts relating to Intellectual Property rights) as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Eritrea.[1]

WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.[2]

General terms

  • The author’s right to authorize the production, reproduction or adaptation of his work may, after his death, be exercised by his heirs for a period of fifty years from the time of the publication of the work.[1993 Art.1670]
  • A work published after the death of its author is protected for a period of fifty years as from the date of publication.[1993 Art.1672]
  • Photographs are only protected if they are printed in a book or are part of a collection, or if they bear the name and address of the author or their agent.[1993 Art.1662]
 

 
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.

Eritrea has enacted Provisional Commercial Code of Eritrea and Provisional Civil Code of Eritrea (extracts relating to intellectual property rights) which came into force on 1993.

Freedom of panorama

Shortcut

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama


  Not OK. The 1993 Provisional Commercial Code of Eritrea contains nothing that could be considered a waiver allowing pictures of buildings or works or art in public places to be used for commercial purposes without permission of the copyright holder.

Note that due to lack of a copyright treaty, most works from Eritrea 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.

Citations

  1. Eritrea Copyright and Related Rights (Neighboring Rights)[1], WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization, 2018
  2. Provisional Commercial Code of Eritrea and Provisional Civil Code of Eritrea of 1993 (Extracts relating to Intellectual Property rights)[2], Eritrea, 1993
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