Template talk:PD-US-flag

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[edit] Public domain?

Are all images of U.S. state, federal district, and insular areas flags actually public domain? Could someone please provide a reference or guideline? ScottMainwaring 20:17, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

I'd like to see some evidence of this as well. --Durin 17:51, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

I think that we just made this up, but we should probably ask User:Neutrality, who created this template. Jkelly 01:27, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

I am not convinced that this template is completely accurate. Some states have seals on their flag and because the seals are usually defined using blazoning, it is certainly possible to create copyrighted work. --Benn Newman 22:48, 25 January 2007 (UTC) (Any PD official work can include copyrighted material, this is not the point. Michelet-密是力-Me laisser un message 04:07, 18 April 2007 (UTC))

Official state marks are ruled by the Paris convention on industrial property, article 6ter (see general info on 6ter article). Being ruled by a specific legislation, it is de facto outside the scope of the Berne treaty on intellectual rights (so-called "copyright"): Specialia derogant generalibus (a special rule rules out the general one). Michelet-密是力-Me laisser un message 04:07, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

But article 6 doesn't say anything about public domain, it says that the parties to the treaty will not allow state flags to be trademarked? Thuresson 16:05, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

That convention is not only unrelated to copyright (which is the issue here) but also simply not a law in most countries. I find Jkelly’s assessment to be more probably accurate. (Also, public domain works are precisely those works which surpass the threshold of creativity yet do not contain any copyrighted material… but that’s indeed not the point.) —xyzzy_n 20:00, 18 April 2007 (UTC)