For background information, see the explanations on Non-U.S. copyrights .
This work was in the public domain in Egypt in 1996 because Article 20 of Law 354 of 1954 pertaining to Copyright Protection , which was in effect at the time, provided for a 15-year term of copyright (starting from the date of first publication) for photographic and audio-visual works that lacked the characteristics of a creative work (i.e., that simply reproduced reality mechanically), regardless of whether the copyright holder was a moral person or a private person.