It is an anonymous or pseudonymous work and 50 years have passed since the year of its publication
It is an audiovisual or photographic work and 50 years have passed since the year of its publication
It is a work of applied art and 25 years have passed since the year of its publication
It is another kind of work, and 50 years have passed since the year of death of the author (or last-surviving author)
Important note:
Works of foreign (non-U.S.) origin must be out of copyright or freely licensed in both their home country and the United States in order to be accepted on Commons. Works of Philippine origin that have entered the public domain in the U.S. due to certain circumstances (such as publication in noncompliance with U.S. copyright formalities) may have had their U.S. copyright restored under the
Uruguay Round Agreements Act
(URAA) if the work was under copyright in its country of origin on the date that the URAA took effect in that country. (For the Philippines, the URAA took effect on January 1, 1996.)
You must also include a
United States public domain tag
to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States. Note that this work might not be in the public domain in countries that do not apply the
rule of the shorter term
and have copyright terms longer than life of the author plus 50 years. In particular, Mexico is 100 years, Jamaica is 95 years, Colombia is 80 years, Guatemala and Samoa are 75 years, Switzerland and the United States are 70 years, and Venezuela is 60 years.
