Is a photo that is in the public domain in US also in the public domain in other countries?
<p>I want to use a photograph that is in the public domain in the United States. However, I would be sending a document with this photograph around entities in Europe. I know that just because something is in the public domain in the United States, that doesn't mean that it is in the public domain in other countries. Can I use this photograph or not and what decides this?</p>

<p>This is the photo in question:</p>

<p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rowing_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics.JPEG" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rowing_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics.JPEG</a></p>

<p>The "Permission" field in the "Summary" section details what I'm talking about.</p>

<p>Under US law, the particular work is not protected by copyright, being a government work. Therefore, an infringement suit in the US would go nowhere. Under the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/7.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Berne Convention Article 7(8)</a>, </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>the term shall be governed by the legislation of the country where
  protection is claimed; however, unless the legislation of that country
  otherwise provides, the term shall not exceed the term fixed in the
  country of origin of the work</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is acknowledged via EU <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:372:0012:0018:EN:PDF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Directive 2006/116/EC</a>, Article 7:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Where the country of origin of a work, within the meaning of the Berne
  Convention, is a third country, and the author of the work is not a
  Community national, the term of protection granted by the Member
  States shall expire on the date of expiry of the protection granted in
  the country of origin of the work, but may not exceed the term laid
  down in Article 1.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So unless there is a special provision in the country in question, the shorter of the protection-time of the country of origin and that of the country of lawsuit  prevails, i.e. zero in this instance. No jurisdiction in Europe appears to have created a special exception to the effect that government works are subject to copyright protection.</p>

public-domain