Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Suriname/gu

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

Suriname come under Dutch rule in the late 17th century. In 1954 Suriname became one of the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. On 25 November 1975, the country of Suriname became an independent state.

Suriname has been a member of the Berne Convention since 23 February 1977 and the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995.^[1]

As of 2019, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Law of March 22, 1913, laying down New Rules on Copyright (as amended up to Decree S.B No. 23 of 1981) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Suriname.^[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.^[2] The law replaced Royal Decree of 11 May 1883 No. 39 (GB No. 11), but Article 11 of that decree remained in force for works and translations published before the 1913 law entered into force.^{[23/1981 Article 44]}

The law was amended once more by act of 17 April 2015.^[3] The consolidated copyright act is available on the Dutch Wikisource.

Under the Law of 1913, as amended up to the act of 17 April 2015,

• Copyright expires after 50 years, starting from 1 January of the year following the year of death of the author, except as provided in the following articles.^{[23/1981 Article 38]}
• The duration of a joint copyright in a work, where two or more persons are joint creators, is calculated from 1 January of the year following the year of death of the last survivor.^{[23/1981 Article 38]}

• Copyright in anonymous works expires after 50 years, starting from 1 January of the year following that in which the first publication of the work has been carried out by or on behalf of the owner.^{[23/1981 Article 39]}
• The same applies to works in which a legal entity such as a public institution or company is the author, and to works that are first made public after the death of the author.^{[23/1981 Article 39]}

There is no copyright in general regulations as referred to in Article 2 of the Surinamese Constitution, issued by public power, nor in judgments and administrative decisions.^{[23/1981 Article 11]}

  for works under 6° of Article 10.    for others like maps, photographs, or designs related to sciences like architecture or geography. Under the Law of 1913, as amended up to the act of 17 April 2015,

• There is no infringement of copyright in reproduction of a work, as referred to in Article 10, 6°, that is permanently displayed or visible from a public road if the reproduction by its size or by the method in which it is made is clearly different from the original work. With buildings, this is limited to the exterior.^{[23/1981 Article 18]}

Works listed under 6° of Article 10: drawings, paintings, architecture, sculptures, lithographs, engravings, and other sheet metal works.