Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Ukraine/fi

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

In the past, Ukraine was controlled at different times in whole or part by Kievan Rus', Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Austria. After World War I, Ukraine became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in December 1922. During the dissolution of the USSR, on 24 August 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence.

Ukraine has been a member of the Berne Convention since 25 October 1995, the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 6 March 2002 and the World Trade Organization since 16 May 2008.

As of 2023 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed "Law of Ukraine No. 2811-IX of December 1, 2022, on Copyright and Related Rights" as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Ukraine.^[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.^[2] The law repeals the "Law of Ukraine No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993, on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended up to October 27, 2016)" and its successor "Law No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993, on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended up to April 26, 2017)", both of which are also available in the WIPO database.^[3][4]

Under Law No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993 as amended up to April 26, 2017),

• Copyright in a work arises from the fact of its creation and takes effect from the date of creation.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(1)]}
• Copyright is valid throughout the life of the author and for 70 years after his death, except as provided below.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(2)]}

• For works published anonymously or under a pseudonym, copyright expires 70 years after the work was released. If the pseudonym adopted by the author leaves no doubt as to the identity of the author or the author is revealed no later than 70 years after the publication of the work, copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(3)]}
• Copyright in collaborative works is valid for life and 70 years after the death of the last co-author.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(4)]}

• Copyright in works of posthumously rehabilitated authors is valid for 70 years after their rehabilitation.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(6)]}
• Copyright in a work first published within 30 years after the author's death is valid for 70 years from the date of its lawful publication.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(7)]}
• Persons who first publish an unpublished work after its copyright protection expires enjoy protection for 25 years from the time when the work was first published.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(8)]}
• Calculation of the terms of copyright starts from 1 January of the year following the relevant event.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.28(9)]}

Copyright protection under the 1993 act applied to all works where the copyright had not expired before the act became effective.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Final.4]} A Ukrainian or Ukrainian SSR work is in the public domain in Ukraine if it was published before 1 January 1951, and the creator (if known) died before that date. This is the effect of the copyright term extension from 50 to 70 years in 2001.

A Ukrainian or Ukrainian SSR work that is in the public domain in Ukraine according to this rule is in the public domain in the U.S. only if it was in the public domain in Ukraine before 1 January 1996, e.g. if it was published before 1 January 1946 and the creator died before this date, and no copyright was registered in the U.S. This is the combined effect of the retroactive 1993 law, Ukraine's joining the Berne Convention in 1996, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

Under Law No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993 (as amended up to April 26, 2017), protection does not extend to:^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.10]}

• Daily news or current events that constitute regular press information
• Works of folk art (folklore);
• Official documents issued by government authorities of a political, legislative or administrative nature (laws, decrees, regulations, court decisions and state standards, etc.) and their official translations;

• State symbols of Ukraine, government awards; symbols and signs of government, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations; symbols of territorial communities; symbols and signs of enterprises, institutions and organizations;
• Banknotes;
• Timetables of vehicles, broadcasts, schedules, telephone directories and other similar databases that do not meet the originality criteria.

A Ukrainian or Soviet work that is in the public domain in Ukraine according to this rule is in the public domain in the U.S. only if it was in the public domain in Ukraine in 1995, e.g. if it was published before 1945 and the creator died before that year, and no copyright was registered in the U.S. This is the combined effect of the retroactive Ukrainian copyright law, Ukraine's joining the Berne Convention in 1995, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.^[5]

• {{PD-UAGovDoc}} for official documents of a political, legislative or administrative nature (laws, decrees, resolutions, court awards, State standards, etc.) issued by government authorities within their powers, and official translations thereof.
• {{PD-UAGov-Money}} for unit of currencies issued by Ukraine.

• {{PD-UAexMilitary}} for works of a Ukrainian military or Ministry of Defense if it is symbol or sign of government authorities, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations.

OK Ukrainian currency is not copyrighted. Monetary items, together with other state symbols, are explicitly excluded from copyright by article 10 of Copyright law of Ukraine.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.10(e)]}

Please use {{PD-UAGov-Money}} for Ukrainian currency images.

 Ei OK, non-profit use only. {{NoFoP-Ukraine}}

A freedom of panorama exception was added in the Law of Ukraine No. 2811-IX of December 1, 2022, on Copyright and Related Rights, under Article 22(10). It is now permissible "creation of images of works of architecture and fine arts permanently located in places accessible to the public on the street, provided that such actions do not have independent economic value."

The condition "provided that such actions do not have independent economic value" seems to imply that images of such works in public spaces should not be made for the purpose of making profit. Regardless of the clarity of the condition, it still does not fit the licensing requirements of Wikimedia Commons, which only allows content that is licensed for any uses, including commercial uses. Non-commercial content is not allowed. See also Commons:Village pump/Copyright/Archive/2023/05#NEW copyright law of Ukraine.

Before 2023, Law of Ukraine No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993, on Copyright and Related Rights (with latest version from 2017) did not contain a freedom of panorama exception. It is claimed, though, that article 21(4) of the old law implied some kind of "freedom of panorama" (claim was repeated here):

• ...it shall be permitted without the consent of the author (or other copyright holder) and with mandatory indication of the author's name and of the source of borrowing: ... to reproduce, in order to highlight current events by means of photography or cinematography, to carry out public notification or other public communication of the works seen or heard in the course of such events to the extent justified by the informational purpose.^{[3792-XII/199-2017 Art.21(4)]}

This, however, is limited to "informational purposes" and to "current events". It is not general freedom of panorama but a "fair use"-like provision for news reporting.

Indeed, four separate court rulings during 2007–09 affirmed the lack of commercial freedom of panorama in Ukraine, all involving exploitations of Vasyl' Borodai's (1917–2010) 1982 sculpture Monument to the Founders of Kyiv by four different entities during late 1990s and early 2000s. According to Shtefan (2019), "all these cases went to trial and in each case the courts came to the conclusion that the author's rights were not respected." (article, page 23)

Note: Copyright protection expires 70 years after the death of the original author (who is defined as the creator or designer) here. On January 1st of the following year (ie. January 1 of the 71st year), freely licensed images of the author's 3D works such as sculptures, buildings, bridges or monuments are now free and can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. The lack of Freedom of Panorama is no longer relevant here in Ukraine since the author's works are now in the public domain.

However, there's also a consensus that utilitarian buildings such as the New Safe Confinement (cf. a 2021 deletion request) are not considered copyrightable.

use {{PD-UA-exempt}}.

According to the Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine on Copyright and Related rights, all Ukrainian stamps are in the public domain. They are defined as "state signs" in the Law of Ukraine On Postal Service (4 October 2001) :

• Postage stamp means a state sign manufactured according to the procedure set forth by legislation, with specified face value and state, serving as the tool of payment for postal services provided by the national operator.^[6]