Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Norway/eo

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

Norway has been a member of the Berne Convention since 13 April 1896 and the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995.

As of 2020 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright Act (Act No. 40 of June 15, 2018, Relating to Copyright in Literary, Scientific and Artistic Works) (consolidated version, status as at December 20, 2018) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Norway.^[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.^[2] Minor adjustments were made by Act No. 120 of December 22, 2018, on Amendments to the Copyright Act, etc. (Portability of Online Content Services, etc.)

This act superseded the 1961 law the Copyright Act (Act No. 2 of May 12, 1961, relating to Copyright in Literary, Scientific and Artistic Works) (consolidated version of 2015).

Under the Act No. 40 of June 15, 2018,

• Copyright lasts for the author's life and 70 years after the expiry of his death.^{[2018 §11(a)]}
• For the co-authored works, copyright lasts for 70 years from the death of the last surviving author.^{[2018 §11(b)]}
• Copyright in cinematographic works lasts for 70 years from the end of the year of death of which the last survivor of the main director, author of the screenplay, dialogue writer and composer of the music that is created for use in filming.

• For work in which both words and music are provided for the purpose of the work, copyright last for 70 years from the end of the year of death of the last survivor of the lyricist and the composer.^{[2018 §11(d)]}
• For anonymous works, copyright shall subsist for 70 years after the end of the year when the work was first published.^{[2018 §12]}
• When someone for the first time lawfully makes available to the public a work which has not been made public by the end of the copyright protection period, they have the same rights as a copyright holder for 25 years after the end of the year the work was first made available to the public.

• The exclusive right to photographic images that are not intellectual property lasts for the life of the photographer and 15 years after the end of the photographer's year of death, but still at least 50 years from the end of the year the photo was created.^{[2018 §23]}

The distinction between work of art ("fotografiske verk") and other photos ("fotografiske bilder") is not clearly described, but it is believed that the photographer should add something to the mere depiction to make it a work of art.^[5] Under the former photo law, protection ended 25 years after creation, provided that more than 15 years had passed since the photographer's death or the photographer is unknown. The image is in the public domain if this older term already had expired as of 29 June 1995.

• The author of a commissioned portrait (including a photograph) cannot exercise their copyright without the consent of the customer.^{[2018 §105]}
• Photographs that depict a person cannot be reproduced or displayed publicly without the consent of the person depicted, except when

a) the image has a current and general interest

b) the image of the person is less important than the main content of the image

c) the image depicts congregations, public trains in the open air or conditions or events of general interest

d) copies of the image in the usual way are displayed as advertisements for the photographer's business and the image is not prohibited, or

e) the image is used as referred to in section 33 second paragraph or section 37 third paragraph.

Protection applies during the life of the depicted person and 15 years after the expiry of the depicted year of death.^{[2018 §104]}

• Recordings of performances are copy-protected for 50 years.

Under the Act No. 40 of June 15, 2018,

• Laws, regulations, judicial decisions and other decisions by public authorities are without protection under this Act. The same applies to proposals, reports, statements and the like that apply to the exercise of public authority, and is issued by a public authority, a publicly appointed council or committee, or published by the public. Similarly, official translations of such texts are without protection under this Act.^{[2018 §14]}

• {{PD-Statens vegvesen}} – for Norwegian road signs from the website of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen)^[7]

• {{PD-Norway50}} – Norwegian photos not considered to be "works of art" 50 years after they were created, provided that the author died more than 15 years ago or is unknown
• {{PD-Norway70}} – Images considered to be "works of art" become public domain 70 years after the author's death or publication if the author is unknown.

• {{Norwegian coat of arms}} – Norwegian coats of arms
• {{Kirkeinfo}} – photos from the media database of the Church of Norway.^[8]

• {{PD-NorwayGov}} – part of a decision or a statement by an authority or a public body of Norway
• {{Met.no}} – images without a byline from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute
• {{NLOD}} - a licensing agreement public authorities can use when making public data available

  . Norwegian currency is protected by copyright. The Bank of Norway, which administers the rights of the artists, states: "Use of illustrations of Norwegian coins and banknotes must not violate the rights of the authors". This means, among other things, that the original pattern may not be manipulated. As they are non-derivative, images of Norwegian currency may not be used unless it is in the public domain due to age (70 years after end of year of author's death). When using images of Norwegian currency under fair use rules on other projects, see the Norges Bank Guidelines for the use of Norwegian banknote and coin designs for other conditions that apply, such as size regulations, maximum resolution etc.

  for buildings {{FoP-Norway}}.   , non-commercial use only for other works like sculptures.

Under the Act No. 40 of June 15, 2018,

• A work can be depicted when it is permanently placed on or near a public space or road or similar publicly accessible place. However, this does not apply when the work is clearly the main subject, and the reproduction is used commercially. Buildings can be depicted freely.

This seems to imply that photographs of artistic works in public places are allowed if the depiction of the works is de minimis.

Not protected

Two-minute theatre play.

Protected

• A specific chair design (Tripp Trapp)
• The logo for the TV series Jul i Blåfjell.

• Norway
• Category:License tags of Norway
• Category:Norwegian FOP cases