Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Gabon

Copyright rules: Gabon Shortcut: COM:GABON
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Photograph	Publish + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 50 years
Collective	Owner's life + 50 years
Posthumous	Publish + 50 years
Applied art	Publish + 50 years
Other
Terms run to year end	Yes
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	GAB
Treaties
Berne convention	26 March 1962
Bangui Agreement	8 February 1982
WTO member	1 January 1995
URAA restoration date‌*	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	6 March 2002
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 31 December 1928 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

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

Background

France officially occupied Gabon in 1885. In 1910, Gabon became one of the four territories of French Equatorial Africa, a federation that survived until 1959. The territories of French Equatorial Africa became independent on 17 August 1960.

Gabon has been a member of the Berne Convention since 26 March 1962, the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995 and the WIPO treaty since 6 March 2002.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the 1987 Law No. 1/87 on the Establishment of the Protection for Copyright and Neighboring Rights as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Gabon. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.

Standard terms

Under Law No. 1/87 of 1987,

• The author's economic rights last for their lifetime and for 50 years after death.^{[1/1987 Article 60]}
• With collaborative works, economic rights subsist for 50 years after death of the last surviving contributor.^{[1/1987 Article 60]}
• Economic rights last for 50 years from the end of the calendar year when the work was made public for:
  • Photographic works, radio and audiovisual works and works of applied art.^{[1/1987 Article 60]}
  • Anonymous or pseudonymous works where the author cannot be identified.^{[1/1987 Article 60]}
• Posthumous works are protected for 50 years after being made public, if this happens within 50 years of death.^{[1/1987 Article 60]}

All terms run to the end of the calendar year.

Collective work

Under Law No. 1/87 of 1987, "Collective work" shall mean a work created on the initiative of a natural or legal person who edits it, publishes it and discloses it under his direction and name, and in which the personal contributions of the various authors who participated in its development are merged in the overall work for which they were conceived, so that it is impossible to attribute to each author a separate right in the work as created^{[1/1987 Article 10]} A collective work, in the absence of proof to the contrary, shall belong to the natural or legal person under whose name it has been disclosed. The author's rights shall vest in that person^{[1/1987 Article 17]}

Official work and news

Under Law No. 1/87 of 1987, Protection shall not apply: to laws and regulations and officially published preparatory work therefor, decisions of the courts and of administrative bodies and official translations of such texts;the news of the day published, diffused or communicated to the public.^{[1/1987 Article 11]}

Public domain and folklore non-free

Under Law No. 1/87 of 1987, On expiry of the term of protection defined in Article 60, the work falls into the public domain. The right of exploitation of works in the public domain shall be exercised by the National Artistic and Cultural Promotion Agency (ANPAC). Performance, public execution and reproduction of such works shall require prior authorization issued by ANPAC. In the case of a profit-making utilization, authorization shall be granted against payment of a fee calculated in accordance with the general tariffs and schedules in force.^{[1/1987 Article 61]}

Works of folklore shall belong ab origine to the national heritage.^{[1/1987 Article 6]} "folklore" shall mean all literary and artistic productions created on the national territory by authors presumed to be Gabonese nationals or by national ethnic communities, passed from generation to generation, which form one of the fundamental elements of the national traditional cultural heritage.^{[1/1987 Article 6]} Works of national folklore shall be protected without limitation in time.^{[1/1987 Article 7]} The right of exploitation of folklore shall be administered by ANPAC. Such authorization shall be granted against payment of a royalty, the proceeds of which shall be used for cultural and welfare purposes for the benefit of the authors.^{[1/1987 Article 8]}

Freedom of panorama

Shortcut

• COM:FOP Gabon

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

OK. For photographs. Incidental use only for films and broadcasts. Under Law No. 1/87 of 1987,

• Literary, scientific or artistic works seen or heard in the course of a current event may, for the purposes of information, be reproduced and made available to the public in a report on that event by means of photography, cinematography or sound or visual diffusion.^{[1/1987 Article 35]}
• Works of art, including architectural works, permanently located in a public place, may be reproduced and made available to the public by means of cinematography, photography or television. The same shall apply where the inclusion of such a work in a film or a broadcast is of an accessory or incidental nature only in relation to the main subject.^{[1/1987 Article 37]}

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer