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The Authors Rights laws change from one country to another. The laws of each country differ especially on the following points:
Deadline for protection. In most countries, Authors Rights expire no later than 70 years after the author's death.
Status of the State's works. In many countries (but not all), the documents issued by the State for official use are in the public domain.
Type of material subject to Authors Rights.
Germany
According to German law, the documents are in the public domain if they have been published as part of a law, a decree or edict official, or if they have been published as an official announcement or public information.
The relevant law is section 5 of the UrhG. The first and most important provision: "The laws, regulations, decrees and official proclamations, decisions and principles formally written do not enjoy Authors rights protection".
Former Soviet Union
The works published by the Soviet Union before May 27, 1973 are not protected by the international conventions on Author Rights and are therefore in the public domain.
Note that in Russia some of these works are protected by Authors Rights.
Canada
According to the "Authors Rights law", Authors Rights last the lifetime of the author plus 50 years after the end of the year of his death. If the work is anonymous or pseudonymous then Author Rights cover 50 years after publication or 75 years after the completion of the work.
Up Denmark
According to the Consolidated Authors Rights law of 2003, the rights for photographic images expire 50 years after the creation of the image, however for photographic works the Authors Rights expire 70 years after the author's death. The difference between work and image is not well defined.
It is generally agreed that a work has to show some kind of artistic originality or other properties. Mere photographs are not considered works but images and the interpretation is highly subjective. There is some debate about whether or not the photographs taken by professional photographers and companies are not simple images.
Spain
In Spain Authors Rights are known as "intellectual property". The existing Law on Intellectual Property (LPI) dates back to November 11, 1987. After some reforms and the adoption of several laws, in 1996 there was a consolidated version of the Intellectual Property Law, which has already been subjected to any subsequent modification.
At present and as provided by the IPA, we can say in general terms that for simpler and more frequent single author the rights against exploitation of their work is for the life of the author and 70 years after his death or declaration of death. If works have several authors, "works in partnership", the 70 years is from the death of the author who dies last. In cases of work with a number of authors that is edited and published under a unique name "collective works", pseudonymous works and anonymous works, the copyright is for 70 years counted from the date of publication.
However, it must be considered that the IPA of 1879 provided for a term of protection of works of 80 years after the author's death, which has been respected by the IPA in 1987 through a number of transitional provisions. This makes the effective term of the majority of the work near the expiration of 80 years.
The LPI explicitly mentioned in Article 31 the right to "private copy", ie, the right to make private copies without the author's permission if there is no profit-making and the work has already been made public. To compensate authors, introduces the compensatory payment of a fee associated with some recorders and recording media. The amounts collected by this concept must be managed through Management Societies of Authors Rights.
An exception to the private copying is the case of software of which one can only make backups; this means we must be the original owner to copy it legally.
As to download works via the Internet, lawyers and consumer associations claim that it is legal under the current law, citing the right of private copying and as long as there isn't a profit.
Under the Criminal Code, it is imperative that there is profit-making for a crime against intellectual property.
Up India
According to the Indian law on Authors Rights, all images published in India more than 60 years ago are in the public domain.
México
The federal law of Authors Rights and the Mexican economic rights of an Author lasts for the lifetime of the author plus 100 years after the end of the year of the author's death, or the date of publication in the federal case, state or municipal.
Although there is an exception: the works that entered the public domain before July 23, 2003. In general, this means works created by someone who died before July 23, 1928 (75 years ago).
Mexican law recognizes and protects three types of rights: economic rights, moral rights and related rights.
Inheritance Rights are those that allow an exclusive exploitation of the work until a period following the death of the author, subsequently it then becomes part of the public domain and anyone can exploit the work.
Moral Rights: They are linked to the author on an ongoing basis and are inalienable and imprescriptible.
Related Rights: those who are protecting persons other than the author, such as artists, interpreters, translators, editors, producers, etc.
Uruguay
Law 17.616 of Authors Rights and related rights adopted on January 10, 2003, states in Article 14 that the author retains his property rights throughout their lives, and their heirs or legatees by the end of fifty years after the death of the deceased. Stated in Article 40 it is added that after the period of fifty years, the work enters the public domain.
