Template talk:PD-US-patent-no notice

Credit

The wording of this template comes from this revision of Commons:Template:PD-US-patent-no notice by Commons:User:P3d0. Much of the metadata coding was copied from Template:PD-US-patent here on enwiki. Anomie ⚔ 13:03, 14 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is a dangerous template notice to have available.

This kind of notice could be an anchor for abuse of images contained in patents. Just because a copyright owner has not specifically dictated that an image is copyright does not immediately make it public domain. The image is copyright no matter what statement is made. The statement strictly applies to any restrictions related to republishing the patent with or without the illustrations included! BcRIPster (talk) 20:11, 26 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The USPTO website states "Subject to limited exceptions reflected in 37 CFR 1.71(d) & (e) and 1.84(s), the text and drawings of a patent are typically not subject to copyright restrictions." Since those sections say exactly what to do in order to include a copyright notice, a layman like myself interprets that to mean "if they don't do what 37 CFR 1.71(d) & (e) and 1.84(s) say, it's not copyrighted". If you want a real legal opinion, Mike Godwin is that way. Anomie ⚔ 20:18, 26 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"typically" is the key word here. Yes it would probably be wise to get Mike to put his thoughts in on this subject. BcRIPster (talk) 20:33, 26 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

BcRIPster, please see Template_talk:PD-US-patent and c:COM:Village pump/Copyright#Reproductions_of_patent_text_and_illustrations. —Catsquisher (talk) 20:07, 15 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Verification Failed - Incorrectly Failed

There was a cleanup tag (verification failed) on this statement

Note This only applies to images published before March 1, 1989. Patents published after that date are most likely copyrighted..

I rechecked the source and removed the cleanup tag because it is mentioned in the source:

1978 to 1 March 1989 - Published without notice, but with subsequent registration within 5 years - 70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first

David Condrey (talk) 00:59, 5 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Please provide a valid source for the claim that patents published after 1 March 1989 are "most likely copyrighted". The related citation in the template is not relevant and there is no such restriction in pertinent patent law, including the Patent Cooperation Treaty to which 152 countries are a party. Everything in a published application or patent can generally be assumed to be in the public domain (see 37 CFR 1.71(d) and 37 CFR 1.84(s) for rare exceptions). —Catsquisher (talk) 15:17, 8 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Also, please see Template_talk:PD-US-patent and c:COM:Village pump/Copyright#Reproductions_of_patent_text_and_illustrations. —Catsquisher (talk) 19:39, 15 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Catsquisher is right.

The template states, quite correctly, "The text and illustrations of US patents are in the public domain in the United States unless the patent text contains a specific notice that portions are copyrighted." However, it then goes on to say "This only applies to images published before March 1, 1989. Patents published after that date are most likely copyrighted, unless PD for another reason". "The source" referred to above by David Condrey is a page on the web site of an academic library, which describes the general conditions for United States copyrights for users of the library, but which does not mention the special provisions of copyright law for patent applications. Taking that page as applying to images in patent applications is a misunderstanding.

For copyright to be retained there must be a notice of copyright in the patent application, in a form specified on the web site of the United States Patent and Trademark Office at https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/mpep-9020-appx-r.html#d0e320999. The current version of that page says "Last Modified: 01/24/2018 17:18:47" (my emphasis). It is still in force now, and did not cease to be vaild on March 1, 1989. Yes, there was a change in US copyright law on that date, but it did not remove the special provision for copyright on patents, as can clearly be seen by anyone who reads the web page I have mentioned. I am therefore going to remove the wording from the template, and I suggest that it should not be restored unless and until someone can produce a reliable source that indicates that the page above on the United States Patent and Trademark Office site is mistaken, or that there is some way of reading the page (which is written in the present tense) as being intended to apply only to patents from before March 1, 1989, and for some reason doesn't say so. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 12:02, 4 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note on discrepancy with Commons policy

For the time being, images from patents published after March 1, 1989 should be tagged {{Do not move to Commons}}. See Template_talk:PD-US-patent#Note_on_discrepancy_with_Commons_policy (and I suggest centralizing discussion there, not here). Wikiacc (¶) 01:04, 9 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]