Commons:Copyright rules by territory/East Timor

Copyright rules: East Timor Shortcut: COM:EAST TIMOR
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Photograph	Publish + 25 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 50 years
Government	Public domain
Applied art	Life + 50 years
Other
Freedom of panorama	Yes
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	TLS
Treaties
URAA restoration date‌*	30 August 2024
*‌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 East Timor (Timor-Leste) relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in East Timor must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both East Timor 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 East Timor, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

East Timor, the eastern part of the island of Timor, was a Portuguese colony until November 1975, when it declared independence. Indonesia invaded East Timor a few days later, and in 1976 it was declared a province of Indonesia. After a prolonged struggle for independence Indonesia relinquished control in 1999 and East Timor (Timor Leste) became a sovereign state on 20 May 2002.

Timor-Leste will become a WTO member on 30 August 2024, meaning that this is the URAA restoration date.

Governing laws

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, did not list any laws enacted by the legislature of East Timor that directly defined IP rules. The UN similarly found no such copyright laws except for limited provisions in the Constitution and the Civil Code. The rules applicable to Portuguese colonies or to Indonesia should be considered for works created prior to 1999. For later works, we assume that Indonesian copyright law as of 1999 applies, per a VPC discussion, that law is the Copyright Law of the Republic of Indonesia Consolidated text of law No.6/1982 As amended by law No.7/1987 and Law No.12/1987. Per its Chapter II Copyright Validity:

• Article 26 - The copyright on:
  • a. books, computer program, pamphlets, typographical arrangement of published works, and all other written works;
  • b. sermons, lecturers, addresses and other works of utterance
  • c. visual aids for educational and scientific purposes
  • d. songs or music with or without lyrics, including arts of karawitan and phonograms;
  • e. dramatic works, dances (choreographic works), puppet shows, pantomimes;
  • f. all forms of arts, such as paintings, drawings, engravings, calligraphy, carving, sculptures, collages, applied arts in the form of handy crafting;
  • g. architecture;
  • h. maps;
  • i. batik art;
  • j. translations, interpretations, adaptations, anthologies, and other works as a result of changing of form or mode

shall be protected for the life of the author and 50 (fifty) years after his death.

• Article 27 (1) - The copyright on:
  • a. computer programs;
  • b. cinematographic works;
  • c. phonograms;
  • d. performances;
  • e. broadcasting works;

shall be for 50 (fifty) years as from the first publication.

• Article 27 (2) - The copyright on a photographic work shall be for 25 (twenty five) years as from the first publication of the work.
• Article 27 (2a) - The copyright on typographical arrangement of a published work shall be for 25 (twenty five) years as from the first publication of the work.

And according to article 12, there shall be no copyright to:

• a. any result of open meetings of the Highest State Institutions and High State Institutions and other constitutional institutionà
• b. laws and regulations;
• c. court decisions and judicial orders;
• d. state addresses and government official speeches;
• e. awards of arbitration boards.

Per U.S. Circ. 38a, the following countries are not participants in the Berne Convention or Universal Copyright Convention and there is no presidential proclamation restoring U.S. copyright protection to works of these countries on the basis of reciprocal treatment of the works of U.S. nationals or domiciliaries: East Timor, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Marshall Islands, Palau, Somalia, Somaliland, and South Sudan. As such, works published by citizens of these countries in these countries are usually not subject to copyright protection outside of these countries. Hence, such works may be in the public domain in most other countries worldwide. However: Works published in these countries by citizens or permanent residents of other countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention or any other treaty on copyright will still be protected in their home country and internationally as well as locally by local copyright law (if it exists). Similarly, works published outside of these countries within 30 days of publication within these countries will also usually be subject to protection in the foreign country of publication. When works are subject to copyright outside of these countries, the term of such copyright protection may exceed the term of copyright inside them. Unpublished works from these countries may be fully copyrighted. A work from one of these countries may become copyrighted in the United States under the URAA if the work's home country enters a copyright treaty or agreement with the United States and the work is still under copyright in its home country. East Timor has enacted the Code of Copyright and Related Rights in November 2022, it came into force on 28 May 2023.

2022 Code of Copyright and Related Rights

On 29 November 2022, the East Timorese parliament approved its first-ever copyright law, the Code of Copyright and Related Rights; it comes into effect 180 days after it was published. It contains 224 articles and is awaiting approval from the President of East Timor. The date of effectivity is 28 May 2023. A copy of the law in Portuguese is available at the official journal of the Republic of East Timor, at pages 19–51.

Copyright tags

• {{PD-TLGov}} - works published by the Government of East Timor, public domain according to the Article 12 of 1982 Indonesian Copyright Law. This template only applies to works published before 28 May 2023.

Freedom of panorama

Shortcut

• COM:FOP East Timor

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

OK under the new Code of Copyright and Related Rights of 2022: {{FoP-East Timor}}.

The previous law applicable for East Timor, the 1982 Indonesian Copyright Law, did not provide a suitable freedom of panorama for free uses of images of copyrighted artistic works and architecture in public spaces.

Under the new Code of Copyright and Related Rights (2022), a freedom of panorama legal right is provided that is apparently based on Portuguese model:

• The use of works, such as, for example, works of architecture or sculpture, made to be kept permanently in public places;
• Original (Portuguese) text: A utilização de obras, como, por exemplo, obras de arquitetura ou escultura, feitas para serem mantidas permanentemente em locais públicos;^{[2022/Article 129(2)(o)]}

See also

• Timor Lorosa'e
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Indonesia
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Portugal
• Category:East Timor FOP cases

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