هذا العمل يقع في النَّطاق العامّ في بلد المنشأ وفي البلدان الأخرى والمناطق التي تمتدُّ فيها مدة حقوق التَّأليف والنشر لتغطي زمن حياة المُؤلِّف و 70 سنةً بعد وفاته أو أقل من ذلك.

أنتَ أيضاً مُلزمٌ بتضمين وسم النَّطاق العامّ لتحديد السبب الَّذي يجعلُ من هذا العمل مِلكيَّةً عامةً في الولايات المُتحدة الأمريكيَّة انتبه إلى أن قلةً من البلدان لديها بنودٌ لحقوق التَّأليف والنشر تمتد لمدةٍ أطول من 70 عام: هذه المُدّة هي 100 عام في المكسيك و95 عام في جامايكا و80 عام في كولومبيا و75 عام في غواتيمالا وساموا. ولذلك فإنَّ هذه الصُّورة قد لا تكون في النَّطاق العامّ في هذه البلدان، بالإضافة لكون حكم الفترة الأقصر غيرَ نافذٍ فيها. لدى ساحل العاج بندٌ عام لحقوق التَّأليف والنَّشر يمتدُّ حتَّى 99 عاماً وهو 75 عاماً في هندوراس، ولكن حكم الفترة الأقصر نافذٌ هناك. قد تشمل حقوق التَّأليف والنشر الأعمال المُنجزة من قبل فرنسيين توفوا في فرنسا خلال الحرب العالمية الثانية (للمزيد أنظر هنا)، أو روس خدموا في الجبهة الشرقية في الحرب العالمية الثانية (المعروفة باسم الحرب الوطنية العظمى في روسيا) وضحايا عمليات إعادة التأهيل في عمليات القمع في الاتحاد السوفياتي (للمزيد أنظر هنا).

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was a Commonwealth of Massachusetts public record disseminated by a Commonwealth agency or the Massachusetts Archives. Massachusetts' Secretary of the Commonwealth has stated that such works can be copied and used for any purpose. This copyright does not extend to those records created, received, or under the custody of municipalities by M. G. L. c. 66, § 7, unless otherwise stated, nor does this apply to copy-written materials for commercial purposes received by employees of the Commonwealth.

Language describing permissions

A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Division of Public Records, (Updated January 2017) can be found at https://www.mass.gov/files/2017-06/Public%20Records%20Law.pdf and page 7 says:

"With the exception of situations in which a records custodian is withholding records pursuant to Exemption (n), inquiries into a requester's status or motivation for seeking information are expressly prohibited. ^[1] Consequently, all requests for public records, even if made for a commercial purpose or to assist the requester in a lawsuit against the holder of the records, must be honored in accordance with the Public Records Law."

1. ↑ See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (public records are to be provided to “any person”); see also 950 CMR 32.05(5) (custodian prohibited from inquiring into a requester’s status or motivation); but see G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(n) (a records custodian may ask the requester to voluntarily provide additional information in order to reach a “reasonable judgment” regarding disclosure of responsive records).

Definition of "public record"

Public records are defined in A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Division of Public Records, (Updated January 2017) at https://www.mass.gov/files/2017-06/Public%20Records%20Law.pdf on page 40, under M. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26) as:

all books, papers, maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements, statistical tabulations, or other documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any authority established by the general court to serve a public purpose, or any person, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity which receives or expends public funds for the payment or administration of pensions for any current or former employees of the commonwealth or any political subdivision as defined in section 1 of chapter 32, unless such materials or data fall within the following exemptions found on page 40

Limitations of template usage

Concerned wikipedia editors have noticed that the Commonwealth may make unfounded allegations that copyright protections exist for state regulations based on technical codes developed and copyrighted by private organizations. Where such works/allegations are concerned, {{PD-EdictGov}} and {{PD-US-Codes-and-Standards-as-Statutory-Law}} may be appropriate.

This template is based on official statements by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, which are not definitive in the way a statute or a court ruling is. This formal statement only speaks to public records held by the Massachusetts Archives, so the use of this template for public records of the Commonwealth sourced from individuals or groups not affiliated therewith is not encouraged.

This is consistent with the statement at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ARC/arcres/residx.htm:

"Those records created by Massachusetts government agencies and institutions held by the Massachusetts Archives are not copyrighted and are available for public use. Copyright for materials submitted to state agencies may be held by the person or organization that created the document."

Note: Works that are considered "public records" but were not created by a state or municipal government agency may be copyrighted by their author; the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents state law from overriding the author's right to copyright protection that is granted by federal law. For example, a state agency may post images online of the final appearance of a building under construction; while the images may be "public records", their creator (eg. architecture/construction firm) retains copyright rights to the image unless the contract with the agency says otherwise. See: Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual: To what extent does federal law preempt state law regarding public inspection of records?.
Disclaimer: The information provided, especially the list of agencies permitted to claim copyright, may not be complete. Wikimedia Commons makes no guarantee of the adequacy or validity of this information in this template (see disclaimer).