Hi.

If the flag is correct, and I would create another correct flag, however, it would be exactly the same, and it would be free. Legally, drawing the same flag again, pixel for pixel, would alter its license, wouldn't it?

I think this would a copyright violation as long as you immitate an existing copyrighted work to create another without permission. Similarly, for example, if you draw a painting which looks like someone else's, and it is not a coincident but a result of an influence, it could be a violation. Degree of similarity matters, but in this case, we are talking about exact reproduction.

If so, can I let an image program do this? Suppose I find a correct flag in .gif format, download it, convert it to .png. It then is a different flag with the same content. If the license of the source is unknown, what do I know about the license of the new .png?

Converting a file into different format, or taking a picture of, say, copyrighted painting, copying a text from one format to another (from PDF to RTF), are usually considered reproduction, not derivative works. And rights to reproduce, as well as to create derivative works are exclusively held by authors or other copyright holders.

Finally, I have not checked if flags are copyrighted, and who are the copyright holders. Quite a few flags exist since long before, so they might be in the public domain already. As you know, copyright protection expires. I think investigating that is a shorter way to get copyright free flags.

I also wonder if all flags are copyrightable. Some flags are very simple, so I am not sure if they are copyrightable at all. If a country has a simple blue recutangular flag with 3:2 proportion, is that recutangular copyrightable? I don't think so. What if there is a flag with two colors - a recutangular and a circle in it? I don't know.

Well, I know only Japanese and American copyright laws, and I am not a lawyer, so I could be wrong.

Tomos