[Commons-l] countering systemic bias through copyright translation

[geni]

On 17/01/2008, Durova <nadezhda.durova at gmail.com> wrote:
> This raises another issue: which country's copyright laws prevail for the
> former Canal Zone?  United States or Panama?

The problem is that while that question makes sense within commons
policy it the legal answer would be it depends where you are.

A really literal reading of commons policy would probably go for
Panama since the canal was technically always sovereign Panama
territory. The relevant text is

" The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all the rights,
power and authority within the zone mentioned and described in Article
II of this agreement, and within the limits of all auxiliary lands and
waters mentioned and described in said Article II which the United
States would possess and exercise, if it were the sovereign of the
territory within which said lands and waters are located to the entire
exclusion of the exercise by the Republic of Panama of any such
sovereign rights, power or authority."

>  Commons currently hosts some
> images of the canal's construction and the ones I checked are marked only as
> PD-US, which may or may not be adequate.

The images would have been created under US law.

>  And more generally, whose laws
> apply when national jurisdiction changes?  I found some other historic
> photographs from Africa, but didn't upload them because of these unanswered
> questions.
>

Africa is not normally a problem since they tended to keep much the
same legal system in terms of copyright. It would ultimately depend if
any later changes were retrospective.

-- 
geni