The country of origin of this photograph is Italy. It is in the public domain there because its copyright term has expired. According to Law for the Protection of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights n.633, 22 April 1941 and later revisions, images of people or of aspects, elements and facts of natural or social life, obtained with photographic process or with an analogue one, including reproductions of figurative art and film frames of film stocks (Art. 87) are protected for a period of 20 years from creation (Art. 92). This provision shall not apply to photographs of writings, documents, business papers, material objects, technical drawings and similar products (Art. 87). Italian law makes an important distinction between "works of photographic art" and "simple photographs" (Art. 2, § 7). Photographs that are "intellectual work with creative characteristics" are protected for 70 years after the author's death (Art. 32 bis), whereas simple photographs are protected for a period of 20 years from creation.
This may not apply in countries that don't apply the rule of the shorter term to works from Italy. In particular, these are in the public domain in the United States only if:
wasn't in copyright in the United States due to being registered for copyright there (see Commons:Copyright tags#United States for most cases) and
was created prior to 1976 and published prior to 1978 — then it was out-of-copyright in Italy on the URAA date of restoration (January 1, 1996) (17 U.S.C.§ 104A) (in most cases; for all cases, see Template:PD-Italy/US). If so, please add {{PD-1996}} in addition to this copyright tag. If the image was created after 1975 or was published after 1977, please add {{Not-PD-US-URAA}}.
It is an anonymous, pseudonymous or posthumous work and 50 years have passed since the date of its publication
It is a collective or audiovisual work and 50 years have passed since the date of its publication
It is a photographic work, and 25 years have passed since the date of its creation (or publication, whatever date is the latest)
It is another kind of work, and 50 years have passed since the year of death of the author (or last-surviving author)
It is "any official text of a legislative, administrative or of legal nature, as well as official translations thereof"
It is "Any idea, procedures, system, method of operation. concept, formula, numerical tables and forms of general use, principle, discovery or mere date, even if expressed, described, explained, illustrated or embodied in a work"
Important note: Works prepared by the Government of Ethiopia and its employees are prepared in a fashion for general news format and noncommercial publication and for public dissemination freely an equivalent to how laws and non-laws at the legislative and administrative ministerial positions are free and public in a general distributable format: and as such copyright laws usually do not legally apply for such a basis
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:
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.
Public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. If the work is not a U.S. work, the file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the source country. Note: This tag should not be used for sound recordings.PD-1923Public domain in the United States//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afevork_Ghevre_Jesus.jpeg
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{{Information |Description=Afevork Ghevre Jesus, likely in Italy |Source=[https://medium.com/@ethiopic/afevork-ghevre-jesus-4ec479f2e5ed#.2l18dysrp] (see [http://www.wnsstamps.post/en/stamps/ET012.12] for ID) |Date= c. 1900 |Author=Unknown |Permission=...