Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Nicaragua/gu

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Nicaragua relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Nicaragua must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Nicaragua 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 Nicaragua, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821.

Nicaragua has been a member of the Universal Copyright Convention since 16 August 1961, the World Trade Organization since 3 September 1995, the Berne Convention since 23 August 2000 and the WIPO treaty since 6 March 2003.^[1]

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 312 of 1999 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights (consolidated version as of February 2001) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of Nicaragua.^[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.^[2] This law was amended by Law No. 577 of 2006 on Amendments and Additions to Law No. 312 of 1999 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights. The amendment generally did not affect definitions of works or durations of protection.^[3]

Based on the 2001 version of Law No. 312,

• Economic rights will last the whole life of the author and 70 years after his death.^{[312/1999 Article 27]}
• With pseudonymous or anonymous and collective works, economic rights shall last 70 years from disclosure.^{[312/1999 Article 28]}
• In the case of a collaborative work, the term of the rights shall be computed from the death of the last surviving co-author.^{[312/1999 Article 29]}

The expiry dates in this section will be computed from the first day of January of the year following the death of the author, or where appropriate, the disclosure, publication or completion of the work.^{[312/1999 Article 29]}

The 1904 Civil Code protected copyright for 30 years after the author's death. ^{[1904 Civil Code Article 766, 769]}. Posthumous works were protected for 20 years from publication ^{[1904 Civil Code Article 779]} and anonymous and pseudonymous works were protected for 30 years from publication ^{[1904 Civil Code Article 780]}. Government works were protected for 10 years from publication ^{[1904 Civil Code Article 855]}.

The 1999 copyright law was not retroactive: "The provisions of this Law shall also apply to the works that have been created, to the interpretations or executions that have taken place or that have been fixed, to the phonograms that have been fixed and to the broadcasts that have taken place, before the date of entry into force of this Law, provided that those works, interpretations or executions, phonograms and broadcasting broadcasts are not yet in the public domain due to the expiration of the duration of the protection to which they were subject in the preceding legislation"^{[312/1999 Article 132]}.

Laws, governmental provisions, bills, minutes, agreements, deliberations and opinions of public bodies and agencies and official translations of the previous texts are not subject to protection. The judgments of the courts can be reproduced by anyone, after they have been officially certified as the authentic text.^{[312/1999 Article 16]}

   {{NoFoP-Nicaragua}} As per Nicaragua Law No. 577 on Amendments and Additions to Law No. 312 on Copyright and Related Rights, "Works located permanently in parks, streets, squares or other thoroughfares may be reproduced, without the author’s authorization, by means of painting, sketching, photographs and audiovisual recordings for personal use. In respect of works of architecture, the previous article shall only apply to their external aspect.^{[77/2006 Article 43]}

This article had previously read, "Works permanently located in parks, streets, squares or other public roads can be reproduced, without the author's authorization, by means of painting, drawing, photography and audiovisual recordings. As for architectural works, the previous article will only apply to its external appearance.^{[312/1999 Article 43]}

Stamps are not mentioned among the works not subject to copyright.^{[312/1999 Article 16]} The 1904 Civil Code protected government works for 10 years after publication and the 1999 copyright law was not retroactive, so stamps issued prior to 1989 are in the public domain.