This list is not exhaustive and as community consensus evolves (at both wikis) it will go out of date.
Public domain edit
Not PD in source country edit
If the source country has no copyright treaty with the US, both follow the source country.
- {{Non-free no treaty}}
- Wikipedia:Copyrights#Governing copyright law
- Wikipedia:Public domain#Countries without copyright treaties with the US
- Wikipedia talk:Copyrights/Archive 14#RfC: What to do with respect to the copyright of countries with which the US does not have copyright relations?
- Images that would be ineligible for copyright in the US (if published in the US) are treated strangely; see 1
Otherwise:
en policy: files need not be PD in the source country as long as they are PD in the US
- Statements of policy: WP:PD, WP:NUSC
- If the first publication was outside of the US and before 1929, it's PD in the US (except 9th Circuit). See Template:PD-US-expired-abroad and c:COM:Hirtle chart
- Wikipedia does not appear to fall in the 9th Circuit for this purpose
Commons policy: files must be PD in the source country
- Statements of policy: c:COM:PD
- Can't find any definitions of "source country"
US patents edit
en policy: US patents published without a copyright notice are public domain, regardless of date
- Statements of policy: Template:PD-US-patent, Template:PD-US-patent-no notice
- Discussions: Template talk:PD-US-patent, Template talk:PD-US-patent-no notice
- Examples: 1, 2
- Counterexamples: 1, 2
Commons policy: US patents published after March 1, 1989 are not public domain
- Statements of policy: c:Template:PD-US-patent, c:Template:PD-US-patent-no notice
- Discussions: c:Commons:Deletion requests/Template:PD-US-patent-no notice, c:Template talk:PD-US-patent, c:Template talk:PD-US-patent-no notice
- Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4
- Counterexamples: 1
URAA edit
en policy: URAA-restored images are not allowed, except when the copyright holder has announced that expiration applies worldwide (Template:PD-Canada, Template:PD-AustraliaGov)
- Statements of policy: Template:PD-URAA, many (though not all) of the PD-country templates
- Examples: lots of uncontested FFD nominations; 1
Commons policy:
- Version 1: new uploads of URAA-restored images are not allowed, except when the copyright holder has announced that expiration applies worldwide. Files from before 2012 can usually stay
- Statements of policy: c:Template:Not-PD-US-URAA
- Version 2: all URAA-restored images are allowed as long as they are PD in their home country and they are tagged with c:Template:Not-PD-US-URAA
- Statements of policy: none that I can find, only the discussion closures below
- Discussion: c:COM:Massive restoration of deleted images by the URAA
- Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4
- Discussion of the discrepancy: c:Commons:Review of Precautionary principle, 1, 2
Subsisting copyright edit
(I am not sure if there is actually a divergence between en and Commons on this)
en policy: works whose source country had copyright relations with the US at the time of publication are assumed to have subsisting copyright in the US, even if there is no evidence US formalities were followed
- Note: in practice this seems to be rarely enforced
- Statements of policy: Wikipedia:Non-U.S. copyrights#Subsisting copyrights
- Examples: 1, 2
Commons policy: also assume subsisting copyright
- Statements of policy: c:Commons:Subsisting copyright
- Examples: 1, 2
Freedom of panorama edit
en policy: only follow US law, "we accept images of buildings and structures taken anywhere in the world, but not images of sculptures or other works of art"
- Statements of policy: Wikipedia:Freedom of panorama, Template:FoP-USonly
Commons policy: only follow source country
- Statements of policy: c:Template:Not-free-US-FOP
Possibly unpublished works edit
(I am not sure if there is actually a divergence between en and Commons on this)
en policy: works claimed to be PD because old and unpublished must provide proof they were not published
PD-Italy edit
en, it, commons policy: Italian copyright on simple photos only extends 20 years; therefore Italian simple photos from before 1976 (URAA-20) are allowed
- Statements of policy: Template:PD-Italy, c:Template:PD-Italy
- Examples: 1
Commons policy from 2006 to 2012: Follow EU copyright directives on creative works, without an exception for Italian simple photos
- Discussions: c:Commons:Deletion requests/Template:PD-Italy
This is why many description pages for photos on it.wp contain the equivalent of "Do not move to Commons", which can be safely ignored.