The Tudor Crown (from 1913-1953) and the St Edwards crown (1953 - ) is by themselves in the public domain. The use replacement of the Tudor Crown with the St Edwards crown happened with the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II, as was the style chosen and used in her Cypher, and customary of female sovereigns, such that from 1953r, the all emblems, accoutrements and insignia with a Royal Tudor Crown of the armed forces of the commonwealth (incl. Australia) were replaced with the St Edwards crown [i][ii]. Plus the unique part of the design of the actual hat badg e being everything under the crown (given the Crown is an additional adornment to the emblem) existed within a few years of the opening of RMC and the creation of the CSC.
So either way, with the St Edwards crown existed from 1953, and the copyrighted portion of the badge would be under it. The same is true for all the Corps emblems (hat badges) created pre 1973, as I note many of the hat badges are listed as well under the "fair use" despite being public domain of lapsed Crown Copyright.
Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).
- ^ https://www.navy.gov.au/customs-and-traditions/brief-history-australian-naval-uniforms-0#:~:text=After%20Queen%20Elizabeth%20II's%20coronation,of%20the%20Commonwealth's%20armed%20forces.
- ^ https://jmvh.org/article/a-history-of-australian-navy-health-officer-uniforms-and-ranks-part-one/#:~:text=The%20accession%20of%20Elizabeth%20II%20in%201953%20resulted%20in%20a%20return%20to%20the%20St%20Edward%E2%80%99s%20crown%20used%20today.