Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 December 4

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December 4

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Iwo Jima Marine Memorial

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Hello, When I enter "Iwo Jima Memorial" in the search box up comes an article on the Marine Iwo Jima Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery with a nice clear photograph of the memorial sculpture. So, my question is: Is this photo image considered to be "in the public domain"? That is I see no copyright mark or attribution and I wish to use that photo image to make a U.S. postage stamp. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.107.99.9 (talk) 18:08, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The picture is claimed to be in the public domain because it was produced by the US government. As for making a US postage stamp... unless you're in charge of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, you're not going to be doing that. Besides which, that's already been done, twice at least:[1][2]Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:29, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Your claim about making stamps is incorrect - you don't have to be the BEP, USPS allows users to make custom stamps with custom images through certain third-pardy vendors, see here [3]. Perhaps the OP just wants a stamp with a specific picture, and doesn't want to use several old, collectible, out-of-print postage stamps just to mail a letter. Photographs that suit the OP's need may even be freely available online through the Library of Congress collections linked to Zazzle. SemanticMantis (talk) 19:44, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good! Thanks for the tip. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:40, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
To teach you how to fish... If you click on the image, you will see the licensing information for that photo. That's the way images work here at Wikipedia. You must click on the image. The copyright status of each image will not be on every article that uses that image. Dismas|(talk) 21:29, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
What about the lack of "Freedom of Panorama" in America? Or is the statue itself also considered to be public domain? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:42, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Good question. According to Felix de Weldon, the statue was commissioned by the U.S Government. You would think the inquiry would end there – that that would mean it was PD – but then you look at Copyright status of work by the U.S. government#Works produced by contractors and start tearing your hair out.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:27, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]