Commons:Deletion requests/File:USPS Logo.png

I tagged this image for speedy deletion because "USPS works are not in the public domain. See Compendium Of U.S. Copyright Office Practices § 313.6(C)(1) (3d ed. 2017)." User:Galendalia removed the tag, saying "Removed statement about it being a violation for numerous reasons, it is not copyrighted, it is a registered trademark, USPS is an independent agency". I still believe that I was correct.

USPS is an independent agency, but it is one whose works can be copyrighted. See Compendium Of U.S. Copyright Office Practices § 313.6(C)(1) (3d ed. 2017) ("Works prepared by officers or employees of the U.S. Postal Service... are not considered works of the U.S. government."); see also H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 60 (1976) ("In accordance with the objectives of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, this [prohibition on copyrighting Federal works] does not apply to works created by employees of the United States Postal Service.") Things can be both copyrighted and trademarked. And not only is the "eagle" design copyrightable, but it appears to actually have been accepted for registration by the Copyright Office (no. VA000130031). Mdaniels5757 (talk) 03:12, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I do not accept the argument being proposed for the following reasons:

According to USPS, it has given permission for its logo to be used in educational releases (see https://about.usps.com/doing-business/rights-permissions/fair-use-exceptions.htm). Also, if this has to be deleted then all versions of their logo and everyone else’s has to be deleted.

It is their logo and according to Wikipedia itself, logos may be used in accordance with the respective articles. This file was uploaded since it is one of many variations of its logo and is being used in creating pages related to USPS.

Only the stamps of USPS are copyright works. The logo is a registered trademark for the USPS. The referenced articles by User:Mdaniels5757 also state only the USPS stamps are copyrighted. The logo copyrighted he/she expresses can only be one of two logos in which they have the copyright to which is the Express Mail® Logo and the Priority Mail® Logo (per https://about.usps.com/doing-business/rights-permissions/logo-trademark-usage.htm) in which you need permission to use and must pay a fee. You also cannot use their logos for profit or other certain items as listed on the page linked previous this sentence.

Wikipedia identifies itself as being a one source educational stop for all of humanity and just a mere search of the internet for “USPS logo” will yield hundreds of results and images depicting not only the file I uploaded but other variations as well as previous versions (including inside Wikipedia articles themselves).--Galendalia (talk) 05:30, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Fair use media is not allowed on Wikimedia Commons. If this DR results in deletion, this logo can be moved to the English Wikipedia, which allows fair use. However, this logo might be below COM:TOO, so this might not be copyrightable. pandakekok9 06:41, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

•  Delete Never mind, this logo is complex enough to be copyrightable. This should have been speedily deleted. --pandakekok9 06:47, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

•  Keep The logo should be allowed and is used all over Wikipedia including on the actual USPS Wikipedia entry. This is the actual version with colors in which they have many. It is not copyrighted from anything I can find online and no one has yet to prove that it is copyrighted. I have given it the proper credits and templates on the page. In H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 60 (1976) it states specifically “The intent of section 105 is to restrict the prohibition against Gov­ernment copyright to works written by employees of the United States Government within the scope of their official duties. In accordance with the objectives of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, this section does not apply to works created by employees of the United States Postal Service. In addition to enforcing the criminal statutes proscribing the forgery or counterfeiting of postage stamps, the Postal Service could, if it chooses, use the copyright law to prevent the reproduction of postage stamp designs for private or commercial non-postal services (for example. in philatelic publications and cata­logs, in general advertising, in art reproductions, in textile designs, and so forth). However, any copyright claimed by the Postal Service in its works, including postage stamp designs, would be subject to the same conditions, formalities, and time limits as other copyrightable.” (If you are going to quote something please use the entire quote and not just a partial that shows your stand).

The use of the logo is public domain by law as it is a work of the federal government as defined in Compendium Of U.S. Copyright Office Practices § 313.6(C)(1) (3d ed. 2017).

Furthermore after searching through the copyright database using the ID the first user used, it does not come up with anything by the USPS but if I search by name, it comes up with over 600 pages of which 98% of them are stamps (others are their newsletters, zip code book, internally used manuals).

Galendalia (talk) 10:55, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• @Galendalia: The database is weird, but here is a link to the entry to which I was referring: [1]. Mdaniels5757 (talk) 15:04, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• @Mdaniels5757: Thank you for that, however, the rest of what I stated still stands. As it is public domain as part of the US Government. Galendalia (talk) 18:26, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• @Mdaniels5757: I would encourage you to visit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service where you will see a variation of the logo being used as fair use. Galendalia (talk) 18:32, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• @Galendalia: Fair use is not allowed on Commons. --Mdaniels5757 (talk) 18:40, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• @Mdaniels5757: I understand that, so it seems like you are basically saying we should not have any USPS pictures on Wikipedia? Since they own the rights to all of their items, this includes packing boxes, vehicles, collection boxes (anything that displays their logo)? Would this not go for UPS, Amazon, etc. since all of those companies have trademarked/copyrighted logos as well on Wikipedia?

• @Galendalia: Amazon's logo is probably below the threshold of originality, and an image of its logo had a deletion request declined on that basis (I'm not aware of anything involving UPS, and to me its logo is probably close to the line of what's copyrightable). I think that this logo is copyrighted, not freely licensed, and therefore cannot be hosted on Wikimedia Commons. Similar images that uses non-free works (except de minimis usage) should be deleted for the same reasons. Note that English Wikipedia allows fair use, and if this image is deleted from Wikimedia Commons, it will go there instead. Mdaniels5757 (talk) 20:27, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
• @Mdaniels5757: Can you just go ahead and move it there then so we can end this discussion? --Galendalia (talk) 20:45, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

•  Delete not simple enough and USPS works are copyright. A similar logo on the enwiki w:File:United States Postal Service Logo.svg is a non-free image used in the infobox of the article about the organisation. Ww2censor (talk) 17:31, 26 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted: per nomination - It is perfectly clear that all works of the USPS have a copyright. Commons does not accept works that are only for educational use or need a "fair use" argument. .     Jim . . . (Jameslwoodward) (talk to me) 16:12, 4 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]