Official term
No Known Copyright
The institution has reasonable grounds to believe that copyright and related rights no longer cover the work, but cannot make a conclusive public-domain determination.
Version 1.0
Open the official termFor visitors
The Museum found no known copyright after review. Ordinary display, publication, preservation, and adaptation may proceed while the statement remains an evidence-based finding rather than a conclusive worldwide public-domain declaration.
Museum practice
These readings describe how the Museum normally presents, studies, publishes, and cares for a lawfully acquired work. The exact rights record, artist agreements, and applicable law continue to govern each object.
- Display the work
Ordinary museum practice
Ordinary display may proceed where the Museum's review found no known copyright and no contract or other-rights flag remains. The status should be stated accurately.
- Publish online
Ordinary museum practice
A normal collection page and useful access copy may be published with credit, the No Known Copyright statement, and the evidence supporting the Museum's review.
- Publish in print
Ordinary museum practice
Scholarship and print reproduction may proceed with attribution. High-value or worldwide publication may justify a fresh jurisdiction and other-rights check.
- Make preservation copies
Ordinary museum practice
Preservation, migration, emulation, and restoration may proceed, subject to any non-copyright terms and with changes documented.
- Share an adaptation
Ordinary museum practice
Adaptation may proceed where no other right or restriction applies. Credit the source and identify the new work or intervention.
- Make commercial use
Contextual museum use
Commercial reuse may proceed after a proportionate jurisdiction and other-rights check. Describe the record as No Known Copyright rather than a conclusive public-domain finding.
What the Museum can do
- Report that no copyright is known after investigation while preserving the uncertainty in the object record.
Conditions
- Use only after a reasonable effort to establish status and when no clearer statement applies.
What remains outside the term
- It is not a license, a warranty, a conclusive public-domain mark, or an orphan-work statement.
Exact English legal code
This entry is a status, mark, or case description rather than a public license. Its official definition is linked above.