Hi, I am wondering if I'm allowed to copy a coin-taking a mould of the relevant details and casting into them(not to be sold as a coin or fraudulent currency but as part of a larger piece of art about the space race, but commercial, just using the bust of him). The coin is a 1960s soviet union piece.
I'm unsure if the likeness of him on the coin is from a photograph, presumably so.
Thank you for any help.
Yuri Gagarin coin
Re: Yuri Gagarin coin
Hi mp,
Clearly the law which is applicable here is the Copyright Law of the Soviet Union from that time. This will most likely be their law of 1961 which applied throughout that decade. The Soviet Union did not join the Universal Copyright Convention until 1973, and prior to that it did not have reciprocal arrangements with other nations over copyright protection, so it is arguable that the UK today would not recognise the copyright in any works produced in the Soviet Union during the pre-1973 period.
The Soviet domestic copyright law of 1961 only protected works which were 'socially useful'. It is not clear to me exactly what this category consisted of. Works produced by employees of the state did not enjoy any protection, and for works which did qualify (as socially useful) the term of protection was the lifetime of the author plus 15 years from the end of the year of their death.
So to summarise, I don't think the design of the coin would originally have been protected, firstly because it would have been the work of an a state employee, and secondly it seems unlikely that it would have qualified as being socially useful. And lastly even if neither of those factors applied, if the designer of the coin died before 2010 as seems likely, any copyright would have now have lapsed. Furhermore the UK courts would not recognise the validity of a claim of infringement if it was made today.
On that basis I can't see any significant objection to making copies of these coins provided that you do not intend to pass them off as genuine coins (which might amount to fraud).
Clearly the law which is applicable here is the Copyright Law of the Soviet Union from that time. This will most likely be their law of 1961 which applied throughout that decade. The Soviet Union did not join the Universal Copyright Convention until 1973, and prior to that it did not have reciprocal arrangements with other nations over copyright protection, so it is arguable that the UK today would not recognise the copyright in any works produced in the Soviet Union during the pre-1973 period.
The Soviet domestic copyright law of 1961 only protected works which were 'socially useful'. It is not clear to me exactly what this category consisted of. Works produced by employees of the state did not enjoy any protection, and for works which did qualify (as socially useful) the term of protection was the lifetime of the author plus 15 years from the end of the year of their death.
So to summarise, I don't think the design of the coin would originally have been protected, firstly because it would have been the work of an a state employee, and secondly it seems unlikely that it would have qualified as being socially useful. And lastly even if neither of those factors applied, if the designer of the coin died before 2010 as seems likely, any copyright would have now have lapsed. Furhermore the UK courts would not recognise the validity of a claim of infringement if it was made today.
On that basis I can't see any significant objection to making copies of these coins provided that you do not intend to pass them off as genuine coins (which might amount to fraud).
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
Re: Yuri Gagarin coin
Thank you for that extremely detailed and thoughtful reply. I'm very grateful for your help. Happy and healthy 2025 to you 