This work might not be available under a free license in the United States because it is based on an artwork or sculpture that may be protected by copyright under U.S. law. (Commons is hosted in the United States and as such, U.S. law is applicable.)
In the source country of the artwork or sculpture, taking photographs of such works permanently located in a public place does not generally infringe on their copyright, under a principle known as "freedom of panorama".
In U.S. law, there is no freedom of panorama for artwork or sculptures, and under the choice-of-law principle lex loci protectionis, U.S. courts might apply U.S. freedom of panorama standards to this work, rather than the standards of the source country. However, in practice, it is unsettled whether and how this approach would be applied in real-world U.S. legal cases involving freedom of panorama elements.
The current policy on Commons is to accept photos of artwork and sculptures that are covered by freedom of panorama in their source country. This policy may change in the future, depending on the outcome of community discussions and new case law.
This is not a valid license tag on Commons; this file must be usable under freedom of panorama in its source country or it will be deleted.
(b) works (being sculptures, models for buildings, or works of artistic craftsmanship) that are permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public.
(2) Copyright in a work to which this section applies is not infringed by—
(a) copying the work by making a graphic work representing it; or
(b) copying the work by making a photograph or film of it; or
(c) communicating to the public a visual image of the work.
(3) Copyright is not infringed by the issue to the public of copies, or the communication to the public, of anything the making of which was, under this section, not an infringement of copyright.
