Commons:Cheque

This page is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Commons contributors.
It is not a Commons policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it. Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page.

Copyright rules

Cheque sample for a bank in the United Kingdom

Cheques are widely used as a means of payment along with currency. Cheques for specific countries can be digitized by almost anyone using a scanner. However, cheques are the work of banks and are subject to country-specific copyright laws and the terms of use of cheque designs. Moreover, the use of reproductions of cheques may be controlled by counterfeiting law. This page documents licensing requirements of various kinds of cheque around the world and links the relevant categories on Wikimedia Commons.

Important points

With respect to similar images of cheques, please respect others' work and avoid overwriting existing files (those uploaded by other users). In general, it is better to upload a new file, please refer to Commons:Overwriting existing files.
The {{Counterfeiting}} tag is used to describe the terms under which an image on Commons may be printed without violating criminal counterfeiting law. This is particularly important for projects such as the print version of Wikipedia and other derivative print uses, which would wish to avoid inadvertently violating these laws. See the template page for an example of how this message is displayed.

Countries

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COM:CHQ China

China

OK {{PD-shape}} for cheques with simple designs. However, many Chinese cheques have security features that exceed threshold of originality and therefore Not OK.

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COM:CHQ Peru

Peru

OK in some cases Cheques are also not exempt from copyright law. However, pre-1971 designs are public domain and recent cheques often lack originality by bearing simple data, signatures or common identification codes. So templates must be taken: {{PD-Peru-organization}} or {{PD-simple}}.

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COM:CHQ South Korea

South Korea

Not OK. South Korean cheques are copyrighted by Korea Federation of Banks. Korea Federation of Banks doesn't provide terms of use.

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COM:CHQ United Kingdom

United Kingdom

OK in some cases. The design of standard UK cheques is below threshold of originality. However, many cheques include logos, watermarks, and other features that are sufficiently original to be protected by copyright; these cheques can not be uploaded to Commons.

References

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