ESEAP Hub/Public policy/Timor-Leste 2023 petition

This petition was handed over by a delegation of Wikipedians to Natália Carrascalão Antunes, Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste in Singapore, on 16 August.

Petition to the President and Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste regarding copyright of state publications, 16 August 2023

Dear Madams and Sirs, With the adoption of Lei N.º 14 / 2022 de 21 de Dezembro "Código do Direito de Autor e Direitos Conexos" Timor-Leste has for the first time passed its own law that protects copyrights. It guarantees the authors of texts, pictures and other intellectual property and regulates the use of commissioned works. In the United States and Australia, it is considered that government publications have been funded by citizens through their taxes. Publications are published generally under „public domain“ license and can thus be used by anyone. We, authors of Wikipedia from Timor-Leste and other countries, would like to ask the government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to follow this example and to make state texts, images, and other publications of East Timor under public domain license. This should apply to publications of the Office of the President, the government including all ministries, the Tribunal de Recurso and all other courts, the administrations of municipalities, postos and sucos, all state agencies including the police, the defence forces, as well as the Public Institutes (Instituto público I.P.) and Companies (Empresa pública E.P.), such as the "Institutu Nasionál Estatístika Timor-Leste", the "Instituto de Gestão de Equipamentos e Apoio ao Desenvolvimento de Infrastrutura" or "BEE Timor-Leste". Article 26 of Lei N.º 14 / 2022 states:

1. se a fotografia for efetuada em execução de um contrato de trabalho ou por encomenda, presume-se que o direito de autor pertence à entidade patronal ou à pessoa que fez a encomenda. 1. If the photograph is taken in performance of an employment contract or on commission, it is presumed that the copyright belongs to the employer or the person who placed the order.

Article 26 gives the government the option of releasing its publications under "public domain" license. For the citizens of Timor-Leste, it means the possibility of the free use of publications of the state. Many publications are already being used by many Timorese, without them being aware of the new copyright. The decision for "public domain" would give citizens legal certainty. We Wikipedians can use government publications, to better represent East Timor to the world. We already use older maps and photos on the basis of the former Indonesian law that used to apply in East Timor. Articles in Wikipedia thus present photos of the various East Timor's buildings and culture and illustrate articles about politicians and other representatives of the nation. With the decision for public domain it would also be possible to use the images in Wikipedia in the future and to give East Timor a face. In addition, the Wikimedia image database Commons serves as a source for everyone to find images for further use. National and international non-governmental organisations, the press, scientists, and business enterprises, such as tour operators, can use Commons for their work. With images, East Timor can be made known to the world and give the world a view on East Timor.