Are Egyptian stamps public domain?

Only the older ones. Egyptian stamps published before 1946 are public domain, because their 50-year term as collective works has ended and they were already free in Egypt when American copyright was restored on January 1, 1996. Commons marks stamps from 1946 on as not free, since Egypt Post asserts its rights over its materials.

Can I use old Egyptian stamps commercially?

Stamps published before 1946 can be, with one limit. Egyptian stamps published before 1946 are public domain in Egypt and the United States. Egypt's Law 82 of 2002, Article 124, bars any Egyptian stamp from use in an industrial design, whatever its copyright status.

Are United Arab Republic stamps public domain?

No. Egyptian stamps carried the name United Arab Republic from 1958 to 1971, after the 1946 cutoff, and Egyptian stamps from 1946 on are not treated as free because Egypt Post asserts its rights over its materials. The series has no separate rule.

Egypt

Are Egypt stamps public domain?

Egyptian stamps published before 1946 are public domain, according to Wikimedia Commons. Commons does not accept later stamps: Egypt Post, which issues them, asserts its rights over its materials, and Commons marks Egyptian stamps from 1946 on as not free. The 1946 cutoff is a fixed date and does not move with the calendar.

Why 1946?

The date comes from one of Commons' license tags.¹ Egypt's Intellectual Property Law 82 of 2002 protects a collective work held by a legal entity for 50 years from publication (Article 162).¹² Commons also requires a work to be free in the United States. The tag says Egyptian works of a legal person published before 1946 were already free in Egypt on January 1, 1996, the date American copyright was restored for foreign works, so it was never restored for them.¹ Commons' general rules say such works published more than 50 years ago are out of copyright in Egypt, but only those published before 1946 are free in the United States.² That is why the line sits at 1946.

Postal history and copyright

Egypt issued its first stamps on January 1, 1866, while it was an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire, and British forces occupied the country in 1882.³ Commons dates the British protectorate from November 5, 1914 and Britain's declaration of Egyptian independence to February 22, 1922.² Stamps from all of these periods, and from the first decades of the kingdom, fall before the 1946 cutoff, and Commons' tag covers Egyptian stamps published before 1946 without dividing them by period. Later series carry other names: Egypt overprinted its stamps "Palestine" for Gaza from 1948 to 1967, and its stamps bore the name United Arab Republic from 1958 to 1971.³ All of them come after 1946, and Commons' note on stamps does not discuss either series separately.

References 3

↑ Wikimedia Commons license tag (Egypt). Wikimedia Commons, September 11, 2026. Accessed October 8, 2026.
↑ Copyright rules for Egypt. Wikimedia Commons, August 17, 2026. Accessed October 8, 2026.
↑ Postage stamps and postal history of Egypt. Wikipedia, May 14, 2026. Accessed October 8, 2026.

Copyright law in Egypt

Egypt’s own stamps follow the rule below. The historical issuers named here are read under the country’s general copyright law. A design answers Likely yes or Likely no only when every term that could apply agrees, and Unclear when they disagree.

Named designer: 50 years after the designer’s death
Anonymous: 50 years from issue
Note: Egypt Post claims copyright in its stamps. Only stamps published before 1946 are treated as public domain.

Historical issuers read under this law: Alexandria (French Post Office), Egypt (British Forces), Egypt (French Post Offices), Gaza (Egyptian Occupation), Port Said (French Post Office), United Arab Republic.

Read from Wikimedia Commons, copyright rules for Egypt, revision 1262650351, checked October 8, 2026

The rule by period

PeriodRule

Before 1946Public domain: published before 1946.Commons accepts these under one of its license tags: they were already free in Egypt when American restoration took effect on January 1, 1996, and their 50-year term as collective works has ended.

From 1946Copyrighted: Egypt Post asserts copyright.Commons marks these not OK, citing copyright notices on Egypt Post's website in 2011 and 2024.

Sources Commons cites 2

Egypt stamps and the public domain: questions

Are Egyptian stamps public domain?: Only the older ones. Egyptian stamps published before 1946 are public domain, because their 50-year term as collective works has ended and they were already free in Egypt when American copyright was restored on January 1, 1996. Commons marks stamps from 1946 on as not free, since Egypt Post asserts its rights over its materials.
Can I use old Egyptian stamps commercially?: Stamps published before 1946 can be, with one limit. Egyptian stamps published before 1946 are public domain in Egypt and the United States. Egypt's Law 82 of 2002, Article 124, bars any Egyptian stamp from use in an industrial design, whatever its copyright status.
Are United Arab Republic stamps public domain?: No. Egyptian stamps carried the name United Arab Republic from 1958 to 1971, after the 1946 cutoff, and Egyptian stamps from 1946 on are not treated as free because Egypt Post asserts its rights over its materials. The series has no separate rule.
Will the 1946 cutoff change?: No. The 1946 cutoff for Egyptian stamps is fixed, because it rests on January 1, 1996, the date American copyright was restored for foreign works. Only Egyptian stamps published before 1946 were already free in Egypt by that date.