Are Soviet stamps overprinted in Uzbekistan public domain?

Unclear. When supplies of its new stamps ran low in 1993 and 1995, the Uzbek post overprinted stamps of the Soviet Union, and Wikimedia Commons does not say which rule covers those overprints. Their status is an open question.

Uzbekistan

Are Uzbekistan stamps public domain?

Yes: Uzbekistan stamps are public domain at any date, in the archive's reading of Wikimedia Commons. Commons tells uploaders to tag Uzbek stamps with its license for official symbols and signs that Uzbekistan's copyright law does not protect. Its stamp note gives no other reasoning and no cutoff year.

Why any date?

Commons' note on Uzbek stamps is one instruction: which of its license tags to use.¹ That license tag rests on Article 8 of Law No. 42 of July 20, 2006 on Copyright and Related Rights, which lists works that are not objects of copyright, among them official documents and official symbols and signs such as flags, emblems, orders and banknotes.² Commons does not state that a stamp is an official sign; in the archive's reading, the instruction to use the tag means Commons treats stamps as one. Commons uses the same tag for Uzbek currency, and notes that drafts for such items stay under copyright.¹

Postal history and copyright

The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was created in 1924, and Uzbekistan declared independence on August 31, 1991.¹ Its first stamps appeared on May 7, 1992; before then it used Soviet stamps.³ Commons' license tag for Uzbek stamps says Uzbekistan is the legal successor of the Uzbek SSR, so the tag also covers that republic's official symbols.² Commons covers stamps of the Soviet Union in a separate note, under Russia's exemption.⁴ In 1993 and 1995, when supplies of the new stamps ran low, the Uzbek post overprinted stamps of the Soviet Union.³ Commons does not say which rule covers those overprints.

References 4

↑ Copyright rules for Uzbekistan. Wikimedia Commons, July 4, 2023. Accessed October 8, 2026.
↑ Wikimedia Commons license tag (Uzbekistan). Wikimedia Commons, June 12, 2018. Accessed October 8, 2026.
↑ Postage stamps and postal history of Uzbekistan. Wikipedia, January 2, 2026. Accessed October 8, 2026.
↑ Copyright rules for the Soviet Union. Wikimedia Commons, December 24, 2025. Accessed October 8, 2026.

The rule by period

PeriodRule

Any datePublic domain: an official sign of the state, which its copyright law leaves unprotected.In the archive's reading, Commons treats every Uzbek stamp as an official sign under Article 8 of the 2006 copyright law.

Uzbekistan stamps and the public domain: questions

Are Uzbekistan stamps public domain?: Yes, at any date. In the archive's reading, Uzbek stamps are official signs, which Article 8 of Uzbekistan's 2006 copyright law puts outside copyright, so no cutoff year applies.
Which law makes Uzbek stamps public domain?: Article 8 of Uzbekistan's Law No. 42 of July 20, 2006 on Copyright and Related Rights. It lists works that are not objects of copyright, among them official documents and official symbols and signs such as flags, emblems, orders and banknotes, and in the archive's reading Uzbek stamps are among those official signs.
Are Soviet stamps overprinted in Uzbekistan public domain?: Unclear. When supplies of its new stamps ran low in 1993 and 1995, the Uzbek post overprinted stamps of the Soviet Union, and Wikimedia Commons does not say which rule covers those overprints. Their status is an open question.