A widely acclaimed novel from 1945 would not typically enter the public domain until 70 years after the author’s death, due to intellectual copyright protection. Yet, a German translation of one such novel was incorrectly tagged as belonging to the public domain and erroneously uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. In November 2022, we received a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown request from the copyright owner relating to the material. After an investigation revealed that the request was valid, the Legal Department took action to remove the translated novel from Wikimedia Commons, ensuring that only appropriately licensed work remains on the projects.
