Wikipedia

File:The Beatles Abbey Road album cover.jpg

Original file (3,000 × 3,000 pixels, file size: 2.88 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
This media file has been nominated for deletion since 3 March 2026.
To discuss it, please visit the nomination page.

Do not remove this tag until the deletion nomination is closed.

Reason for the nomination:
The image currently lacks strong evidence to support the claim that this photo was originally published in the US without copyright information. The source for this assertion at present is a random Ebay listing. As this is a very famous professional image that is best known for being the cover of a commercially released Beatles album, a much stronger source is needed to establish that the copyright owner made this mistake.
In other languages
Afrikaans ∙ العربية ∙ azərbaycanca ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ বাংলা ∙ català ∙ čeština ∙ dansk ∙ Deutsch ∙ Deutsch (Sie-Form) ∙ Zazaki ∙ ދިވެހިބަސް ∙ Ελληνικά ∙ English ∙ Esperanto ∙ español ∙ euskara ∙ estremeñu ∙ فارسی ∙ suomi ∙ français ∙ galego ∙ עברית ∙ हिन्दी ∙ hrvatski ∙ magyar ∙ հայերեն ∙ interlingua ∙ Bahasa Indonesia ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ ಕನ್ನಡ ∙ 한국어 ∙ кыргызча ∙ Lëtzebuergesch ∙ македонски ∙ മലയാളം ∙ Bahasa Melayu ∙ بهاس ملايو ∙ norsk bokmål ∙ नेपाली ∙ Nederlands ∙ norsk nynorsk ∙ norsk ∙ occitan ∙ polski ∙ português ∙ português do Brasil ∙ română ∙ русский ∙ sicilianu ∙ slovenščina ∙ shqip ∙ српски / srpski ∙ svenska ∙ ślůnski ∙ тоҷикӣ ∙ ไทย ∙ Türkçe ∙ українська ∙ Tiếng Việt ∙ 中文 ∙ 中文（中国大陆） ∙ 中文（简体） ∙ 中文（繁體） ∙ +/−

Summary

Description
English: Front cover of Abbey Road by The Beatles. The view really is Abbey Road, London, NW8 looking north. The gates of the Abbey Road Studios are behind the white VW Beetle on the left.
Date

In the United Kingdom, a colorless portion of the cover was published on 20 September 1969,[1] while the album was released six days later with the catalog number PCS 7088.[2] In the United States, the album was released on 3 October[3] with the catalog number SO 383.[2] In South Africa, it was released on or before 11 October.[4]

In the UK, the full copyright term of this cover will end in 2077 at the earliest. In the US, it will end in 1965. In South Africa, it ended in 2020, per COM:South Africa. Since publication in South Africa occurred within 30 days of first publication in the UK, South Africa is the country of origin of this cover under the Berne Convention definition.

References

  1. ↑ Connolly, Ray (20 September 1969). "Following Their Kerb Drill in Abbey Road". Evening Standard. p. 7.
  2. ↑ a b Womack, Kenneth (21 November 2016) The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four, Bloomsbury Publishing, p. 23 ISBN: 9798216052012.
  3. ↑ See the right advertisement on page 581 of the 28 September 1969 issue of The Los Angeles Times, as well as the bottom left advertisement on page 39 of the 2 October 1969 issue of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Womack claims that the album was released in the US on 1 October, but we should take the benefit of the doubt.
  4. ↑ See the Fun City Stores advertisement on page 20 of the 11 October 1969 issue of the Rand Daily Mail.
Source https://ukstore.thebeatles.com/collections/vinyl/products/abbey-road-anniversary-edition-vinyl-lp
Author
John Kosh (fl. 1965–) wikidata:Q6243416
 
Description American-British poster artist, film director, television director and film producer
Date of birth 20th century
date QS:P,+1950-00-00T00:00:00Z/7
 Edit this at Wikidata
Location of birth London Edit this at Wikidata
Work period 1965 Edit this at Wikidata–
Authority file
creator QS:P170,Q6243416
(album design)
Iain Macmillan (1938–2006) wikidata:Q715186
 
Alternative names
Iain Stewart Macmillan
Description British photographer
Date of birth/death 20 October 1938 Edit this at Wikidata 8 May 2006 Edit this at Wikidata
Location of birth/death Dundee Edit this at Wikidata Carnoustie Edit this at Wikidata
Authority file
creator QS:P170,Q715186
(photograph)
Permission
(Reusing this file)

We only need to look at copies released in the US because under Heim v. Universal Pictures Co., those released elsewhere did not need a copyright notice. For copies of SO 383, see:

Featured picture

Wikimedia Commons

This is a featured picture on Wikimedia Commons (Featured pictures) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here.

If you have an image of similar quality that can be published under a suitable copyright license, be sure to upload it, tag it, and nominate it.

Licensing

This work is in the public domain in its source country for the following reason:
Public domain This work was first published in South Africa and is now in the public domain because its copyright protection has expired by virtue of the Copyright Act No. 98 of 1978, amended 2002. The work meets one of the following criteria:
  • It is an anonymous work or pseudonymous work and 50 years have passed since the date of its publication.
  • It is a broadcast or sound recording and 50 years have passed since the year the programme was published.
  • It is a cinematographic or photographic work and 50 years have passed since the date of its creation.
  • It is an artistic, literary or musical work created under the direction of the state or an international organization and 50 years have passed since the year the work was published.
  • It is another kind of work, and 50 years have passed since the year of death of the author (or last-surviving author).

A South African work that is in the public domain in South Africa according to this rule is in the public domain in the U.S. only if it was in the public domain in South Africa in 1996, e.g. if it was published before 1946 and no copyright was registered in the U.S. (This is the effect of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.)

This work is in the public domain in the United States for the following reason:
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1931 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart as well as a detailed definition of "publication" for public art.
Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.

العربية ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ čeština ∙ Deutsch ∙ Ελληνικά ∙ English ∙ español ∙ فارسی ∙ français ∙ Bahasa Indonesia ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ 한국어 ∙ македонски ∙ Nederlands ∙ português ∙ русский ∙ sicilianu ∙ slovenščina ∙ ไทย ∙ Tiếng Việt ∙ 中文（简体） ∙ 中文（繁體） ∙ +/−

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

Public domain
This non-U.S. work was published in 1931 or later, but is in the public domain in the United States because it was simultaneously published (within 30 days) in the U.S. and in its source country and is in the public domain in the U.S. as a U.S. work (no copyright registered, or not renewed).
For background information, see the explanations on Non-U.S. copyrights. Note: in addition to this statement, there must be a statement on this page explaining why the work is in the public domain in the U.S. Additionally, there must be verifiable information about previous publications of the work.
This work was simultaneously published in 1969 in the United States and
  • United Kingdom
  • South Africa

Wikimedia Commons normally treats works published simultaneously in the U.S. and elsewhere in the same way as works first published in the U.S.
While the U.S. copyright has been shown to have expired, the copyright in one or more of the other source countries remains. Reusers of this file outside of the U.S. should take care that restrictions on usage may remain in their country.

Original upload log

The original description page was here. All following user names refer to en.wikipedia.
Date/Time Dimensions User Comment
2024-10-11 16:08 316×316× (159905 bytes) Ordinaryisabel uploaded updated scan from the album's 2019 reissue
2023-02-07 11:30 316×316× (114980 bytes) IceWelder Slight upres; officlal crop
2021-01-01 01:07 300×300× (89688 bytes) Mediafanatic17 Reverted to version as of 11:58, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
2020-12-29 16:40 316×316× (135448 bytes) DatBot Reduce size of non-free image ([[WP:BOT|BOT]] - [[User:DatBot/NonFreeImageResizer/Run|disable]])
2020-12-25 16:26 1000×1000× (1317486 bytes) ColorfulSmoke
2010-10-17 11:58 300×300× (89688 bytes) HeinzzzderMannn Reverted to version as of 06:45, 9 December 2009 too high resolution for fair use, also shit quality

Captions

Front cover of the album "Abbey Road" by The Beatles.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current15:40, 25 January 2026Thumbnail for version as of 15:40, 25 January 20263,000 × 3,000 (2.88 MB)HeylennyKeep this version, per Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:The Beatles Abbey Road album cover.jpg
20:45, 23 January 2026Thumbnail for version as of 20:45, 23 January 20261,306 × 1,306 (1.75 MB)MiklogfeatherReverted to version as of 06:22, 7 January 2026 (UTC) The higher resolution image actually has less detail. Paul's collar, for instance, is more pixelated
14:13, 20 January 2026Thumbnail for version as of 14:13, 20 January 20263,000 × 3,000 (2.88 MB)NyescumHigher resolution
06:22, 7 January 2026Thumbnail for version as of 06:22, 7 January 20261,306 × 1,306 (1.75 MB)HeylennyReverted to version as of 23:55, 23 December 2025 (UTC) not "fair use"
06:20, 7 January 2026Thumbnail for version as of 06:20, 7 January 2026300 × 300 (88 KB)ZappingsbrewToo high resolution for fair use
23:55, 23 December 2025Thumbnail for version as of 23:55, 23 December 20251,306 × 1,306 (1.75 MB)MiklogfeatherHigher quality version from Tidal
13:59, 23 December 2025Thumbnail for version as of 13:59, 23 December 20251,200 × 1,200 (264 KB)Ordinaryisabelupdated to use official 2019 scan, slightly higher res
02:57, 23 December 2025Thumbnail for version as of 02:57, 23 December 20251,080 × 1,080 (819 KB)JohnCWiesenthalAdding a version with a higher resolution
01:54, 23 December 2025Thumbnail for version as of 01:54, 23 December 2025300 × 300 (88 KB)OgreBot(BOT): Uploading old version of file from en.wikipedia; originally uploaded on 2010-10-17 11:58:55 by HeinzzzderMannn
01:49, 23 December 2025Thumbnail for version as of 01:49, 23 December 2025316 × 316 (156 KB)AntiCompositeNumber== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |Description={{en|Front cover of ''Abbey Road'' by The Beatles. The view really is Abbey Road, London, NW8 looking north (). The gates of the Abbey Road Studios are behind the white VW Beetle on the left.}} |Source=https://open.spotify.com/album/26ZV7BuCkdY3INkETgEJ0e?si=-5kn-WvIQsesSQGof-BD3w |Date={{original upload date|2010-10-17}} |Author=John Kosh (alb...

The following 76 pages use this file:

Global file usage

The following other wikis use this file:

View more global usage of this file.

Metadata

This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.

If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Beatles_Abbey_Road_album_cover.jpg"