• Its author (or the last of its authors in the case of a collaboration work) died more than 70 years ago (CPI art. L123-1) and did not benefit from any copyright extension (CPI art. L123-8, L123-9 and L123-10)^[1] ;
• It is an anonymous or pseudonymous work (the identity of the author has never been disclosed) or a collective work^[2] and more than 70 years have passed since its publication (CPI art. L123-3);
• It is the recording of an audiovisual or musical work already in the public domain, and more than 50 years have passed since the performance or the recording (CPI art. L211-4).

1. ↑ Copyright extensions must be considered only in the case of musical works and of authors Mort pour la France (died during conflict, in the service of France). In other cases, they are included in the 70 years post mortem auctoris length (see this statement of the Cour de Cassation).
2. ↑ The collective work status is quite restrictive, please make sure that it is actually established.

The composition of coats of arms are generally public domain with respect to copyright laws, and may be reproduced freely. This corresponds to the international traditional usage, and is explicitly stated in some national copyright laws. Some compositions, of more recent origin, may be copyrighted.

This is not a valid license as such, being a "public domain" statement for the coat of arms definition only. It must be completed with the copyright tag associated to the picture creation.

Restriction of use - Legal notice:
Most of the time, the usage of coats of arms is governed by legal restrictions, independent of the status of the depiction shown here. A coat of arms represents its owner. Though it can be freely represented, it cannot be appropriated, or used in such a way as to create a confusion with or a prejudice to its owner.