Can an SVG representation of something public domain be copyrighted

Question

specifically can an SVG of a country flag be copyrighted? Country flags are not copyrighted, and thus a png etc. of country flag I guess is not copyrighted, but if two people make png of country flag of size 24px width 16px height I guess they will have the same content.if two people make svg of the same flag the content can be wildly different while the appearance would be quite different.

bryanrasmussen · Accepted Answer

I just found out that hey theoretically country flags can be copyrighted because the Aboriginal flag of Australia is https://www.allens.com.au/insights-news/insights/2022/02/The... although is free for many uses now. Also I guess there may be some copyright system somewhere in the world where they are, but that also seems edge case - for most real world discussion I would say the visual appearance of the flags is not copyrighted.

warrenm · Answer

This is going to depend on where you are in the world
Anyone can take a photo, for example, of my hand - and everyone who does will have a copyrighted photograph that they made ... unless they choose to release it to the public domain (at least in the US)
Your SVG rendition of the leaning tower of Pisa (a public location) can be copyrighted
Just like my rendition of it can be
But your rendition is not my rendition (unless one of us copied it from the other)
What you might actually be looking for is trademark law, though, and not copyright law - for example, the notice on any Coke product reads similar to (in part), "the dynamic ribbon device is trademarked by Coca-Cola Corporation