Hans Martin Sutermeister at home, aug. 1961

This photograph was in the public domain in Switzerland before April 1, 2020, as it has no individual character. It has been protected by copyright since the amendment to the Copyright Act (CopA) on April 1, 2020. Existing use on Commons and for Wikimedia projects that started before April 1, 2020 is legal. (Art. 80 par. 2 of the CoA)

According to applicable case law, the individual expression of thought required for protection was present if the photograph was given an individual character e.g. by the choice of framing, the use of camera settings or the editing of the image. Conversely, it was not present, irrespective of the object and the setting, if the image was a mere "point-and-click" image with no individual characteristics. See Blau Guggenheim v. British Broadcasting Corporation BBC, BGE 130 (2004) III S. 714-720.

The {{PD-Switzerland-photo-non-individual-50-years}} license can be used for photographs without an individual character that are older than 50 years.