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Imaginalis

Is the Rider-Waite tarot in the public domain?

Yes. The 78 cards Pamela Colman Smith drew in 1909 are in the public domain in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, as of October 2026. The name "Rider-Waite" is a trademark, though, and modern recoloured editions have rights of their own.

Last checked 28 October 2026.

The answer, country by country

The deck came out in London in 1909, and Waite’s guide to it, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, followed at the end of 1910. Whether a work is still under copyright depends on the country, but for these two the answer is the same in the US, the UK and the EU.

In the United States, a work first published before 1931 is now in the public domain. The cut-off moves forward by one year every 1 January, and both the deck and Waite’s book are far older than that.

In the United Kingdom, copyright lasts until the end of the 70th year after the author dies. Smith died in 1951, so her pictures have been free since 1 January 2022. Waite died in 1942, so his words have been free since 1 January 2013.

The European Union has the same rule, life plus 70 years, and so the same dates.

Some people ask whether Waite counts as a co-author of the pictures, since he wrote that Smith made them “under my supervision”. It makes no difference here. For a joint work the 70 years run from the death of the last author, and that is Smith in 1951 either way.

A few countries protect works for longer than 70 years after the author dies. If you live outside the US, the UK and the EU, check the rule where you are.

Why the scans on this site are free to use

A scan or photo that copies a flat picture as exactly as it can does not make a new work. A US court said so in 1999, in a case about photos of old paintings. In the EU, a 2019 law says a copy of a public-domain picture gets no new rights, unless the copy is itself creative. In the UK, the Intellectual Property Office thinks it “unlikely” that such a copy is original.

The card scans here are of an early printing, made around 1910, which collectors call Pam-A. They come from Wikimedia Commons. We only crop the white edge of the scanner glass and make smaller copies for the page. We don’t retouch or recolour them. Each one carries the Public Domain Mark, and you may use them for anything, including work you sell. A credit is kind but not required. Sources and licences lists where every image comes from.

What is not in the public domain

U.S. Games Systems acquired the rights to publish the deck in 1971. Its editions have new colouring, new card backs and new boxes. In 2021 the company said that “exact reproductions, including card backs and interpretations of colorization” remain its own. Whatever one thinks of that claim, you stay clear of it if you start from an early printing, or from scans like ours, and leave modern boxed decks alone.

The same goes for Waite’s book. Some later reprints add a new introduction by another writer, and that new text has its own copyright. Our transcription of the 1911 printing leaves them out.

“Rider-Waite” is a trademark

Copyright and trademarks protect different things. Copyright covers a work, such as a drawing or a book. A trademark covers a name or sign used to sell goods, so that buyers know who made them. It can stay in force while the pictures are free.

U.S. Games holds US trademarks on names for the deck, among them RIDER-WAITE, and says it owns the rights to that mark. “Rider” was the London publisher, William Rider & Son.

In a sentence, you can usually name the deck people know, to say which deck you mean. UK and EU law allow a mark to be used to refer to goods, if the use is honest, and US courts allow the same “nominative” use. Selling your own deck, print or app under that name is another matter. This site mostly says “the 1909 deck” or “Smith’s deck”, and uses the familiar name where it helps you know which deck we mean.

What you can do

You can print the 1909 cards, put them in a book or a film, or make your own deck from them. All of that is open to you, including for sale. Two things to watch: don’t copy a modern recoloured edition, and don’t sell your work under the trademarked names.

This page explains the rules as we understand them, as of October 2026. It is not legal advice. Laws differ from country to country and they change. If money or a product depends on the answer, ask a lawyer where you live.

Sources

  1. Works first published outside the United States before 1931 are in the public domain there (the chart as updated on 1 January 2026).Peter B. Hirtle, "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States", Cornell University Library
  2. How US terms for older works are worked out, renewal included.US Copyright Office, Circular 15A, "Duration of Copyright"
  3. UK: copyright expires 70 years from the end of the year in which the author dies; for a joint work, from the death of the last author.Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 12(2) and 12(8)
  4. EU: the same term of life plus 70 years, counted from 1 January of the year after the death, and from the last surviving author of a joint work.Directive 2006/116/EC on the term of protection of copyright, articles 1 and 8
  5. Waite wrote that the designs were "prepared under my supervision—in respect of the attributions and meanings—by a lady who has high claims as an artist".Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Preface, pp. viii–ix
  6. Smith died on 18 September 1951 and Waite on 19 May 1942.Wikidata, Pamela Colman Smith (Q515745) and Arthur Edward Waite (Q553124)
  7. Some countries protect works for longer than 70 years after the author dies.Wikipedia, "List of countries’ copyright lengths"
  8. US: an exact photographic copy of a public-domain picture is not original, so it has no copyright of its own.Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp., 36 F. Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999)
  9. EU: a reproduction of a work of visual art whose term has expired is not protected, unless the reproduction is itself original.Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market, article 14
  10. UK: "it seems unlikely that what is merely a retouched, digitised image of an older work can be considered as ‘original’".Intellectual Property Office, "Copyright Notice: digital images, photographs and the internet" (updated 4 January 2021)
  11. U.S. Games Systems said in January 2021 that the copyright from Smith ends on 31 December 2021, that the date depends on the jurisdiction, that "exact reproductions, including card backs and interpretations of colorization" stay theirs, and that it "owns exclusive rights to the RIDER-WAITE mark".Rachel Mohan, "Rider Waite Smith Tarot deck may enter public domain [Correction]", The Wild Hunt, 27 January 2021
  12. U.S. Games Systems acquired the rights to publish the deck in 1971.Wikipedia, "U.S. Games Systems"
  13. RIDER-WAITE is a registered US trademark of U.S. Games Systems (serial 90464140, registration 6,471,032).US Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Status and Document Retrieval, serial 90464140
  14. A trademark protects a name or sign that identifies the source of goods; it does not cover the work itself.US Patent and Trademark Office, "What is a trademark?"
  15. UK and EU law allow a trademark to be used to identify or refer to goods, in line with honest practices.Trade Marks Act 1994, section 11(2)(c); Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the EU trade mark, article 14(1)(c)
  16. US courts allow "nominative" use of a mark to name the thing it names, when no more of the mark is used than needed.New Kids on the Block v. News America Publishing, Inc., 971 F.2d 302 (9th Cir. 1992)
  17. The scans used here are of an early printing that collectors call Pam-A; Wikimedia Commons tags them public domain.Wikimedia Commons, File:RWS Tarot 01 Magician.jpg (source muzendo.jp, uploaded April 2024)