On 6/3/06, Jimmy Wales <jwales(a)wikia.com> wrote:
I think there is no easy answer. It would be best to
contact the exact
office or institution which commissioned them and ask for a letter
clarifying the copyright status.
It is possible that the government purchased both the copyright and the
physical object, but also possible that the government merely purchased
the physical object.
And in either scenario it's possible that the work is not in the
public domain. As is stated in 17 U.S.C. ยง 105, "the United States
Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights
transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise."