Getty treated itself as the state and the work as a government royalty subject. (government royalty subject is what your work becomes if you do a work-for-hire for a continental European government, i.e. the government becoming the copyright owner)
In the USA all works of the government are considered public domain. The idea of a public copyright is a legal contradiction in terms. So it's perfectly legal to take PDFs of official government publications and republish them if you think there's a market for it.
> In the USA all works of the government are considered public domain.
Only the federal government. State governments can and do (automatically, just like other creators) own copyright to their works under US law.
> The idea of a public copyright is a legal contradiction in terms.
No, its not.
> So it's perfectly legal to take PDFs of official government publications and republish them if you think there's a market for it.
It often is not, even with federal government publications, because:
(1) Official government publications may include non-federal works that are protected by copyright with a non-sub-licensed permission from the copyright owner (including works created by government contractors.)
(2) Even though copyright may not apply, rules regarding use of government-owned trademarks, government agency logos, etc. may restrict your commercial use and marketing of government works.
(3) If your use isn't strictly limited to use within the United States, it may still fall afoul of federal government copyrights, because the US federal government can and does assert international copyrights to its works, its works are only copyright-free within the US.
