ملف:DEA Patch - Cocaine Intelligence Unit.png

English: The patch was originally created and used by employees of the US DEA (source: Washington Post.) Although the individual creator of any particular DEA patch is unknown, it is well-documented that such patches were created by federal employees, and thus would be "work[s] prepared by an officer or employee" of the federal government within the meaning of US copyright law. The patches, as noted in the source above, are "often not produced in an official capacity, or with the knowledge or approval of an agency's higher-ups". Nonetheless, it is also documented that such patches were used on uniforms during official DEA raids, and served a specific identifying function: when "raiding suspected drug operations, the agents needed a quick visual way to identify one another." The work was thus created "as part of that person's official duties," regardless of whether the use of such patches was ever officially sanctioned.