no they certainly do not have a copyright on the flags they cannot stop anyone producing a very very close imitation of their drawings but following the blazon emblazon argumentation they may have a copyright on their particular rendering of a flag even if the flag blazon is pd i think the issue is similar to maps the geodata is pd as bare facts well for the time being at least but a particular map drawn from that geodata is copyrighted we may draw our own maps but we cannot copy someone else's copyrighted map besides i take the liberty to not support either side here as i wrote above i did not tackle the issue until now and i don't feel i know enough about the issue to give an opinion with confidence i just think that it is well possible that they do have a copyright on their images except maybe in the case of very simple designs three differently colored stripes for instance where indeed a no originality claim might be valid but for more complex flags that argument breaks down afaik identical blazons have been rendered quite differently throughout history e g with animals shown in a more classical or a more modern style take for instance image kent flag gif the blazon is gules a horse forcene argent now look at the coa shown there at our flag and at the renderings on the website of the kent county council i think they all comply with that blazon but are all different and imo show enough creativity and originality to be individual copyrightable works