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Works in the
Public Domain.
Let's say you need to copy something for a project you're
working on, and you remember that most materials are
protected by copyright. Then you recall all the damages
and attorney's fees that may result from a copyright
infringement lawsuit. What are your options?
- Get written permission from the copyright holder.
- Copy only works that have expired copyrights (Public Domain).
- Copy work without permission IF the copying qualifies as fair use.
- Instead of copying anyone else's work, create your own.
There are many works in the "Public Domain" that anyone
can copy, make derivatives, distribute, perform, and
display without permission. There are various ways that
works get into the Public Domain.
- The copyright to a work expires.
- The author or artist donates the work to the Public Domain by expressly allowing anyone to copy it without permission.
- The work was created by the federal government.
- Any work before 1978 whose copyright formalities were
not observed.
Duration of
Copyrights
The duration of copyrights has changed numerous times
since the first copyright statute. It was originally 14
years. Presently, it is the author or artist life plus 70
years! 18 If the work is created by employees of a
corporation or the artist or author has incorporated his
art business, the duration is either 95 years from the
publications date or 120 years from the creation date,
whichever is shorter.19 This applies to all work created on or after
January 1, 1978. All works created before this time are
subject to the law that existed at the time the work was
created. It also depends on whether the work was
published or not. There were certain formalities that had
to be observed, like displaying a copyright notice
(©, name, and date) and registering the copyright
with the U.S. Copyright Office. If the formalities
weren't satisfied in certain prescribed times, then the
copyright failed and the work merged into the Public
Domain. This makes it complicated to determine if a work
is in the Public Domain. But there is a simple rule of
thumb:
All published works created before 1923 are in the Public
Domain.
All unpublished works created before 1883 are in the
Public Domain.
Copyright scholars have created charts that make it
relatively easy to determine if work is in the Public
Domain and, as such, may be copied without permission.
One of those charts can be found at:
www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm
Where you can find
work in the Public Domain
There are many Web sites with enormous data bases of
works in the Public Domain. When shopping at sites that
profess to contain Public Domain material, you should
remember an old Roman warning: "Caveat Emptor." It means
"buyer beware." There is always the risk that some work
is fully protected by copyright and wound up in a
purported Public Domain database by mistake or
fraud.
Here is a collection of Public Domain sites where you can
find anything from novels and poems to music, photos, and
graphics that you can copy without permission: Public Domain Resources.