COPYRIGHTS: PART 3, What is Public Domain?
I am excited to close the year with the third part of my three-part series about “copyrightability”; in other words, how to turn your expertise into assets that qualify for protection under US copyright laws.
This week’s newsletter was inspired by the following questions that I received in a recent webinar: What is public domain? Does posting something to social media make it public domain?
What is Public Domain?
Public domain means intellectual assets that aren’t protected by copyright, trademark, or patent laws. If something's in the public domain, anyone can use it without asking for permission from the owner or paying a license fee to use it.
Works that would otherwise be copyrightable can end up in the public domain in a few ways:
Copyright Expires: After a certain period of time, copyright protection ends. For works made or published after January 1, 1978, the period of protection is usually the creator's life plus 70 years. For older works, January 1st of each year is Public Domain Day. Among the works that entered the public domain on January 1, 2023 are works by Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Wolff and Agatha Christie. See here for examples of works that will enter the public domain on January 1, 2024.
Not Eligible for Copyright: Some things, like facts and ideas, don't get copyright protection. They're always in the public domain.
Government Works: Anything a U.S. government worker creates while on the job is automatically public domain. But be careful; this doesn't apply to state government works.
Missed the Copyright Boat: Some works entered the public domain because they did not comply with the formalities required for copyright protection. For instance, the copyright notice [ ©] was required for works first published before March 1, 1989. If the notice was omitted or a mistake was made in using the copyright notice, the work lost copyright protection in the United States.
Explicit Dedication: Creators can “dedicate” their work to the public domain using tools like Creative Commons Zero (CC0). It's most commonly used for data, educational content, and scientific research.
What Public Domain Isn't:
Publicly Available ≠ Public Domain: Publicly available and public domain are not synonymous. When a book, or a movie or a song is published—i.e., distributed to the public—it is still protected by copyright law.
Free ≠ Public Domain: Something that is free is not necessary in the public domain. Most of the content you come across daily while scrolling on your phone is free and protected by copyright law.
Open Source ≠ Public Domain: Open-source software is still protected by copyright. Here, the creators give the public some rights with a free license (sometimes referred to as a copyleft license😅). Be aware: Any use of the software not in compliance with terms of the free license is copyright infringement.
Why Public Domain Matters:
Public domain materials are the crucial building blocks for creativity and progress. Imagine if Shakespeare's works were still locked up by copyright!
Per the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, which advocates for a balance between protection and public domain, “Without the public domain, there would be little to protect with intellectual property rights — if copyright lasted long enough to lock up Shakespeare’s works, much of the literary canon would vanish; if data, theories and formulae were subject to intellectual property protection, then scientific progress would grind to a halt.”
What public domain work has influenced you?
Cheers! 🥂
Erin