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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All unpublished works created before 1883 are in the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.