What is the “Public Domain?”
Works in the Public Domain can be used by anyone for any legal purpose, without permission from the author. Public Domain works include:
- Works for which the copyright has expired
- Works for which the copyright owner has placed the work in the public domain
- Works where copyright never existed
It Can be Hard to Tell What is in the “Public Domain”
Works where copyright never existed under federal law:
- For a work to have copyright, it must be about appropriate subject matter, fixed, have at least minimal originality, and include creative expression.
- Facts & data are not covered by copyright
- NOTE: State common law may give additional copyright protections, so you must also check state law
- Works of the federal government are not covered by copyright according to 17 U.S.C. 105
- A work is a work prepared by an officer or employee as part of their official duties
- State government works are generally protected by copyright (check your state’s laws)
- This does not include laws, regulations or court decisions
- For more information on state governments and copyright visit Harvard’s State Copyright Resource Center.
- The Harvard page on New York and copyright is here.
Works where copyright has expired:
- For works created during or after 1978:
- Copyright is the life of the author, plus 70 years
- For “works for hire” the copyright is 95 years from publication
- For works published before 1978
- Generally a maximum of 95 years
- May be shorter if the work was not registered or copyright was not renewed
- Works created before 1978 but not published
- Copyright is life of the author plus 70 years
- See Cornell’s Copyright Term chart for more information
So How Do I Tell if it is in the “Public Domain?”
- Was it published?
- Published generally means copies of a work distributed to the public by sale or transfer of ownership
- Published can also include a limited or select group distribution for limited purposes with restrictions on reproducing, distributing or selling
- When was it published?
- Check the list above
- Was it renewed?
- Check the Library of Congress database at copyright.gov for materials published after 1978
- Check the Catalog of Copyright Entries
- Check Stanford’s database
- Is there anything in it that might have its own copyright held by someone else, such as a photo or chart?
- Make sure you know all the facts!
- Was it published?
- When was it published?
- What is the nationality of the author?
- Works that are in the public domain in the US might still be protected abroad
- Works written by foreign authors may be protected in the US
- Failure to renew a US edition may not matter if it was also published abroad
- When in doubt, consult your lawyer!