*What forms the public domain? *How can we profit from the public domain?
At this point you must have a dozen questions: How does the copyright law work? How do you find out if a work is copyrighted or not? Where do patents figure into all this? How do we distinguish between ‘ideas’ and the work itself? What about derivative works?
Before we tackle the meaty issues such as copyright law and the other questions, let’s see how something can fall into the public domain.
>All generic information such as facts, figures, scientific knowledge (but not inventions), mathematical formulas, ideas, etc. The work cannot be copyrighted. This includes things such as ideas, facts, theories, mathematical or scientific formulas, and also simple things like a list of ingredients or components. Therefore you cannot copyright the Theory of Relativity, or the knowledge of how to make a Molotov Cocktail (a type of a home-made bomb).
>All publications by the government and its agents. Specifically, the US copyright law prevents such publications from being ‘copyrighted’ (this has a lot to do with the definition of copyright and copyrightable work) and thus they are directly part of the public domain.
>Previously copyrighted works that have passed into the public domain due to expired copyright or other reasons. It is quite possible to find works published in the late 1800s and the early 1900s (late 19th century and early 20th century) whose copyright has expired and has not been renewed under current copyright laws.
>Work that is placed into the public domain by its owners. The copyright owner dedicated the work into the public domain. This is more common than you think. An often-quoted example is that of freeware software or freely distributed source code. Sometimes artists tend to dedicate their work to the public domain as well.
>Work created and published before there were copyright laws. This distinction is very important and is the sole reason why the works of Shakespeare are considered public domain while Darwin’s ground-breaking book, Origin of Species, is protected by copyright.
>The work was never copyrighted – This is a tricky issue. Logically, if a person publishing his work does not acquire copyright, then by reason it is automatically part of the public domain. However, all is not as simple as it first seems.
Copyright is a legal tool that provides the creator of a work the right to control how a work is used.
US Copyright law is a Federal law which protects all kinds of works of authorship. This includes books, magazines, newspapers, and other writings. but can also include music, art, photographs, films/videos, computer software, maps, choreography, and architecture.
The owner of a works Copyright has the right to control how the work is reproduced, distributed, adapted, displayed, and performed.
So, if someone were to use a work that is Copyrighted the owner has the right to sue for suitable compensation for any losses.
But.....the copyright of a work does not last forever.
Some works are not, and never have been, protected by Copyright. For example: the works of Shakespeare. And the works of P.T. Barnum, the circus entertainer, who donated his autobiography to the Public Domain.
And when a work's copyright expires, that work then falls into the Public Domain. Which means that the work can be freely copied, distributed, adapted, or performed without asking for permission or without paying any royalty fees.
Copyright law is not that difficult but it is confusing because US Copyright law has been amended so many times.
How do you first find out if a work is Copyrighted?
First you need to ascertain if a work was published.
Here is a quick overview right up until 1978 (which is the effective date of the 1976 Copyright Act):
All works published in the US before 1923 are in the Public Domain.
Works published in the US between 1923 and 1963 may be in the Public Domain. It is estimated that 85% of all works published between those years have fallen into the Public Domain.
This sounds extraordinary but for those Copyrights to stay valid, the owners had to "renew" the Copyright in the 28th. year after publication. As you can imagine, most forgot. And, many had passed on.
So, in order to check that a work's copyright had been renewed you need to either hire a specialist company to do the search for you - or, perform the search yourself.
One such specialist company would be Thomson and Thomson based in Washington D.C.
If you want to perform the search yourself, you will need access to the Internet and, depending on when the work was published, the requisite website.
For works published between 1923 and 1949 you need to go to the Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE). On this site you can search by year of publication (you need to add the 28 year renewal period) and look for the work under the author's last name. For example, for John s. Jacobs, you would search under Jacobs. If the work was Copyright renewed, it will be listed.
For works published 1950 to 1963 (inclusive) you will need to visit the Library of Congress (LOC) website. Here you can search by author or the title of the work. If the work appears, the Copyright was renewed and is NOT in the Public Domain. And therefore you cannot use it.
Any work un-published before the year 1978 will fall into the Public Domain 70 years after the author's death or by the end of 2002 - whichever is the greater. But if such a work was subsequently published between 1978 and 2002 then that work would not enter the Public Domain until at least the year 2047.
Finally, for all works created after 1978, whether published or not, will not fall into the Public Domain until at least the death of the author plus 70 years.
It is interesting to know that if a work was "renewed" in the 28th. year after publication, when that work would fall into the Public Domain. This can easily be calculated by first knowing the publication date, adding the 28 year renewal, and then a further 47 years (which, at the time was the second term of Copyright) and then adding a further 20 years (because of the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act). For example: a work publishe in 1923 would not fall into the Public Domain until the year 1923 +28+47+20=2018.
That's a long time to wait!
Much easier to search for one of the estimated 85% that were not renewed!
Both Li Ming Wong & Peter Woodhead are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Li Ming Wong has sinced written about articles on various topics from Search Engine Marketing, Abdominal and Blogging. Li Ming Wong is an internet marketing entrepreneur. Visit Blog for tips and guides to starting your own online business.. Li Ming Wong's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.
Peter Woodhead has sinced written about articles on various topics from Heart Conditions, Advertising Guide and Finances. Peter Woodhead specializes in Public Domain. He has created dozens of products derived from the Public Domain. You can learn more about Public Domain by going to: