What is it What’s in it How to Use It

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

Public Domain - the realm embracing property rights that belong to the

community at large, are unprotected by copyright or patent, and are subject

to appropriation by anyone – Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

An intellectual or cultural commons – See, James Boyle

WHAT IS THE PUBLIC DOMAIN?

WHAT’S IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

Ideas and facts – e.g. Mt. Everest is 29,029 feet.

Works with expired copyrights - Remember 1923 and 1964

Works governed by early copyright statutes that failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection, i.e., notice, registration, and renewal requirements;

U.S. government works (Some Exceptions);

Scientific principles, theorems, mathematical formulae, laws of nature – e.g. the theory of evolution;

Scientific and other research methodologies, statistical techniques and educational processes;

Laws, regulations, judicial opinions, government documents and legislative reports;

Words, names, numbers, symbols, signs, rules of grammar and diction, and punctuation

Typefaces/fonts – e.g. Garamond, Times New Roman;

Instructions, Recipes, blank forms;

Architectural Plans/Buildings (After December 1, 1990);

Fashion Designs

WHAT’S IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

CONTINUED

G U G E N H E I M , B I L B A O , S P A I N B Y F R A N K G E H R Y ( 1 9 9 7 )

MAPPING THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

S A M U E L S O N , P A M E L A , D I G I T A L I N F O R M A T I O N , D I G I T A L N E T W O R K S , A N D T H E P U B L I C D O M A I N ( 2 0 0 1 )

In addition to material accumulating or falling into the public domain one

can add or donate material through use of Creative Commons symbol:

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Public_domain

There is no single source or registry of public domain works – one can

perform limited searches for materials at the U.S. Copyright Office or

limited online searching through the Stanford Copyright Renewal site:

http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/bin/page;jsessionid=0

ADFDC9CCA373259C1538B5A7E84CA05?forward=home

ADDING MATERIAL TO THE

PUBLIC DOMAIN

TIME LIMITS

How long do we have to wait?

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

Terms of copyright protection have been

extended by Congress:

Life of author plus 70 years (95 years for

corporate authors) - Copyright Term Extension Act

(CTEA) 1998 – upheld by Eldred v. Ashcroft, 123

S.Ct. 769 (2003)

Other countries – most common is life plus 50 or

70 years

W A I T I N G F O R T H E V E R D I C T B Y A B R A H A M S O L O M O N ( 1 8 5 7 )

REMIX CULTURE

Copyfraud – term first used by Jason Mazzone in 2006 to describe any

false claim of ownership over public domain materials.

17 United States Code 506 – up to $2,500 penalty.

Results in enormous costs to individuals and institutions.

COPYFRAUD

Celebrate new material coming into the

public domain – usually January 1st

Not a single published work entered the

public domain of the United States in

2013

Public Domain is shrinking – Golan v.

Holder, 132 S. Ct. 873 (2012).

PUBLIC DOMAIN DAY

Grant Wood (American). American Gothic, 1930. Oil on board. The Art Institute of

Chicago, Friends of American Art collection, (catalog number) 1930.934.

Public Domain Day: http://www.publicdomainday.org/2013

Public Domain Review: http://publicdomainreview.org/

Public Domain Works: http://www.publicdomainworks.net/

Center for the Study of the Public Domain: http://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/

Communia: http://www.communia-project.eu/

Public Domain Sherpa: http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/calculator.html

James Boyle Huffington Post Article (1/10/2013): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-boyle/public-

by-sufferance-alon_b_2443850.html

Stanford University:

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter8/index.html

The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind Blog: http://www.thepublicdomain.org/

When Works pass into the Public Domain (UNC): http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

Cornell University Public Domain Timetable:

http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/docs/copyrightterm.pdf

SOURCES

U.S. Government Images/Pictures: http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml

Golan v. Holder – Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_v._Holder

Samuelson, Pamela, Digital Information, Digital Networks, and the Public Domain – Conference Paper

November 9-10, 2001.

Mazzone, Jason, Copyfraud, New York University Law Review Vol. 81, p. 1026 (2006).

17 U.S.C. 506: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/506

New York Times article on Shepard Fairey: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/shephard-

fairey-is-fined-and-sentenced-to-probation-in-hope-poster-case/

Shepard Fairey website: http://www.obeygiant.com/

TED Talk on Remix Culture: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/08/14/kirby-ferguson-ted/

Lessig, Lawrence, Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy (2009):

http://www.amazon.com/Remix-Making-Commerce-Thrive-Economy/dp/0143116134

Copyright Research Guide: http://libguides.txstate.edu/aecontent.php?pid=169763&sid=1429664

SOURCES CONTINUED