What is Public Domain?
Works said to be in the public domain are works that are not subject to copyright laws and are available for the public without seeking permissions or licenses. Works in the public domain are those for which copyright protection has expired, been forfeited or were inapplicable. They can be copied, distributed, performed and displayed without seeking permissions or applying an exception under copyright law.
There are four common ways that works arrive in the public domain
- the copyright has expired
- the copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules
- the copyright owner deliberately places it in the public domain, known as “dedication,” or
- copyright law does not protect this type of work.
When does a work enter the public domain?
When a work is no longer protected by copyright due to copyright expiring, it falls into the public domain. The vast majority of the public domain is material for which copyright protection has expired. In the U.S., due to changes in copyright law over time, copyright is expired for material published over 95 years ago. Material published up until 1989, that did not adhere to the formalities required by copyright law at the time, like notice and registration, may also be in the public domain.
Unpublished materials, like diaries and correspondence, prior to 1978 are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.
Materials from other countries may be protected for different periods of time based on the timing and conditions of trade agreements between the country of creation and the country of use.
Copyright law and duration varies per country. However, several countries have worked together to create international agreements that align policies across borders. Foreign works are, for the most part, protected for the same term as works published within the user's country for all signatories of the Berne and TRIPS agreements. The U.S. is both an adopter of the Berne convention and a signatory of the TRIPS agreement.
Watch the video below for more details on Public Domain
What is Public Domain?, Pond5
Locating Public Domain Images
The links below offer images in the Public Domain
Citing Public Domain Images
If an image is in the public domain, you still need to cite it. When using an image in your OER materials, provide the following caption with appropriate information:
"creator, title, source" (with the source being a URL to the image webpage)
Example:
Carol M. Highsmith, Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress in the Thomas Jefferson Building, Wikimedia Commons
