Public domain
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A work is in the public domain if nobody holds any intellectual property rights on it. Works that are in the public domain can be freely copied.
Under longstanding precedent in the United States, once a work is in the public domain, it may be taken out of the public domain.[1]
Two examples of material in the public domain are United States government works (technically the copyright is held collectively by the American public), and writings for which their copyright has expired. In the United States, anything published before 1923 no longer has copyright protection and is in the public domain.[2] Laws vary by country, but in most of the world, works whose authors died at least 50, 70, or 100 years ago are in the public domain.
See also
External links
- How Can I Tell Whether a Book Can Go Online? Guidance from the University of Pennsylvania Online Books project.
- FAIR USE - PUBLIC DOMAIN
- Summary of public domain
References
- ↑ See Golan v. Gonzales, 501 F.3d 1179 (10th Cir. 2007).
- ↑ Public Domain