1. THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
What is it  What’s in it  How to Use It

2. WHAT IS 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

3. 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

4. WHAT’S IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
CONTINUED
 Typefaces/fonts – e.g. Garamond, Times New Roman;
 Instructions, Recipes, blank forms;
 Architectural Plans/Buildings (After December 1, 1990);
 Fashion Designs
GUGENHEIM, BILBAO, SPAIN BY FRANK GEHRY (1997)

5. MAPPING THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
SAMUELSON, PAMELA, DIGITAL INFORMATION, DIGITAL NETWORKS, AND
THE PUBLIC DOMAIN (2001)

6. ADDING MATERIAL TO THE
PUBLIC DOMAIN
 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

7. 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 )

8. REMIX CULTURE

9. COPYFRAUD
 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.

10. PUBLIC DOMAIN DAY
 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).
Grant Wood (American). American Gothic, 1930. Oil on board. The Art Institute of
Chicago, Friends of American Art collection, (catalog number) 1930.934.

11. SOURCES
 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

12. SOURCES CONTINUED
 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