This document discusses copyright relinquishment and dedicating works to the public domain. It provides examples of terminology used, laws from different countries regarding relinquishing copyright and waiving moral rights, and how Creative Commons licenses can be used to dedicate works. Specifically, it outlines what Creative Commons licenses allow, how the CC0 license can dedicate works to the public domain while also acting as a license, and examples of organizations that have adopted CC0 like the British Library, CERN and the US government.

1. C O P Y R I G H T
R E L I N Q U I S H M E N T
D R A N D R E S G U A D A M U Z
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S U S S E X , U K

2. A P O L O G I E S …
B Y T V O L
H T T P S : / / F L I C . K R / P / U B 9 E 1 S

3. … A N D A
S T O RY
• “With the advent of the
Internet, we see that people
are creating despite these
exclusive rights, this monopoly,
instead of because of it.
Millions of creators – millions! –
have publicly renounced their
already-awarded exclusive
rights by publishing under a
Creative Commons license.”
Rick Falvinge.
https://xkcd.com/386/

4. C A N Y O U R E L I N Q U I S H Y O U R
C O P Y R I G H T ?
H T T P S : / / F L I C . K R / P / 6 1 A K E Y

5. O F C O U R S E !
S U R E LY !
E R R R R … I G U E S S S O ?
W H Y A R E Y O U A S K I N G ?

6. D E P E N D S O N T H E V I E W O F
C O P Y R I G H T
• Copyright as a property right: you can do what you
want with your property, even donate it.
• Copyright as a fundamental right of personality: you
cannot renounce basic rights.

7. T E R M I N O L O G Y
• Public domain dedication
• Relinquishment
• Renouncement
• Abandonment

8. R E L I N Q U I S H M E N T ( K E N YA )
• s. 45(1) of the Kenyan Copyright Law:
“The following works shall belong to the public
domain-[…] (b) works in respect of which authors have
renounced their rights;”
• s 45(2): “For the purposes of paragraph (b),
renunciation by an author or his successor in title of his
rights shall be in writing and made public but any such
renunciation shall not be contrary to any previous
contractual obligation relating to the work.”

9. M O R A L R I G H T S ( C O L O M B I A )
• “Art. 30 (1) The above [moral] rights may not be
waived or transferred.
When authors transfer and authorize the exercise of
their patrimonial rights they grant the enjoyment and
disposal referred to the respective contract, and retain
the [moral] rights provided in this Article.”

10. I R R E V O C A B I L I T Y
• Any act of relinquishment should be irrevocable.
• Therefore, all acts of renouncement should require proper
formalities.
• India: “Section 21. (1) The author of a work may relinquish
all or any of the rights comprised in the copyright in the
work by giving notice in the prescribed form to the
Registrar of Copyrights or by way of public notice and
thereupon such rights shall, subject to the provisions of
sub-section (3), cease to exist from the date of the notice.”

11. R E S U LT S B Y C O U N T RY
C O U N T RY A L L O W S V O L U N TA RY
R E L I N Q U I S H M E N T ?
C A N M O R A L
R I G H T S B E
WA I V E D ?
B R A Z I L U N C L E A R N O
C H I L E Y E S N O
C H I N A U N C L E A R N O
C O L O M B I A Y E S N O
E G Y P T U N C L E A R N O
F R A N C E U N C L E A R N O
I N D I A Y E S U N C L E A R
K E N YA Y E S N O
R E P U B L I C O F
K O R E A
U N C L E A R N O

12. N E W D E V E L O P M E N T: R E D A R E P O R T
( 2 0 1 4 / 2 2 5 6 ( I N I ) )
• “ Calls on the Commission to effectively safeguard
public domain works, which are by definition not
subject to copyright protection; urges the
Commission, therefore, to clarify that once a work is in
the public domain, any digitisation of the work which
does not constitute a new, transformative work, stays
in the public domain; also calls on the Commission to
examine whether rightholders may be given the right
to dedicate their works to the public domain, in whole
or in part…”

13. W H O I S D E D I C AT I N G W O R K S T O T H E
P U B L I C D O M A I N ?
• Scientific projects (Human Genome Project)
• Libraries, archives, museums
• Public sector institutions
• A few individuals

14. C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S

15. C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S
Attribution: Every CC licenses allows the world to copy and distribute a
work provided that the licensee credits the creator/licensor.
The author may include these other elements:
NonCommercial: licensees can use the work for non-commercial purposes.
No Derivatives: the work cannot be modified.
ShareAlike: the work can be copied, modified and distributed if the author
releases the derivative under the same license.

17. H U M A N - R E A D A B L E
C O M M O N S D E E D
L AW Y E R -
R E A D A B L E
L E G A L C O D E
M A C H I N E -
R E A D A B L E
D I G I TA L C O D E
< A R E L = " L I C E N S E "
H R E F = " H T T P : / /
C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S . O R G /
L I C E N S E S / B Y- S A /
3 . 0 / " > < I M G A LT = " C R E AT I V E
C O M M O N S L I C E N S E "
S T Y L E = " B O R D E R - W I D T H : 0 "
S R C = " H T T P : / /
I . C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S . O R G /
L / B Y- S A / 3 . 0 / 8 8 X 3 1 . P N G " /
> < / A > < B R / > T H I S W O R K I S
L I C E N S E D U N D E R A < A
R E L = " L I C E N S E "
H R E F = " H T T P : / /
C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S . O R G /
L I C E N S E S / B Y- S A /
3 . 0 / " > C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S
AT T R I B U T I O N - S H A R E A L I K E
3 . 0 U N P O RT E D L I C E N S E < /
A > .

18. B Y A T T R I B U T I O N
B Y - N C A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L
B Y - S A A T T R I B U T I O N - S H A R E A L I K E
B Y - N D A T T R I B U T I O N - N O D E R I V A T I V E S
B Y - N C - S A A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L -
S H A R E A L I K E
B Y - N C - N D A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L -
N O D E R I V A T I V E S
L I C E N C E S

19. C C 0
• Relatively new licence that
works both as a dedication to
the public domain, and as a
full licence where it’s not
permitted to relinquish
copyright.

20. C C 0
• Public domain dedication to the extent permitted by
law.
• If local copyright law does not allow relinquishment,
then it acts as a “royalty-free, non-transferable, non
sublicensable, non exclusive, irrevocable and
unconditional license” to exercise all rights in the work.
• As of 2014, there were 832 works marked under CC0,
and 1220 marked under the public domain.

21. P U B L I C
D O M A I N M A R K
“This work has been
identified as being free of
known restrictions under
copyright law, including all
related and neighboring
rights.
You can copy, modify,
distribute and perform the
work, even for commercial
purposes, all without asking
permission.”

22. S PA C E X
H T T P : / / G O O . G L / Z O J 2 7 A

23. F L I C K R
H T T P : / / G O O . G L / K B G O 8 3

24. F L I C K R A N N O U N C E M E N T
“[…] we’ve heard from our community that we’re missing two
important designations: Public Domain and Creative Commons 0
(CC0). Many members of our community want to be able to upload
images that are no longer protected by copyright and correctly tag
them as being in the Public Domain, or they want to release their
copyright entirely under CC0.
So, starting today we’re happy to support these two new options.
One of the first accounts on Flickr to change its designation was
SpaceX, which has uploaded more than a hundred gorgeous
images of its launches. These extraordinary photos are now
available for others to freely use, enhance, and promulgate without
restriction under copyright law.”

25. C C 0 A D O P T E R S
•The British Library
•The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Library
•Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
•Europeana
•Genomes Unzipped
•German National Library
•Harvard Library
•Netherlands Government
•Sage Commons
•Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre

26. A N D …
• “As a work of the United
States Government, this
document is in the public
domain within the United
States. Additionally, the
United States Government
waives copyright and
related rights in this work
worldwide through the
CC0 1.0 Universal Public
Domain Dedication.”

27. C O N C L U D I N G …

28. A . G U A D A M U Z @ S U S S E X . A C . U K
@ T E C H N O L L A M A
Thanks