What is Public Domain

Public Domain is property rights that are held by the public. Something is "in the public domain" then anyone can copy it or use it in any way they wish. Let's establish that anything that is public domain is free, meaning that if you want it, you just take it. You don't have to pay for it and you don't have to tell anybody you took it. That is why you'll go into a book store and see a "collection" of works by some author from long ago. Sometimes unknown writers and their works of literature become quite popular with just the right spin. The key is finding them.

In order to do that, you first have to know what constitutes a public domain work as far as the time period. Public domain is often used incorrectly. Public domain means no copyright -- no exclusive rights. In fact public domain has no legal status. This means items in the public domain are free for you to use without permission or royalty payments.

Most works enter the public domain because of old age. This includes any work published in the United States before 1923. Any work that was published before 1923 is considered public domain. There are no restrictions, ifs, ands, or buts on this issue. If the work was done before 1923, it is now officially up for grabs. But there is more to the public domain law than just this one thing.

Any work that was created after March 1, 1989, even if these works are not published, are copyrighted for a total of 70 years after the creator of that work dies. Before March 1, 1989, copyright notices were required on all published works. On that date they became optional, so works published within the last 18 years don't need a copyright notice to be protected.

We are left with the works that are created between 1923 and March 1, 1989. All works created between 1923 and March 1, 1989 is copyrighted ONLY if all the proper paperwork has been filed to actually copyright the work. In other words, there is no automatic copyright with these works. Finding public domain works that were created during this time period, takes a lot of digging since you have to research what copyrights were applied for and granted for these works.

Just because someone says a work is in the public domain does not mean it really is. Check all sites sources. Be very careful about taking anyone's word regarding the legal status of any work they do not own.