Tidbits and the Ambiguity of the Public Domain

What is the public domain?

The public domain is an enormous mass of intellectual property which includes songs, books, movies, legislation, etc. that is open and available for the public to use freely. Works that are copyrighted fall into the public domain after a certain period of time, which has fluctuated a great deal over the past half century. In fact, copyright extensions have been increased at least eleven times over the past forty years.

Anything published before 1923 is in the public domain. Before the Copyright Act of 1976, individuals were forced to register their created works with the Copyright Office in order to protect their works. If the creators failed to do so, they had little protection because there was no copyright of their work and it would then fall directly into the public domain. However in 1976, the Copyright Act was passed and gave automatic copyright protection to works once they were created. Unfortunately, there has not been a cumulative list of public domain works created for easy reference. This would be a daunting task because the list and rules are ever changing.

A work is copyrighted when that work has been created in some type of tangible form like writing or recording. In the case of a single creator, it is now protected for the creator's life plus seventy years. If the work is created as a work-for-hire or in conjunction with one or more individuals, the work is copyrighted for 95 years after the first publication or 120 years from creation, whichever comes first.

In 1998, Congress created the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (SBCTEA) which extended copyright protection for both existing and future works by twenty years.

Currently the New America Foundation, also known as The Center for the Public Domain, is working towards protecting the present and future of the public domain through education and leadership. This organization has earmarked different digital information that is likely to be in the public domain such as databases, open-source software, freeware, etc. Creative Commons is also a public domain friendly organization, that was created by Lawrence Lessig, professor and attorney at Stanford University, that helps creators of works donate them to the public domain or creates licenses for the works for minimal fees.