What
is the public domain
Definition - public
domain means that the creator of the work has given up or lost all
rights to the work. It means that you may do anything with the work
that you want definition - read it, copy it, publish it, change
it.
This
can occur in a
variety of ways:
a.
A copyright on a book, film, photograph, etc. expired
b.
The author chose to not copyright the work but instead contributed it
to the public domain.
c.
The work was never eligible for copyright protection - like a work of
the US government
d.
Works published before copyright existed.
Other “free
works”
There are also a large
variety of works available that are not public domain but may be used.
These include a variety of books and articles where the author allows
you to use them in any way you desire as long as you do not change the
item in any way and include the author byline. It also includes open
source software where you can use the software in any way you want -
including changing it - but with restrictions. The CD on software
covers this in more detail.
A Step by Step Guide to Massive Public
Domain Profits
Ownership
rights and public domain -
Just because a work is in the public domain does not mean you have
unrestricted access to it. For instance, I own many books in my private
library that are in the public domain. You do not have the right to use
those particular copies just because they are in the public domain as
they are privately owned.
Are
all public domain materials free to get?
No they are not. There are literally millions of works available but
the owner may charge preparation fees to get you the materials. This
would be common if you had an institution produce a copy of a work for
you (or if you bought a copy in a used book store) and in the
government. For instance, I recently purchased a database from the IRS.
The information is public domain but I had to pay $500 to get them to
prepare and send me the CD.
Size
of public domain - No one
really knows how large the public domain actually is as there are no
definitive lists anywhere encompassing the entire public domain.
However, estimates put it in the size of BILLIONS of items (documents,
films, photos, architectural drawings, etc.) And these items encompass
EVERY area of human learning.
With such a huge
treasure trove, the biggest challenge of using public domain materials
is to figure out exactly what you want to accomplish before you begin
your search. If you don’t, it is very easy to get distracted
by the wide vareity of interesting items.
A Step by Step Guide to Massive Public
Domain Profits.
