Several students still wrongfully confuse the definition of public domain materials with being freely available to use . The fact of the matter is that although such materials are freely available and easy to copy, that does not mean it is in the public domain. ” Put simply, public domain consists of works that are not protected by copyright or by other legal means. You are free to use public domain works however you wish, without seeking permission, because …
- their copyrights have expired; or
- the copyright owner didn’t follow certain required formalities (so they didn’t get a valid copyright); or
- the works weren’t eligible for copyright in the first place; or
- their creators dedicated them to the public domain. “
” Want to know if a specific work is in the public domain? (Or, if it’s not, when it will be?) Give the copyright term calculator a spin. You’ll need to provide some information about the work — for example, whether it’s published or unpublished. But the calculator keeps track of which US copyright act applies to the work in question, so you don’t have to. “
I invite you to use this wonderful copyright calculator and share it with your students to enable to figure out works that are under public domain. Click here to try it
