Copyright Guidelines

 

II.  The Public Domain

 

Works that are considered in the "public domain" may be used (i.e., copied) freely.  In addition, there are some scholarly publications such as journal articles that include a note offering to users the right to copy for "educational purposes." The following categories of publications are generally considered to be in the public domain; that is, their use is not protected by copyright law:

• works created and published, as a rule of thumb, about a century ago;¹

• works where the creator has expressly disclaimed a copyright interest; and

• works created by the federal government, for example, data files from the 1990 Census.
  
  
  

¹ Pursuant to changes made by the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (Pub. L. No. 105-298) term of copyright is now life of the author plus 70 years, and for corporate, anonymous, or pseudonymous works, it is 95 years from the year of first publication, or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever is first.  Thus, older than a century is not an exact measure, but rather a rule of thumb.   See Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States for a chart that may be used to determine when a work passes into the public domain.




links updated 6/5/08 rab