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post-374 type-overview status-publish hentry" itemtype="http://schema.org/WebPage" itemscope> <div class="inner-wrapper"> <header> <div class="navigation"> <nav id="pagination-simple-top" class="pagination pagination-simple" role="navigation"> <div class="nav-next"><a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/" title="Welcome to the Public Domain">Next Page</a></div> <div class="nav-previous"><a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-educational-permissions/academic-permission-resources/" title="Academic Permission Resources">Previous Page</a></div> </nav> <div style="clear:both;"></div> </div> <h3 class="entry-title" itemprop="name">The Public Domain</h3> </header> <div class="content" itemprop="articleBody"> <div class="entry-content"> <p>ABSOLUTELY FREE! MUSIC, TEXT, AND ART!! COPY ALL YOU WANT!! If you saw an advertisement like this, you might wonder, “What’s the catch?” When it comes to the public domain, there is no catch. If a book, song, movie, or artwork is in the public domain, then it is not protected by intellectual property laws (copyright, trademark, or patent laws)—which means it’s free for you to use without permission.</p> <p>As a general rule, most works enter the public domain because of old age. As of 2019, this includes any work published in the United States before 1924 or works published before 1964 for which copyrights were not renewed. (Renewal was a requirement for works published before 1978.) A smaller group of works fell into the public domain because they were published without a copyright notice, which was necessary for works published in the United States before March 1, 1989. Some works are in the public domain because the owner has indicated a desire to give them to the public without copyright protection. The rules establishing the public domain status for each of these types of works are different.</p> <h3 class="visuallyhidden">Ignore Heading – Sub heading content</h3> <h4 class="visuallyhidden">Ignore Heading – Sub table content</h4> <aside class="callout resource"> <h5>Resource</h5> <p>For a detailed analysis of public domain rules and issues, see <em><a href="http://www.nolo.com/products/the-public-domain-PUBL.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Public Domain: How to Find & Use Copyright-Free Writings, Music, Art & More</a></em>, by Stephen Fishman (Nolo). You can also find a great deal of public domain information (and inspiration) at <a href="http://publicdomainreview.org">The Public Domain Review</a> (<a href="http://publicdomainreview.org">http://publicdomainreview.org</a>).</p> </aside> </div> </div> <footer> <nav class="overview-toc" id="overview-toc"><h4>In this Section:</h4><ul><li class="current"><a href="/overview/">Copyright Overview (NOLO)</a><ul><li class="current"><strong>The Public Domain</strong><ul><li><a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/">Welcome to the Public Domain</a></li><li><a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/trouble-spots/">Public Domain Trouble Spots</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></nav> <div itemtype="http://schema.org/Book" itemscope> <p> The content for the Copyright and Fair Use Overview section is from <span itemprop="copyrightHolder" itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization" itemscope> <a href="http://www.nolo.com/" itemprop="url"><span itemprop="name">NOLO</span></a></span>, with much of it taken from the book <a itemprop="url" href="http://www.nolo.com/products/getting-permission-riper.html"><span itemprop="name">Getting Permission</span></a> (October <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2019</span>) by <span itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope><a href="/author/richstim" itemprop="url"><span itemprop="name">Richard Stim</span></a></span>. Thanks! </p> </div> <div class="navigation"> <nav id="pagination-simple-bottom" class="pagination pagination-simple" role="navigation"> <div class="nav-next"><a href="/overview/welcome" title="Welcome to the Public Domain">Next Page</a></div> <div class="nav-previous"><a href="/overview/academic-permission-resources" title="Academic Permission Resources">Previous Page</a></div> </nav> <div style="clear:both;"></div> </div> <div style="clear: both;" class="shortbio" itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope> <div class="author-image"> <a href="http://www.craftslaw.com/" rel="external nofollow" title="Visit Rich Stim’s website" class="snap_noshots"><img itemprop="image" src="/avatars/richstim.jpg" class="avatar avatar-60 avatar-default" height="60" width="60" style="width: 60px; height: 60px;" alt="avatar" /></a> </div> <h2 class="author-name" itemprop="name"><a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/author/richstim/" class="url fn" rel="author">Rich Stim</a></h2> <p class="author-description" itemprop="description">Attorney at law, Nolo author, LinkedIn Learning Instructor, Blogger — <a href="http://dearrichblog.blogspot.com/">Dear Rich: A Patent, Copyright and Trademark Blog.</a></p> <ul class="author-links"> <li class="website"><a href="http://www.craftslaw.com/" rel="author" itemprop="url" class="website" target="_blank" title="Visit Rich Stim's Website">Website</a></li> <li class="twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/dearrichblog" rel="author" itemprop="url" class="twitter" target="_blank" title="Follow @dearrichblog on Twitter">Twitter</a></li> <li class="linkedin"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-stim-20803198" rel="author" itemprop="url" class="linkedin" target="_blank" title="Connect with Rich Stim on LinkedIn">LinkedIn</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="visuallyhidden"> <div class="published-date"><span class="published-date-label">Published on:</span> <time datetime="2013-04-03T17:27:34-07:00" class="post-date published" itemprop="datePublished" pubdate>April 3, 2013</time></div> Updated: <time datetime="2021-11-25T13:35:18-08:00" class="updated" itemprop="dateModified">November 25, 2021 1:35 pm</time> </div> </footer>   <p class="nocomments">Comments are closed.</p> </div> </article><div id='avatar_footer_credit' style='display: none;'>Avatars by <a href='http://www.sterling-adventures.co.uk/blog/'>Sterling Adventures</a></div> </section> <aside class="secondary-content sc-1" id="sc-1"> <h2 class="visuallyhidden">Secondary Content</h2> <div id="custom_html-2" class="widget_text widget widget_custom_html"><span class="widget-title"> </span><div class="content"><div class="textwidget custom-html-widget"><iframe width="200" height="143" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BDLTOwoSRNg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><strong>What's Next for Fair Use After Google v. Oracle?</strong><br /> Panelists Tom Goldstein and Professors Peter Menell, Pamela Samuelson and Sean O'Connor discuss the implications of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Google v. Oracle, and how it may affect other cases where fair use and copyright are in play.<br /> <em>Presented by the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology</em></p></div></div></div> <div id="recent-posts-3" class="widget widget_recent_entries"> <span class="widget-title">Recent Posts</span><div class="content"> <ul> <li> <a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2021/06/10/code-of-best-practices-in-fair-use-for-open-educational-resources-oer/">Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources (OER)</a> <span class="post-date">June 10, 2021</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2021/06/07/new-legislation-the-case-act/">New Legislation: The CASE Act</a> <span class="post-date">June 7, 2021</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2019/01/30/celebrating-the-unfreezing-of-the-public-domain/">Celebrating the unfreezing of the public domain</a> <span class="post-date">January 30, 2019</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2017/04/11/stanford-copyright-fair-use-key-overview-updates/">Stanford Copyright & Fair Use – Key Overview Updates</a> <span class="post-date">April 11, 2017</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2017/02/19/future-libraries-need-first-sale-ebooks/">Future of Libraries – Need First Sale for ebooks</a> <span class="post-date">February 19, 2017</span> </li> </ul> </div></div></aside> <aside class="secondary-content sc-2" id="sc-2"> <h2 class="visuallyhidden">Secondary Content</h2> </aside> </div> </div> </div>  <footer id="footer"> <h2 class="visuallyhidden">Contact Information</h2> <div class="inner-wrapper"> <div class="sponsored"> <p> This site is sponsored by <a href="https://library.stanford.edu/">Stanford Libraries Home</a>, <a href="https://www.justia.com">Justia</a>, <a href="http://www.nolo.com/">NOLO</a>, <a href="http://blog.librarylaw.com/">LibraryLaw.com</a> & <a href="http://www.onecle.com/">Onecle</a>. </p> <div class="sponsors"> <span><a href="https://library.stanford.edu/"><img src="/jresources/images/logo-stanfordlib-w.gif" alt="Stanford Libraries Home"></a></span> <span><a href="https://www.justia.com/"><img src="https://justatic.com/v/1/branding/logos/justia.svg" alt="Justia Law & Legal Internet Resources" width="100"></a></span> <span><a href="http://www.nolo.com/"><img src="/jresources/images/logo-nolo-w.gif" alt="NOLO - Law Books, Legal Forms & Legal Software"></a></span> <span><a href="http://blog.librarylaw.com/"><img src="/jresources/images/librarylaw_logo.jpg" alt="LibraryLaw.com"></a></span> </div> </div> <nav id="footernav"> <h2 class="visuallyhidden">Footer Navigation</h2> </nav> <div class="copyright"> <div> <img src="/jresources/images/su_seal.gif" width="36" height="35" alt="seal"> <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/"> <img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://licensebuttons.net/l/by-nc/3.0/us/88x31.png"> </a> </div> <p> © <span class="copyright_year">2005–2024</span> The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 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