🎙 Just wrapped up the third part of the Copyrightability Series on the Hourly to Exit podcast, and I've got some valuable insights to share with you! 💡 In this episode, we explored the concept of public domain and what it means for copyright protection.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

- Public Domain Definition: Works in the public domain are not protected by intellectual property laws and can be freely used, modified, and distributed without needing permission or paying royalties.

- Ways Works Enter Public Domain: Copyright expiration, explicit dedication by the creator, government works, and failure to meet copyright formalities are some ways works enter the public domain.

- Public Domain ≠ Publicly Available: Just because something is publicly available does not mean it's in the public domain; it could still be subject to copyright protection.

Tune into the full episode for more in-depth discussions and insights on copyrightability, fair use, and avoiding copyright infringement. Remember, understanding copyright laws is crucial for creators and businesses alike.

#Copyrightability #PublicDomain #IntellectualProperty #PodcastInsights

Connect with Erin to learn how to use intellectual property to increase your income and impact. hourlytoexit.com/podcast.

Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Team Dklutr production

Hello, friends.

Welcome to this week's edition

of the hourly to exit podcast.

Also happy holidays,

as this is my last

solo episode of 2023.

And I am excited to close

out the year with the third

part of my three part series

about copyright ability.

So copyright ability simply

means that an asset is.

Capable of protection

qualifies for

protection under the U.

S.

Copyright laws.

Part one of this series

provided an overview

of the main requirement

for copyrightability,

and that is that the

asset must be original.

Original simply means not

copied from another source.

That it was Independently

created note that

original does not mean

innovative or novel.

It doesn't have to be the

most mind blowingly new idea.

The asset can be about

something that's a kind of

tried and true idea, but the

expression, the words that you

use to describe your take on

that idea must be original.

In part two, I dove a bit.

deeper into the originality

requirement by talking

about derivative works.

And it also included a brief

detour into fair use because

it's almost impossible to talk

about derivative works without

talking about fair use.

In part two, I answered

the question, what makes

something truly original

versus derivative?

So can find part

one in episode 71.

And part two in episode 72

this week, I answer this

question that I received

at a recent workshop.

How do we define the

public domain is posting

it to social media.

Consider the public domain.

The answer to this belongs

in the copyright ability

series, because an asset

that is in the public

domain is not protected by

intellectual property laws.

Therefore it's

not copyrightable.

And so public domain.

Concept does apply to not

just copyrights, but also to

trademarks and the patents.

But, of course, we're talking

about trademarks here, but

I just wanted to make the

comment that public domain

does apply to other areas

of intellectual property

laws on the patent side.

I'm sure you're familiar with

drugs that become generic and

that means they passed into

public domain and the patent

no longer applies to it.

When a work is in the

public domain, it is freely

available for anyone to

use, modify, and distribute

without needing permission

from the original creator,

or paying royalties for it.

So recall that the exclusive

rights held by a copyright

owner Are the rights to

use it, reproduce it,

distribute it, modify it,

perform it, display it.

And when it's in the public

domain, now those rights that

are usually exclusively held

by the copyright owner can

be exercised by the public.

How does a work enter

the public domain?

Well, there are a number

of ways it can happen.

1st, it may be just

the expiration of the

protection period in the U.

S.

copyright protection expires

after a certain period.

And that period depends

upon who created it.

I'll talk a little bit

about it, but not all

the intricacies of it.

So, once the copyright.

Expires the work enters

the public domain.

So here in the U.

S.

January 1st of every year

is public domain day.

And on the January

1st, a new crop works

will enter the public

domain January 1 of 2023

copyrighted works from 1997.

entered the public domain.

January 1, 2024, copyrighted

works from 19, 29 will enter

the public domain and so on.

Of course, the ones that

were already in the public

domain remain in the public

domain, but a new class of

works enter the public domain

every year as the passage

of time occurs and the

protection period expires.

So, for instance, among the

works that enter the public

domain in 2023 are works by

Ernest Hemingway, Virginia

Wolf, and Agatha Christie,

which is pretty interesting.

I think if you're interested,

you can Google that and

see the number, what

works are coming into the

public domain every year.

So that means that, you

know, you can write a.

sequel to 1 of those works,

you can use the characters and

put them in new circumstances.

you can create a play or a

movie based on those works

without requiring permission

from the, originator.

there are a number of nuances

to works published before

1978, because things have

changed a lot in the last 100

years about the protection

period and how that is

calculated and what causes it

to go in the public domain.

But for works published

or registered.

from 1978 onwards, the

copyright term is the

life of the author plus

70 years, which is pretty

long and for works with

corporate for, like,

something like a software

company, create software.

It's not based on the human

who created it, but based

on the corporation that owns

it, the term is either 95

years from publication or

120 years from creation,

whichever is shorter for

anonymous pseudonymous or

works for higher the term

is 95 years from the 1st

publication or 120 years from

the year of creation as well.

All right, so the other way,

some works are simply not

eligible for cover protection.

As I have addressed in my

other places in the copyright

ability, series works that

are never eligible for

copyright protection, such as

facts, ideas and systems are

always in the public domain.

Works that consist entirely of

commonly known information or

self evident facts containing

no original authorship, such

as standard calendars or

directory of members, while

the facts and names might be

copyrightable under certain

circumstances, typically.

They are not copyrightable,

and therefore in the public

domain, only the unique

expression or presentation

of that information

would be copyrightable.

For instance, the raw data

or facts in a research

paper can't be copyrighted,

but the way they are

presented, analyzed

or articulated can be.

Another group of, public

domain works government

works any work created by an

officer or employee of the U.

S.

government as part of

their official duties

is automatically in

the public domain.

Now that this.

Exception does not apply

to work created by state

government employees.

So don't assume something that

is created by state government

is in the public domain.

But if it is created by the U.

S.

government, or its employees,

of course, that would be

public domain works failure

to meet copyright formalities.

Now, this was

more of an issue.

prior to 1989, the copyright

notice with C with the date

on it, a date was required

for all works published

in order for the copyright

protection to apply.

People ask about that

requirement to put the

copyright notice on there.

That isn't since 1989.

It's no longer required,

but prior to 1989,

It was required.

And so if the notice was

admitted, or somehow there was

a mistake made with respect

to that copyright notice,

generally, there are some

exceptions, but generally,

that work lost copyright

protection, and therefore

passed into the public domain.

And then you can have

explicit dedication,

a creator can choose.

To relinquish their

copyrights and place their

work in the public domain.

there are some tools

like Creative Commons

Zero, that can do that.

I will talk briefly about

Creative Commons as well.

Creative Commons are

copyright licenses.

Except they're simple,

standardized licenses that

have preset conditions and you

can simply apply those preset

conditions to your work.

If you want to find

out more about them,

go to creative commons.

org.

But basically creative common

licenses can be restrictive.

From, requirements

to give credit to the

creator, you can't use it

for any commercial use.

I mean, you can't sell it and

you can't make any derivatives

or adaptations of it, but

you can use it as is, giving

credit, not selling it.

Versus a pretty permissive

license, which is simply that

you just have to give credit

and that's all you need to do.

And then there are other

licenses that fall between

the 2 give credit, but you

can use commercially, you

can make derivatives, but

you have to give, you know,

all those combinations.

Right?

A creative comments

0, although it's.

Sometimes referred

to as a license.

It's not a license, right?

Because it's a dedication

to the public domain.

if you elect the creative

common 0, then you are

waiving all copyright and

related rights in the work.

So.

might use this if they want

to dedicate their work to

the public domain because

it's, data or educational

content, scientific work,

maybe even artwork, but

something where they want

to facilitate the free

distribution and utilization

of that resource globally.

That is a more, the

merrier, the wider spread.

And repeated that

information is the better

it is for, the world.

And so people may elect

to dedicate their work

to the public domain.

the main attributions

are, there are no

copyright restrictions.

When you have that creative

domains, zero dedication,

you can use the work

for any purpose without

seeking permission, even

commercial purposes.

You can take something that

someone's given away free

and slap a price on it.

If someone will pay

for it and they wait.

So the creator waves

all rights to work.

No attribution is required.

that's a different thing

than pretending it's your

own idea, but it is not a

copyright infringement to

not provide attribution.

there are, other ethical

obligations that you still

have, to not claim somebody

else's, uh, Work as your own

and you can use it worldwide

and it cannot be revoked

when someone dedicates

their work to the public

domain that is permanent

and it cannot be revoked.

However, it is provided as

is, without any warranty.

So, in the event that work.

infringes somebody else's

copyright, because it's been

dedicated to public domain.

It could be that, there are

problems within that work.

so using that, creative

commons zero work is

not completely without

liability or risk.

Here's what public

domain is not.

So to answer the original

question, something that

is publicly available

doesn't mean it's in

the public domain.

Publicly available and public

domain are not synonymous.

Publicly available simply

means it is not being,

held in confidence.

It is something that is

available to the public.

So think of a course.

Or a movie or a song publicly

available, but copyright

protection remains on that

work, according to the

things we just talked about.

So, the question about

publishing something

on my social media

does not put something

in the public domain.

It is publicly available,

but it is still subject to

my copyright protections.

The other thing that public

domain isn't, it isn't.

Free now, it might be, but

if you go on Amazon right now

and search for a tale of 2

cities, you'll see copies of

the book that are for sale.

Right?

So, when we talked

about some of the books.

You know, Virginia Woolf

and Ernest Hemingway.

I can't remember

Agatha Christie books.

You will find those books.

Now, by the way, their

whole catalog of books

is not in public domain.

The ones that they published

before 1927 are, so

you will find all those

books on Amazon for sale.

So you can't.

get the Kindle copy that

you bought and just copy it

and then start selling it.

that particular book.

Is for sale and subject

to whatever the terms of

that sale are, conversely,

something that is free.

Is not necessarily

in the public domain.

Think about most of the

content that you come

across daily on your phone.

It's free, but the

vast majority of it is

protected by copyright.

So that is super important

because too many people

think that's something

that's Published on the

internet is public domain.

That is not what that is.

And it is not just because

you can access it for

free does not mean that it

is in the public domain.

It is still protected

by copyright.

People ask me about

open source software.

So free and open software

is not in the public domain.

It is still protected

by copyright law.

So similar to those

creative common licenses.

If you offer something,

as open source software,

the copyright owner of

that software chooses

to grant specific rights

to the public through a

general public license.

just because it's

free and it's, not

in the public domain.

So there are still

conditions for using it.

It is still protected,

but subject to this public

license that allows you to

use it in specific ways.

And so whatever those terms

of that license are, you

still need to comply with it.

So if you don't comply with

that, the terms of that free

open source license, then you

are infringing the copyright.

It is still protected

by copyright law.

You still need to comply with

the terms of that license.

And if you don't,

then you are guilty of

copyright infringement.

Other people will ask,

why we do even have a

domain, like, why doesn't

protection last longer?

And, if you follow what

has happened over the

last 100 years with the.

Increase in the length

of copyright protection

in particular, there are

many people who think

it lasts way too long.

So, now, with the life of the

author, plus was it 70 years

or 95 years, basically the

value to the original owner.

Has probably, 0 to 9, right?

However, the value to

the world, because at

the end of the day, there

really aren't that many

original ideas anymore.

Right.

And so to be able to

build upon Shakespeare

to be able to build upon.

the odyssey to be able

to build upon, other,

classic materials.

That is the basis of so

much of what is, rich

in current culture.

Public domain is

intentionally created.

It was intentionally created

by Congress to make sure

that some works, even

creative works, there's a

balance for that exclusive

period of time that the.

Creator has exclusive rights

to it, but also to balance

it with the greater good

that we can have this body

of work that we can continue

to develop and to grow from.

I discovered in researching

this when I discovered the

Center for the Study of

Public Domain, which is

awesome, which advocates

for a balance between

protection and public domain.

And they had this to say.

Without the public

domain, there would be

little to protect with

intellectual property rights.

If copyright lasted

long enough to lock

up Shakespeare's work,

much of the literary

canon would vanish.

If data, theories, and formula

were subject to intellectual

property protection,

then scientific progress

would grind to a halt.

So the intellectual

property system needs to

provide both incentives.

Through exclusive rights and

the freedoms provided by the

public domain, and the key

is to find the appropriate

balance between them.

And I think that is a

great way to wrap up the

copyright ability series.

Again, please check out the

last 2 episodes as well as I

also had a 3 part series about

Copyright infringement or

talk about what is copyright

infringement, how to avoid

being a copyright infringer,

which usually happens by

accident, not with intent

and measures you can take

to, reduce the likelihood

that you will be a victim

of copyright infringement.

So please check out

those episodes as well.

And thank you again.

This series has been

sponsored by Think Beyond IP.

Think Beyond IP helps B2B

experts with corporate clients

lay the intellectual property

foundation required to build

new scalable revenue streams.

Think Beyond IP has the legal

expertise and the corporate

experience to provide

expert focus to the issues

that matter most to you.

and to your corporate clients.

And if you haven't already

head over to thinkbeyondip.

com to get your free

assessment to answer

the question, is your

expertise copyrightable?

Thanks guys.

Have a great holiday.