The Public Domain

Find free content and save on permission fees Millions of creative works—books, artwork, photos, songs, movies, and more—are available copyright-free in the public domain. Whether your tastes run to Beethoven or Irving Berlin, Edvard Munch or Claude Monet, you’ll find inspiration in The Public Domain. The only book that helps you find and identify which creative works are protected by copyright and which are not, The Public Domain covers the rules for: writings music art photography architecture maps choreography movies video software databases collections For the first time in decades, new works began to enter the public domain in 2019, and more are entering each year. The 9th edition is completely updated to include new public domain resources and to cover the latest legal changes to copyright protection of songs, books, photos, and other creative works, as well as public domain rules outside the U.S.

Digital technology has made culture more accessible than ever before. Texts, audio, pictures and video can easily be produced, disseminated, used and remixed using devices that are increasingly user-friendly and affordable. However, along with this technological democratization comes a paradoxical flipside: the norms regulating culture's use - copyright and related rights - have become increasingly restrictive. This book brings together essays by academics, librarians, entrepreneurs, activists and policy makers, who were all part of the EU-funded Communia project. Together the authors argue that the Public Domain - that is, the informational works owned by all of us, be that literature, music, the output of scientific research, educational material or public sector information - is fundamental to a healthy society. The essays range from more theoretical papers on the history of copyright and the Public Domain, to practical examples and case studies of recent projects that have engaged with the principles of Open Access and Creative Commons licensing. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the current debate about copyright and the Internet. It opens up discussion and offers practical solutions to the difficult question of the regulation of culture at the digital age.

Imagine embarking on a fantastic journey-one of exploration and discovery-that will take you around the world to exotic locations and hidden portals. A journey that provides you with instant access to the secret wisdom of the ages...A journey that immerses you in incredible, breathtaking beauty...A journey that places you, the student of discovery, at the feet of the most brilliant minds from every imaginable field of expertise. Can you picture it? Now imagine being able to gain access to that limitless wisdom...boundless beauty...and inexhaustible knowledge...FOR FREE! And better still, what if you were given complete, undeniable permission to personally develop those treasures into any money-making opportunity you can imagine. No questions asked! No limitations! Talk about unlimited income potential! What would an opportunity of THAT magnitude be worth to you? Thousands of dollars? Tens of thousands? PRICELESS? Just think of it...right now: .You have your pick from over 85 million books, many written by the greatest authors to have ever walked the earth. .You have full rights to a private collection of art produced by the world's finest artists, illustrators and photographers. .You have the keys to a movie vault containing thousands of classics you know and love-all at your fingertips-from vintage movies to cartoons and documentaries. .You have unhindered access to the millions of reports, books, videos and images produced by our government every year at a cost of millions. All of it is waiting-hidden-like buried treasure...waiting to be discovered by someone with eyes to see the possibilities...the potential. This treasure is waiting for someone like YOU! Granted, you will need thecourage to believe that anything is possible. You will need a map that shows you where to look. And you will need an expert to train you how to see the hidden gems. Are you ready for X-ray vision? What I am describing is not some far-flung fantasy or pie-in-the-sky pipe dream. It is not a get-rich-quick back alley scam or even a high-level, complex secret reserved for geniuses and gurus. NO! What I am describing is the mostly undiscovered world of Public Domain. It is a world of hidden riches and forgotten secrets that would make the best tomb raiders and treasure hunters salivate with excitement. And your key to it all is "The Public Domain Code Book"! About the Author Tony Laidig is a researcher, a graphic artist, a photographer, a teacher, a publisher and a treasure hunter. He has worked in the Printing and Publishing industries for over 25 years-with the past 14 years spent working specifically as a graphic designer for the Publishing Industry. With over 500 book covers to his credit, Tony is now turning his design talents toward creating his own information products. The Public Domain Code Book is his first major project. Tony and his wife, Deborah, also serve as Directors of Healing the Land, a non-profit organization that addresses Native American issues through education, cultural presentations and publishing. Tony and Deborah's teenage daughters, Ashlea and Courtney, are also actively involved in all aspects of Healing the Land as well. The Laidig family resides in South-Central Pennsylvania.

In this enlightening book James Boyle describes what he calls the range wars of the information age--today's heated battles over intellectual property. Boyle argues that just as every informed citizen needs to know at least something about the environment or civil rights, every citizen should also understand intellectual property law. Why? Because intellectual property rights mark out the ground rules of the information society, and today's policies are unbalanced, unsupported by evidence, and often detrimental to cultural access, free speech, digital creativity, and scientific innovation.Boyle identifies as a major problem the widespread failure to understand the importance of the public domain--the realm of material that everyone is free to use and share without permission or fee. The public domain is as vital to innovation and culture as the realm of material protected by intellectual property rights, he asserts, and he calls for a movement akin to the environmental movement to preserve it. With a clear analysis of issues ranging from Jefferson's philosophy of innovation to musical sampling, synthetic biology and Internet file sharing, this timely book brings a positive new perspective to important cultural and legal debates. If we continue to enclose the "commons of the mind," Boyle argues, we will all be the poorer.

"Our music, our culture, our science and our economic welfare all depend on a delicate balance between those ideas that are controlled and those that are free, between intellectual property and the public domain