What is Public Domain?

Whatever it is you're looking for you may have struck gold by arriving at this website.Yes, works including books, software, photographs, music, images, maps, movie clips, and much more are to be discovered, and more importantly, are there for the taking - from the Public Domain.Whatever it is you are looking for, it is highly likely that you will find it in the relatively unknown world of "The Public Domain."So what is "Public Domain?"Public Domain as its name implies, refers to works that belong to the public. That means, anyone is free to use them in any which way they like. More technically, it means works that have been created, and are not protected by copyright (for whatever reason).The more obvious works that are not copyright are the complete works of Shakespeare, Dickens, and the music of Mozart and Beethoven. But there is much, much more than that. To understand what is, and what is not, Public Domain - you need to know what copyright means.Copyright means that the owner of the work created has certain rights. These rights include the right to freely make copies of the work, the right to sell the work, and the right to adapt the work into anything.The reason for copyright is so that no-one can come along and just "take" the work and use it for gain or profit. Should that happen, the owner of the copyright can sue for losses. And there are many such cases.Now here's the juicy bit. Works are not covered by copyright indefinitely. Copyright does expire. And it is these works that then fall into the Public Domain.Works created today are covered by copyright for a good 70 years after the creators death. So there's no point hanging around for anything modern to fall into the Public Domain. What is of interest to us are works that were never copyrighted at all, or works that have entered the Public Domain.Such works can be freely copied, sold and made into Derivative Works.It is the making of Derivative Works that offers the greatest potential.But first, you need to understand a few basics.Works enter the Public Domain for several reasons. The main reason is that the copyright has expired, other reasons are:The work was published before there even was any copyright protection, e.g. the works of Shakespeare.The copyright owner "gave" the work to the Public Domain, e.g. some computer software is donated this wayCopyright protection was lostThe work was never entitled to copyright protectionAs a rough guide, works published in the United States before 1923 are in the Public Domain. Works created between 1923 and 1963 (inclusive) may be in the Public Domain.Copyright Law has seen many changes. The Berne Convention (1976 but not effective until 1978) effectively got rid of "common law" copyright which was essentially a state run system protecting all unpublished works whilst, published works were protected by federal laws. All copyright is now protected by federal law.Now, works published between 1923 and 1963 had to have their copyright renewed (under the old laws) in the 28th. year after publication. And the reason so many works fall into the Public Domain during this period is because most creators of the works simply forgot to renew in the 28th year, or their families did if the originators were already deceased.What this meant was that if a work was published in 1923 the copyright had to be renewed in the year 1951 (or thereabouts). If the creator, or his representative, failed to renew in a timely manner, then the work automatically fell into the Public Domain.If the work was renewed, then this protected the works for a further 47 years, making a total of 75 years (28 + 47).So, a work published in 1923 and renewed in 1951 was due to fall into the Public Domain by 1923 + 28 + 47 = 1999.But, certain copyright holders were edgy at the prospect of their work becoming free to use so early. In fact, a work published in 1930 would be entering the Public Domain by 31st. December 2005. Just imagine great literary works and great movies published in the 1930's being available.But, this is not so because......Copyright law was tweaked again. This time the Sony Bono Copyright Extension Law added a further 20 years to all copyrights. This effectively meant that anything published in 1923 will now not enter the Public Domain until 2019. And anything published in 1924 not until 2020. And so on.Who's to say that copyright law will not be extended again to protect these works? Does it matter? Yes and no.If you want a specific topic, say something published by Walt Disney, then yes it will matter, but there is a whole mountain of stuff already in the Public Domain right now.And this is what you should be looking for.Rich pickings!"Interested in knowing more about creating your own digital portfolio? You can get access to a 52 week training program that explains, step-by-step, and with the help of screenshots, exactly how to research, create, and market your own products. Go to:http://www.MillionDollarPublisher.com to find out more."