---
name: Public Domain
slug: public-domain
type: licensing_state
status: running
version: "∞"
released: "prehistory (formalized ~1710 CE)"
maintainer: everyone (unassigned)
dependencies:
  - copyright
  - time
  - death
  - government_inaction
license: none (by definition)
tags:
  - intellectual_property
  - commons
  - culture
  - law
  - creative_infrastructure
---

Public Domain

What it actually is

The legal condition in which a creative work belongs to no one, which means it belongs to everyone, which means you can do whatever you want with it.

How it works

Works enter the public domain through one of several mechanisms, all of which involve waiting or forgetting:

Expiration. Copyright terms end. In most jurisdictions this takes somewhere between "a human lifetime" and "longer than any civilization has ever been stable." Eventually the clock runs out.
Dedication. A creator explicitly releases a work. Requires intent, paperwork, and a willingness to let go that most creators find physiologically difficult.
Failure to comply. Older works sometimes missed procedural requirements (registration, renewal, notice). The law shrugged. Public domain absorbed them.
Government authorship. Works produced by the U.S. federal government are public domain at birth. Democracy as a content delivery system.

"I thought I owned this." — most people, discovering they don't

Features

No permission required
No licensing fees
No expiration (of the public domain status itself)
Full derivative rights: adapt, remix, sell, burn, translate, musicalise, ruin
Compatible with all downstream copyright licenses
Retroactively applies to works that outlived their protection without asking them

Known bugs

Orphan works. Copyright status is unclear for millions of works. Public domain cannot be confirmed without research that costs more than the work is worth.
Copyright creep. Term extensions, especially in the U.S. post-1998, have delayed entry for decades. Works that should be free are still locked. Mickey Mouse is the canonical canary here.
Jurisdiction fragmentation. A work may be in the public domain in one country and protected in another. Reality runs multiple incompatible instances simultaneously.
False positives. People assume old equals free. It does not always. Age is a heuristic, not a license.

Edge cases

A photograph of a public domain painting may generate a new copyright in some jurisdictions (controversial, contested, chaotic)
Translations of public domain works are themselves new copyrighted works
Public domain content can be incorporated into proprietary products. You can build walls around a commons. This is not a bug to everyone.

Changelog

Version	Date	Notes
1.0	1710	Statute of Anne. Copyright invented, so its absence became a concept
2.0	1886	Berne Convention. Internationalization begins. Compatibility issues immediate
2.7	1998	Sonny Bono Act. Release schedule delayed 20 years in the U.S.
2.8	2019	Works from 1923 finally cleared in the U.S. jazz enters the commons

FAQ

Can I sell a public domain work? Yes. You can also sell air in some contexts. Legal does not mean advisable.

Is the public domain a place? Technically no. Functionally yes. It is where Shakespeare lives now.

Who maintains it? No one. That is the entire point. The absence of maintenance is the product.

Will it last? Depends on whether Congress gets bored again.

drafting spec…