what is public domain

The public domain refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. Works that are in the public domain may be used freely, without obtaining permission from or compensating the copyright owner. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. Anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it. Public domain works can serve as the foundation for new creative works and can be quoted extensively. There are four common ways that works arrive in the public domain: the copyright has expired, the copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules, the copyright owner deliberately places it in the public domain, known as “dedication,” or copyright law does not protect this type of work. In terms of copyright protection, works in the public domain in the U.S. generally include federal legislative enactments and other official documents, titles of books or movies, short phrases and slogans, news, history, facts or ideas, plots, characters and themes from works of fiction, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries or devices. However, collections of public domain works may be protected by copyright, even though individual works are not.