Copyright Law: Public Domain

Digital Slider

A quick way to figure out if a work is in the public doman or copyrighted by matching the date of publication with other information.

Cornell Copyright Term and Public Domain

A chart that shows the limits of copyright protection per type and date of creation and if it's in the public domain.

Copyright Office Search

Lists works registered and documents recorded by the U.S. Copyright Office since January 1, 1978,.

Public Domain is a term that refers to works that have never had or no longer have copyright protection.  Public Domain works are free and available for public use.  Relevant facts about public domain books include the following:

• Usually government publications are in the public domain.
• Books published before 1923 are in the public domain.
• Books after 1923 may or may not be in the public domain.  The links to the left offer tools to find out if a publication is copyrighted.

1. 1. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. v. X One X Productions

   United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. July 05, 2011 644 F.3d 584 2011 WL 2610948 
    

2. 2. Modern Pub., a Div. of Unisystems, Inc. v. Landoll, Inc.

   United States District Court, S.D. New York. March 03, 1994 849 F.Supp. 22 1994 WL 91234 
    

3. 3. Golan v. Gonzales

   United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit. September 04, 2007 501 F.3d 1179 2007 WL 2547974 
    

4. 4. Muslim Advocates v. U.S. Dept. of Justice

   United States District Court, District of Columbia. November 10, 2011 833 F.Supp.2d 92 2011 WL 5439085 
    
5. 

   5. Oracle America, Inc. v. Google Inc.

   United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit. May 09, 2014 750 F.3d 1339 2014 WL 1855277 
    

6. 6. Golan v. Holder

   Supreme Court of the United States January 18, 2012 565 U.S. 302 132 S.Ct. 873 
    

7. 7. Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Dept. of Defense

   United States District Court, District of Columbia. August 28, 2013 963 F.Supp.2d 6 2013 WL 4536118 
    
8. 

   8. Cottone v. Reno

   United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. October 26, 1999 193 F.3d 550 1999 WL 969257 
    
9. 

   9. Bucklew v. Hawkins, Ash, Baptie & Co., LLP.

   United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. May 27, 2003 329 F.3d 923 2003 WL 21212930 
    

10. 10. Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd.

    United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division. December 23, 2013 988 F.Supp.2d 879 2013 WL 6824923 

Google Books offers many public domain books to downloand and read.