How Do You Find If Something Is In The Public Domain?

4 replies
Hey everyone, I'm trying to figure out if a book is in public domain or not. Any suggestions or websites that you know of to find Public domain stuff?

Thanks!
#domain #find #public
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  • Profile picture of the author GMD
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Dr Livingston View Post

    Hey everyone, I'm trying to figure out if a book is in public domain or not. Any suggestions or websites that you know of to find Public domain stuff?

    Thanks!
    Anything published BEFORE 1923 is in the public domain. Anything after that, certain small print rules apply.

    For example, anything published after 1923, the GENERAL rule is the life of the author PLUS 70 years.

    That is a very general guideline keep in mind! If you are not sure, you can post the title of the book here and get a more specific answer, or you can search for the information yourself.

    Also, try this: http://www.publicdomainworks.net/
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Originally Posted by usuallyclueless View Post

      Anything published BEFORE 1923 is in the public domain.
      Works first published in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain in the United States. For foreign works, it can get a bit trickier, and such a work bears additional research. For example, if the foreign work was published in the United States between 1909 and 1977 without a copyright notice, then it is not considered "published" under the Copyright Law in effect during that period. Thus, they may be protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.

      So, conceivably, a work could have been first published outside the United States, then published in, let's say 1915, in the U.S. without a copyright notice. If the author died in 1950, that work could still be protected by copyright in the United States until 2020.
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  • Profile picture of the author nyrsimon
    There is a pretty good primer here FAQ: How Can I Tell Whether a Book Can Go Online?

    PD Material ROCKS!!!! Seriously - look around you can find examples of it everywhere....

    Simon
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