Public Domain Material: How Much Editing Required To Make It A Copyrighted Work?

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Lots of people use public domain material as the core of books,etc., they publish as an original, copyrighted work.

Any rule of thumb (or actual legal definition) of how much editing/enhancement is required for a public domain work to be considered appropriate for copyright protection?

Thanks!
#copyrighted #domain #editing #make #material #public #required #work
  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    It is known as a derivative work, but laws are murky and gray.
    Derivative Works Based on the Public Domain: Not as Free as You Thought : Duane Morris TechLaw

    Basically, the 10% rule that not more than 10% is the same no longer holds, and companies can sue you. Well, you are on your own.

    Derivative work - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    the Second Circuit held that a derivative work must be original relative to the underlying work on which it is based. Otherwise, it cannot enjoy copyright protection and copying it will not be copyright infringement.
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    • Profile picture of the author JOSourcing
      Banned
      Originally Posted by seobro View Post

      It is known as a derivative work, but laws are murky and gray.
      Derivative Works Based on the Public Domain: Not as Free as You Thought : Duane Morris TechLaw

      Basically, the 10% rule that not more than 10% is the same no longer holds, and companies can sue you. Well, you are on your own.

      Derivative work - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      the Second Circuit held that a derivative work must be original relative to the underlying work on which it is based. Otherwise, it cannot enjoy copyright protection and copying it will not be copyright infringement.
      Just to throw yet another wrench in the workings is the Supreme Court's re-copyrighting efforts: Supreme Court rules Congress can re-copyright public domain works
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by seobro View Post

      It is known as a derivative work, but laws are murky and gray.
      No, they're complicated. Case in point:

      Defendant took a public image promotional picture of Judy Garland as Dorothy. Not protected by copyright.

      Defendant wrote "There's no place like home." Not protected by copyright.

      Defendant put them together on a commercial product.

      Hold on a minute there, bucko.

      It is, in fact, true that you can put that picture of Judy Garland as Dorothy on your product. It's in the public domain.

      It is, in fact, true that you can write "there's no place like home" on your product. That's in the public domain, too.

      But Judy Garland as Dorothy PLUS "there's no place like home" is a derivative work of the film, which is not in the public domain and you are infringing on its copyright.

      Because it was the film in which Judy Garland as Dorothy said "there's no place like home."

      The promotional picture doesn't say "there's no place like home," and the L. Frank Baum novel doesn't have Judy Garland as Dorothy.

      It was the plaintiff's assertion that by combining the two, defendant created a work derivative of three other works: the promotional picture, the novel, and the film. So even though neither physical element of the piece came from the film, it still infringed on the film's copyright by incorporating an essential idea introduced by the film.

      Basically, you can't legally combine multiple public domain works to simulate a copyrighted work. Most of us don't need to worry about that, because it sort of has to be deliberate.

      Similarly, the ruling that Congress can place works back under copyright is very limited and specific: currently, several works which are public domain in the United States are still copyrighted outside the United States, and their public domain status in the United States violates the terms of the Berne Convention on Copyright.

      In order to comply with the terms of this international treaty, Congress is permitted to restore a compliant copyright status to these works. Because it's a matter of international law.

      This is not a blanket power that Congress can say "ooh, that's public domain, let's copyright it again."

      IP law is complicated. Technically, you have copyright in the public domain work simply by specifying its font size, typeface, and pagination. You don't even have to change anything that people would notice.

      But the real question is, why do you want copyright?

      If you just want to say "Copyright whoever 2012," you can say that without changing anything. You just won't win in court if someone else reprints the same work. When you say "Copyright," you mean whatever you can copyright and not what you can't. There's no law against saying "Copyright" on something you can't copyright, it just doesn't mean anything.
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      "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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      • Profile picture of the author Marine0302
        Thanks for the responses, you answered my questions and led me to some good info on the topic!
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by Marine0302 View Post

    how much editing/enhancement is required for a public domain work to be considered appropriate for copyright protection?
    If you are not sure you've done enough, do more.

    There is no bright-line test.
    Signature
    "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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