Public Domain
lastmod 2014-09-05created 2014-09-052 edits
The public domain refers to works whose copyright has expired.
Causes
Works enter the public domain mainly in the following cases.
- The author has waived the copyright by expressing their intent
- The copyright protection term has expired
- A law provides for the extinction of copyright in a specific work
Here, the case where the copyright holder extinguishes the copyright, that is, waives it, is a cause recognized equally by every country in the world. Accordingly, national laws differ only in the copyright term and in provisions that, by statute or the like, specifically extinguish or deny protection to the copyright in particular works. However, even these differences between national laws are not unlimited; as of 2006, a somewhat unified legal standard has been established and is in force through the Berne Convention, to which 160 countries are party.