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While copyright was designed to give a (financial) incentive to the creator, works in the public domain just exist as such. The public have the right to use and reuse works in the public domain without financial or social burden. When copyright or other protections reach the end of their life, works are said to revert to the public domain.
Creative works are in the public domain wherever no law exists to establish proprietary rights, or where the subject matter is specifically excluded from existing laws. Likewise, works that were created long before such laws were passed are part of the public domain, such as the works of William Shakespeare and Ludwig van Beethoven and the inventions of Archimedes (however, translations of the works of Archimedes, Shakespeare, etc., may be subject to copyright). Also, works of the United States Government are excluded from copyright law.
Non-creative works cannot be copyrighted and are often in the public domain. For example, most mathematical formulas are not subject to copyrights or patents in most of the world (although their application in the form of computer programs can be patented). Facts are in the public domain (although recent legislation has increased protection of databases that critics claim are only facts). Collections of data with intuitive organization, such as alphabetized directories like telephone directories, are in the public domain. Creative organizations such as categorized lists may be protected by copyright.
Most copyrights and patents have a finite term; when this expires, the work or invention falls into public domain. In most of the world, patents expire 20 years after they are filed.
Trademarks expire soon after the mark becomes a generic term.Copyrights are more complex; generally, they expire in all countries except Guatemala, Mexico, Samoa and Colombia when all of the following conditions are satisfied:
These conditions are based on the intersection of United States and European Union copyright law, which most other Berne Convention signatories recognize. Note that copyright term extension under U.S. tradition does not restore copyright to public domain works (hence the 1923 date), but European tradition does because the EU harmonizationThe Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection was a European Union (EU) copyright directive issued in 1993. The goal was to ensure that there was a single duration for copyright monopolies across the entire EU. The chosen term was that of was based on the copyright term in GermanyThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east, which had already been extended to life plus 70. Note further that works created by a United States government agency fall into public domain at the moment of creation.
The situation with respect to British government works is a little more complex, but still relatively easy to understand. British government works are restricted by either Crown CopyrightCrown Copyright: The United Kingdom Crown copyright applies to all works produced by the British Government subject to the condition that the qualification "Where a work is made by Her Majesty or by an officer or servant of the Crown in the course of his or Parliamentary CopyrightParliamentary Copyright was first created in the UK by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Prior to this legislation being passed, what is now covered by Parliamentary Copyright was Crown Copyright. Parliamentary Copyright was created with a life. Published Crown Copyright works become public domain at the end of the year 50 years after they were published, unless the author of the work held copyright and assigned it to the Crown. In that case, the copyright term is the usual life of author plus 70 years. Unpublished Crown Copyright documents become public domain at the end of the year 125 years after they were first created. However, under the legislation that created this rule, and abolished the traditional common lawThis article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). The common-law legal system forms a major part of the law of many c perpetual copyright protection of unpublished works, no unpublished works will become public domain until 50 years after the legislation came into effect. Since the legislation became law on 1 August 1989, no unpublished works will become public domain under this provision until 2039. Parliamentary Copyright documents become public domain at the end of the year 50 years after they were published. Crown Copyright is waived on some government works provided that certain conditions are met.
These numbers reflect the most recent extensions of copyright in the United States and Europe. Canada and Australia have not, as of 2004, passed similar twenty-year extensions. Consequently, their copyright expiry times are still life of the author plus 50 years. As a result, characters such as Mickey Mouse, and works ranging from Peter Pan to the stories of H. P. Lovecraft are public domain in both places. (The copyright status of Lovecraft's work is debatable, as no copyright renewals, which were necessary under the laws of that time, have been found. Also, two competing parties have independently claimed copyright ownership on his work.)
As with most other Commonwealth of Nations countries, Canada and Australia follow the general lead of the United Kingdom on copyright of government works. Both have a version of Crown Copyright which lasts for 50 years from publication. New Zealand also has Crown Copyright protection, but has a much greater time length of protection at 100 years from the date of publication. Ireland also has a fifty year term on government works, although since it is no longer a monarchy, such protection is, of course, not called Crown Copyright. India has a government copyright of sixty years from publication, to coincide with its somewhat unusual life of the author plus sixty years term of copyright.
Examples of inventions whose patents have expired include the inventions of Thomas Edison. Examples of works whose copyrights have expired include the works of Carlo Collodi and most of the works of Mark Twain. Examples of works under a statutory perpetual copyright include many of the Peter Pan works by J. M. Barrie; this was granted by the British government and applies only within the United Kingdom. Other works, such as the works of The Walt Disney Company are not under a de jure statutory perpetual copyright because the United States Constitution requires copyrights to last "for limited Times" ( Article I, section 8, clause 8). However, the limits have been retroactively extended several times, leading to longer and longer protections. Critics have observed that the extensions have taken place right before noteworthy works from Disney and others were about to expire, concluding that such copyright term extensions add up to de facto perpetual copyright. Disney and other large publishers routinely provide millions of U.S. dollars in campaign money to legislators, allegedly in exchange for these continued extensions.
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