What Is Public Domain?

What is Public Domain?
Public Domain, also known by its abbreviation - PD, means that no person or organization controls the rights to the work (content) and it may be used freely.

When Does a Work Enter the Public Domain?
From the moment a new work (content) is created, it is automatically covered by copyright laws. But copyright does not last forever. In Canada, the term of copyright is in the Copyright Act, also known as C-42. When its copyright expires, a work enters the public domain. Generally, the term of copyright in a work is the lifetime of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year.

Can a PD Work Become Copyright Again?
If a PD work is given a new and novel expression, such as a new arrangement of the song "Greensleeves" or a new edition of a Shakespeare play, each of these would have its own copyright, beginning when they are created. Still, everyone has the right to publish their own version of the PD play or their own arrangement of the PD song. Their status remains in the PD

Complexities
Calculating the expiration of copyright is complicated by factors such as multiple authors, different media (sound recordings expire 50 years after the recording is issued, regardless of the life spans of the creators), and moral rights, which pass on to the creator's heirs, even if they don't inherit copyright itself.

Public Domain Wizard
The Public Domain Wizard lets you quickly determine if a work (content) that you're interested in is covered by copyright or is in the public domain. It will greatly simplify your determinations about whether your content is in the public domain.

CLICK ON THE ARROW TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE        --> Public Domain Wizard