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Copyright and Fair Use

Public Domain

The public domain knowledge, information and works are no longer protected by copyright law. For example U.S. Government works are in the public domain, but not the works created by state governments. Facts also don’t fall under copyright law. They are in the public domain. (Carrie Russell, 2004)

The Public Domain Chart - Works Published in the U.S.

Date of Publication	Conditions	Copyright Term
Before 1923	None	In the public domain
1923 through 1977	Published without a copyright notice	In the public domain
1978 to 1 March 1989	Published without notice, and without subsequent registration within 5 years	In the public domain
1978 to 1 March 1989	Published without notice, but with subsequent registration within 5 years	70 years after the death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication
1923 through 1963	Published with notice but copyright was not renewed	In the public domain
1923 through 1963	Published with notice and the copyright was renewed	95 years after publication date
1964 through 1977	Published with notice	95 years after publication date
1978 to 1 March 1989	Created after 1977 and published with notice	70 years after death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication
1978 to 1 March 1989	Created before 1978 and first published with notice in this period	The greater of the term specified in the previous entry or 31 December 2047
From 1 March 1989 through 2002	Created after 1977	70 years after death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication
From 1 March 1989 through 2002	Created before 1978 and first published in this period	The greater of the term specified in the previous entry or 31 December 2047
After 2002	None	70 years after death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication

For the detailed table, see: http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm.

Useful Websites

Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States

Digital Tools (from the American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy)