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This guide does not supply legal advice, nor is it intended to replace the advice of legal counsel.
Public Domain - Now includes US works published in 1924
The term "public domain" refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws, such as copyright, patents or trademark laws. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist.
There are four ways works arrive in the public domain:
the copyright has expired;
the copyright owner failed to follow the copyright renewal rules;
the copyright owner deliberately places it in the public domain (known as 'dedication'); and
A tool to help determine the copyright status of a work that is first published in the United States. Most of us know that any work published before 1924 is in the public domain, but the copyright status for copyrighted works after 1923 can be difficult to determine.