Copyright law is complex and subject to change. This guide is intended as a general reference only and cannot substitute for legal advice.
What is Public Domain?
The term "public domain" refers to all of the works not protected by copyright.
For most of this material, copyright has expired. Anything created prior to 1923 has aged out of copyright protection.
Other types of works are never covered by copyright. These include all material produced by the U.S. federal government as well as some material created by state and local governments (determined by state and local statutes). In the case of federally created material, works created by government contractors are protected while others are covered by trademark or patent law.
Interested in using material created by a specific state government, or those created by the government of the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico? Check this page created by Copyright at Harvard Library.
Public Domain can introduce specific complications. You are strongly encouraged to review Stanford Libraries Public Domain information, especially the Public Domain Trouble Spots section.
Individual Editions of Public Domain Works
Creative works in the public domain are frequently reprinted by modern publishers. In most cases, only the added material (such as an introduction or footnotes) is protected by copyright. Review the copyright notice carefully to determine if a fair use analysis is necessary.
Sometimes, however, publishers apply their copyright mark to the entire version by corporate policy, even though this may be a deceptive representation and thus illegal. See Public Domain Trouble Spots (especially Dear Rich : She Wants to Use Bloch Paintings on TV) on the Stanford Libraries Public Domain site.
Another strategy to get a work you need is to check out reputable online sources. These sources of public domain material frequently provide methods of creating printable versions (if you don't want to simply link to the online text version or want to provide both). Because these sources exist to provide access to public domain works, printed versions are not a source of revenue, making them available for use. Specific sources include:
Is This Work Under Copyright?
Determining whether a work written after 1923 is still protected by copyright can be a challenge, but there are tools to help.
These tools will help you identify what rules cover a specific work, locate copies of public domain works, or track down information about a publisher:
To see if older works are in the public domain, search these archives for the work. If you find the full text then the work is out of copyright. (You may also find a printable version to include in a course pack.)
If you need to check on whether a particular work's copyright has been renewed, check in this database:
For publishers that have gone out of business:
If you are interested in using a work created outside the U.S., copyright can get more complicated. Different countries have different rules. For a general source for finding the appropriate country's policies:
Orphan Works
An "orphan work" is a work which was copyrighted, but the copyright holder cannot be readily identified by regular means. A work can fall into this status for various reasons, including publishers that are no longer in business or if the copyright holder has died and heirs cannot be identified.
If a copyright holder can't be identified, can I simply use the work?
No, you can't unless your intended use falls under the fair use provision. David Hansen, an expert on the issue of orphan works explains that "If an orphan work is out of print, then we cannot legally reprint it. If it’s in print, we cannot legally translate it, make it into a movie, print 3-D models of the characters, adapt it into a Broadway musical, sample its music in a modern composition, assign it in an online class, or use it in a host of other ways that we cannot foresee until its wider availability frees users to open our eyes to the possibilities" (ii).