Definition Of Public Domain
The term public domain is defined as intellectual property that neither belongs to anyone nor does anyone have individual authority over it. Such work is completely devoid of copyright protection. |
In fact, these essential symbolize intellectual property not entitled to copyright protection or those with terminated copyrights.As a consequence, such resource is public property and people have the authority to utilize it to their benefit for personal or professional purposes. There is no waiting for permissions from the original creator, and no expenses of royalties are attached.
Public domain is fundamentally different from copyright or patent work, but one needs to keep in mind that the rules governing the same vary from one nation to another. Therefore, while dealing with work in public domain, one needs to be careful about the jurisdiction in question. In accordance to the modern law, the originality of a person’s work is protected, be it in the field of art, literature, or music. The period of protection is different in the judiciary of each country. Once the stipulated time frame for copyright protection expires, the work is open to the public for general use, and thereby becoming a part of public domain.
In comparison to the repertoire of knowledge available in the world libraries; only 15 percent fall under public domain. Approximately, 75 percent of books are of no use to public as they are safe guarded by copyrights.
Patent rights are also similar to copyrights. These rights allow novel innovations to be secured from duplication. However, as in the case of copyrights, the time span of security is restricted and thereafter, the discovery is open to be used by all under public domain laws.
Another term that is significantly different from public domain is trademarks. Trademarks denote names, logos and other symbols used by business centers for individual recognition. A trademark is specific for a sole business. Although there is no fixed time span for trademarks as in the case of copyrights, there is risk of losing a trademark to public domain in cases of negligence or improper use. Nevertheless, in such cases, the business heads can revive the trademark with the intervention of law.
Work that was created before the establishment of copyright or patent laws automatically falls under public domain. Only the new attachments can be protected by the law.
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