What is the Public Domain?

The Public Domain is made up of works that are not subject to copyright. This is generally because the copyright has expired or the work was never entitled to it.^[1] A key part of copyright is that it doesn’t last indefinitely so works can eventually be freely available to everyone and add to the collective creative works.

Works can be Public Domain if:

• they are outside the copyright timeframe
• the creator has designated it Public Domain and forgone their copyright for the work
• the formalities required for copyright are not maintained
• not entitled to copyright e.g. facts
• Public Domain works may still be protected by moral rights and require attribution.^[2]

Public Domain in Australia

Registration is not required for works to be under copyright and there is not a list of works available in the Public Domain in Australia.^[3]

Duration of Copyright from the Australian Copyright Council has information for “people who want to work out whether copyright has expired for copyright material under Australian law”.^[4]

The Duration of copyright (PDF, 623KB) table from the Australian Government lists factors affecting copyright duration and copyright duration by different types of works.

The Public Domain and Creative Commons

Creative Commons licences should not be applied to Public Domain works.^[5] Creative Commons provide two other tools (not licences) that can be used for Public Domain works.^[6]

CCO – Public Domain dedication tool

The CC0 option is available for creators who wish to relinquish their copyright completely.^[7] This tool uses the three-layer licence approach of legal code, deed and metadata that are also used for the Creative Commons licences. However, it is important to note it is not a licence.^[8] In some jurisdictions, creators cannot dedicate their work to the Public Domain. If this is the case in your country, CC0 has other legal tools to help with this.^[9]

Attributing public domain and CC0 works has information on how to attribute Public Domain and CC0 works in your work.

Public Domain tools summary

A summary of the important distinctions between these two tools^[10]:

Tool	CC0	Public Domain Mark
Definition	A tool which enables creators to dedicate their works to the worldwide public domain to the greatest extent possible	A label articulating the public domain status of a work which is known to be free of all copyright restrictions
Used by	Authors or holders of copyright and related or neighboring rights	Anyone
Used for	Works that are still subject to copyright and related rights in one or more jurisdictions	Works that are already free of known copyright restrictions throughout the world (not recommended for use with works that are in the public domain in some jurisdictions)
Legality	Legally operative – when applied effectively relinquishing all copyright and related or neighboring rights worldwide	Not legally operative in any respect

Icons:

Creative Commons Public Domain dedication tool logo. Trademark: Creative Commons