What is the Public Domain?
The public domain deals with all material that is not under copyright protection and can then be used freely and without restriction. This includes works produced by the government and works that have been dedicated to the public domain by the author(s). For more information about public domain, refer to the information provided by the Creative Commons organization.
Two Public Domain Tools
Creative Commons provides two public domain tools. The following symbols may be inserted into a work or posted next to it, with the purpose of communicating to the public that a work is not under copyright protection.
CC0 (CC Zero)
One tool is CC0 (CC Zero). It allows creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the public domain. CC0 allows users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions. The CC0 symbol below indicates that the creator releases personal ownership of the copyright:
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This is the CC0 symbol. |
The Public Domain Mark
The other tool allows for content known to be free of copyright restrictions to be marked as part of the public domain. In the use of these tools, no one is claiming copyright over the content. The following symbols, known as the Public Domain Mark, are used to indicate that a work is known to be free for use in the public domain:
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This is the Public Domain Mark. |
This is the Public Domain Mark in button form. |
