Public domain refers to creative works that are not protected by copyright law, trademark, or patent laws. Works that are in the public domain may be used freely, without obtaining permission from the copyright owners. In general, works published in the United States before 1924 or as described below. In the case of corporate works, anonymous works or works for hire, they acquire public domain status 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever expires first.
Cases where copyright has expired and works are now in the public domain:
- Works published in the U.S. from 1928 and older (as of January 1, 2024)
- Works published with a copyright notice from 1923 to 1963 without copyright renewal.
- Works published without a copyright notice from 1923 to 1977.
- Works published without a copyright notice from 1978 to March 1, 1989, and without subsequent registration within five years.
Works that cannot be copyright and automatically receive public domain status are:
- Federal legislative enactments and other official documents
- Speeches, lectures or improvisational comedy routines that had not previously been written or recorded in any manner
- Titles of books or movies, short phrases, and slogans, lettering or coloring
- News, history, facts or ideas (note that a description of an idea in text or images, for example, may be protected by copyright)
- Plots, characters, and themes from works of fiction
- Procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries or devices
