Copyright and Plagiarism: Works in the Public Domain

Any work created by a U.S. federal government employee or official as part of their regular duties cannot be copyrighted.  For example, the text of a speech given by Presidents of the United States during their term in office cannot be copyrighted. 

State officials can copyright their works, but they cannot copyright the text of state laws, codes, statutes, ordinances, or court decisions.

If you are going to use material from a federal document, always check the verso of the title page for copyright information.  Sometimes federal documents copy copyrighted information from other sources with permission.  Material copied from a copyright protected document is still protected by copyright even if it is copied into a federal document.

Copyright only exists for a limited amount of time.  The length of time that copyright lasts depends upon the year when a work was created.  Since copyright protection has changed over the years, which laws were in effect when a particular work was created dictates how long a work has copyright protection.  This is why the copyright date of a work is important.

Works with EXPIRED copyright include:

• Any printed works published before 1925 is old enough to be in the public domain.

• There are no older recorded musical works with expired copyrights (a weirdness caused by the exclusion of recorded works from early legislation and its inclusion in later legislation).

• Any printed work published between 1925 and 1977 without a copyright notice.

• Any printed work published between 1925 and 1963, which did not have its copyright renewed.

Note: Works, which were not previously published (manuscripts), have different copyright expiration date rules.

Works are NOT PROTECTED if:

• The author chooses not to protect the work through copyright or intentionally put the work in the public domain. This is also called a "dedication to the public domain."

• The author chooses to protect the work using an alternative license.  The Creative Commons License is the most common alternative license currently in use.

• Some types of works can NOT be protected.

  • Facts, Figures, Ideas, and Theories are not protected because there are usually only a few ways to express this information.  i.e. Einstein's theory of relativity is not protected by copyright.

  • Short Phrases are not protected.  i.e. The Star Trek character called Captain Picard' saying "Make it so"  is not protected.

  • Short Book Titles and Chapter Titles are not protected.  i.e. There can be two different books both with the title "Biochemistry."

  • Very small or short uses of a work.

In the U.S. copyright law before 1977, affixing of the copyright notice to a work was an essential part of obtaining copyright protection for a work.   In addition before 1963, the copyright's owner had to renew copyright before 28 years had passed in order to extend the copyright protection for a second term.  Copyright protection also does not apply to some works published outside of the U.S. between 1925 and 1977, and to some foreign language works published inside the U.S. in specific states or territories during the same period of time.

The following works are not protected:

• Any printed work published between 1925 and 1977 without a copyright notice.
• Any work published from 1978 - March 1, 1989 without copyright notice and without filing a subsequent copyright registration within 5 years of publication.
• Any work published from 1925 to 1963, which did not have its copyright owner renew its copyright.