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Copyright for Faculty: Public Domain

This guide provides resources for faculty and students on U.S. Copyright Law and how it pertains to education.

Tools to Determine Public Domain

What is Public Domain

Works in the public domain may be reproduced or adapted.  A work is considered to be in the public domain if:

  • its copyright protection has expired or
  • it didn't meet basic requirements for copyright protection or
  • the creator chose to make it freely available without copyright protection or
  • the publication or image was created by the U.S. government

Credit: The Public Domain portion of this guide was originally created by Devin Soper, librarian at the Florida State University.