What is Public Domain?Anything which legally has no owner is said to be in the public domain. Once there was even public domain land, but now public domain is pretty much limited to intellectual property where copyright protection has expired or the creator has formally given his work to the public. There is no "official" list of public domain property because something becomes public domain due to the absence of any law giving anyone claim to ownership. In effect, if no one on this entire planet can find any law which gives them legal claim to a property, then that property is in the public domain.
Intellectual property is any product of the human intellect where ownership can be claimed and protected by law. This includes creative works such as music, lyrics, books, poetry, or art as well as more typical business applications such as inventions, chemical and biological advances, or computer software systems. Intellectual property is most often protected by copyright, patent, and trademark laws.
A copyright is a "limited duration monopoly" provided by the U.S. Constitution to authors, inventors, and other creative individuals. Copyright law is written to encourage the growth of knowledge by giving authors and artists limited time exclusive rights to use and profit from their creations. If a song or book or anything else is under copyright protection, you cannot use it without the author's permission. Usually a music copyright owner will charge fees called "royalties" in exchange for permission to use his music.
Any original creative work expressed in a tangible form can be protected by copyright. In addition to music and lyrics, this includes items such as books, letters, paintings, movies, television programs, computer software, photographs, and video games. Ideas and facts cannot be protected by copyright law, although they can in some instances be protected under patent or trademark law.
- taken from the Public Domain Information Project, FAQ's
Creative Commons is "a vast and growing digital commons, a pool of content that can be copied, distributed, edited, remixed, and built upon, all within the boundaries of copyright law." The default for copyright is "all rights reserved." Creative Commons provides content creators with the tools they need to waive some or all of those rights, in the interest of universal access to information, and full participation in culture.
or CC0 1.0
CC0 1.0 means that works are not restricted by copyright and Public Domain.
CC by 2.0 means that you can show and transform other owners' images as long as you cite them correctly and indicate what changes (if any) you made to the image.
CC by 4.0 means that you can show and transform other owners' images as long as you cite them correctly and indicate what changes you made to the image; however, It is more restrictive than CC by 2.0.
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