Copyright gives artists an exclusive right to control their work for a limited time. After that period—typically well over 70 years—the work enters the public domain and anyone can copy, share, adapt, or sell it without permission or fees. “Public domain” simply means the right to control has shifted from the artist to the public at large.

Public Domain Doesn’t Always Mean Free to Use

Here’s a twist that catches people off guard: one artist voluntarily released work into the public domain, and a stock photo company then included that art in its collection and charged fees for it. When the original artist used their own work, the stock company sent a cease and desist letter. The court ultimately sided with the artist—but the case illustrates how public domain works can get entangled in new claims.

Another common trap involves derivative works. The original Sherlock Holmes stories are in the public domain, but newer adaptations may still be under copyright. The underlying work is free; specific creative additions layered on top are not.

If someone infringes your copyright, you don’t have to go straight to court. The typical first step is a cease and desist letter—a written demand that the infringer stop using your work. You can send this letter even if you haven’t registered your copyright, because ownership exists from the moment of creation. But to file a lawsuit and recover statutory damages, you do need to register with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Registration Costs Little and Protects a Lot

Copyright registration is inexpensive and straightforward. It establishes a public record of your claim and unlocks your ability to sue for infringement and seek statutory damages. For any work that has commercial value to your business, registration is worth the modest investment.

Video Transcript

Public Domain For Business Owners

When does creative work stop belonging to its creator and start belonging to everyone? In this video, we’re diving into the concept of public domain, what it is, how it works, and why it matters to your business. You’ll learn when copyright protection expires, how derivative works come into play, and the critical steps you need to take before enforcing your rights If you create content.

What About Public Domain

Hire creatives or wanna avoid costly mistakes. This is knowledge you can’t afford to miss. You might be asking though, what about public domain? What about stuff that’s really old and it’s become part of the public domain? Is that still protected by copyright? The answer is no. Under the copyright law. The idea is that nobody else can use the artist’s work for a period of time so that the artist can recoup compensation or some sort of reward for.

The benefit to the public. In other words, the artist has created something for the public for a period of time. The artist can benefit by controlling that, so maybe getting royalty fees. That’s just a fee for somebody else having a license, which is permission to use the work created by the artist. But after a time, and this is typically well after 70 years that.

Right to control copies and use evaporates. The artist gets a right for a period of time, but then after that it goes into the public domain and can be freely used by the public. Public is just anybody. Domain means ownership or control or the possession of, and so essentially, instead of the. Right to control being owned by the artist.

A Story About Early Public Domain Release

Now the right to control is owned by the public and it can be freely used. Funny story though, there was an artist who decided, I’m not going to wait until the end of the copyright before I give up my rights. I’m going to transfer my art. Into the public domain. Then another company took that art and put that art in a collection of stock photos and images, and then charged people for use of that.

In fact, the artist who created this work got a cease and desist letter from the company who said, Hey, you are using our art. And the artist sued and said, no, that’s mine. I put it into public domain, and you don’t have a right to take it out of the public domain. The court actually said, well, the artist has a right to control that, and she had a right to put it into the public domain, but to the extent somebody else wanted to create a copy of it and charge for those copies, they have a right to do that now because it’s in the public domain.

Public Domain Examples And Selling Copies

One great example is if you look at books that were written hundreds of years ago. Anybody can make a copy of those books and sell them at a bookstore. Now, if you wanna add some new artistic elements to it, like you want to make it current English, make it a more contemporary version. You have every right to do that.

You don’t have to pay the original owner of the copyright because it’s now in the public domain. And your new changes here are called Derivative Works. That just means your work was derived from someone else. Your new copyrighted work, your updated version was taken from somebody else’s previously created work, and now you.

Own the copyright in that newly created work. Can anyone else copyright copy what you’ve done? No. They, of course, can go back to the original, which is a couple hundred year old manuscript that’s now in the public domain, and other artists can go take that and create their own version. That’s fine, but they can’t copy your version when you understand the concept here, it’s protecting the rights.

Big Picture And Other Types Of Intellectual Property

Of an artist for a period of time so that artists can be benefited by producing art, then we better understand how copyright works and it’ll be much easier to understand how copyright is different from patent and trademark law, which we’ll talk about shortly. So what happens if somebody else infringes.

Your right as an artist. In other words, what happens if somebody violates your copyright? Well, you can sue them for copyright infringement, but there is a requirement first. Before you sue somebody for copyright infringement, You need to register. Your copyright. So although you have a copyright, it’s not a registered copyright, it’s what’s called a common law copyright.

So your right needs to be registered in the US Copyright Office, and typically you can do this without an attorney. You pay a $35 filing fee. At least that’s what it’s been. You file it. No lawyer looks it over. Nobody in the copyright office is going to scrutinize whether you have a right to it. All you’re doing is putting a little file in the US copyright office that says, Hey, I’m claiming a right to this.

Now whether you actually have a right is something a court would decide later on if you sue for copyright infringement. Or somebody else sues you. So keep in mind when you file a copyright to register it, that copyright is not being scrutinized. It’s just being recorded. And now you can put the R with a circle on it.

Next to any copyrighted work you have, you can tell people this work is copyrighted. This painting is copyrighted. This song is copyrighted. This video is copyrighted. This software is copyrighted. It’s a registered copyright because once you have filed with the US. A copyright office for a registration of your work, you now have a registered copyright, not merely a common law copyright, and that gives you the right to sue for copyright infringement.

Cease And Desist Or Demand Letter

But if somebody infringes your copyright, do you wanna go straight to court and spend all that money on legal fees? Often you don’t. Usually the best practice is to Send a letter to the other aside, whoever is infringing your copyright. We might call that letter a cease and desist letter. We might call it a demand letter.

The title we give it isn’t very important because basically what you’re saying is, Hey, you better cease and desist or stop using my copyrighted work illegally. You’re infringing my copyright. Now, can you send a letter to the other side even if you haven’t registered the copyright? Absolutely, because you still own the copyright, you just haven’t taken the next step of registering the copyright, so you are welcome to send a letter to the other side.

Free Tools For Business Owners

Now, if you’d like to know more about how to avoid trouble like this, I. I have a free resource at Aaronhall.com/free. I provide information for business owners of small to midsize companies on how to avoid common legal problems. That includes a PDF. It includes videos talking about important issues.

I’m Aaron Hall. I’m an attorney for business owners and entrepreneurial companies. If you’d like, subscribe to this channel so you can get more educational content like this. I.