We're taking part in Copyright Calendar week, a series of actions and discussions supporting cardinal principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of the law, and addressing what's at stake, and what we need to practise to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation.

Today's topic is the "Public Domain." The public domain is our cultural eatables and a public trust. Copyright policy should seek to promote, and non diminish, this crucial resources.

Creative Eatables has long upheld that faithful digital reproductions of works in the public domain are besides in the public domain, adhering to the U.S. District Court ruling of Bridgeman Art Library five. Corel Corp. that "exact photographic copies of public domain images could not exist protected by copyright in the United States considering the copies lack originality" i. Though this ruling is not a binding precedent, it remains highly influential equally a legal ruling in the U.S. and elsewhere. Its real world applicability is less well-known. This is why, where possible, we recommend that institutions, peculiarly those curating and providing access to public domain works of cultural heritage, employ the CC0 public domain dedication for their digital reproductions where there might exist any element of originality that might requite rise to doubt.

Artistic Commons currently offers ii public domain tools, CC0 and the Public Domain Marker, which can be confused with each other but are very different tools. CC0, similar the CC licenses, is a legally operable tool backed by a legal certificate that we like to telephone call the legal code layer of our tools. Because information technology is legally operable, copyright owners may use information technology to relinquish their copyright and related rights in a work, finer placing that piece of work into the public domain. Where it is non legally possible to relinquish copyright, the tool defaults to CC BY without attribution or any other conditions (CC BY is the most liberal license on the spectrum of CC licenses). The Public Domain Mark, on the other hand, is not a legally operable tool, simply only a standard label that one may place on a piece of work to indicate that its copyright has expired or is otherwise in the public domain worldwide. You can read more than nearly both of these tools hither.

Nosotros recommend using CC0 for digital reproductions of public domain works where there is reason for users to be concerned that the reproduction itself is field of study to copyright. If nil else, information technology clearly signals to users that the institution is proactively relinquishing any copyrights they may have in a digital reproduction, furthering its mission to provide greater public access to works of cultural heritage. From the institution'south standpoint, they are not making whatsoever guarantees almost the public domain work itself, simply removing any dubiety for the user around any element of originality they may take in the digital reproduction.

Hither are a few great cases of institutions committed to strengthening and growing our public domain.

Rijksmuseum

The Rijskmuseum is the Dutch National Museum in the The Netherlands, founded in 1800, that contains many of the original artworks of European masters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer, in addition to high resolution images of these original artworks. For 10 years, from 2003-2013, much of the physical museum — including i million concrete items — was closed for renovations. During this menstruum, the museum's marketing department pushed for the release of its high resolution images of public domain works in order to keep the public engaged throughout the renovation period and as a way to extend the accomplish of the museum beyond its limited concrete showcase. They released 150,000 loftier resolution images (each equally large equally 200 MB) into the public domain using CC0. They abided by the principle of unrestricted admission to the digital public domain; as in the U.S., faithful digital reproductions of public domain works are considered public domain in Europe. After the release, the museum saw many benefits, including international exposure for the museum, specially during a time when much of the physical museum was closed; new audiences with developers, designers, and related creative industries; and an increment in revenue made from public domain prototype sales. For more details, see Tim's post which links to the in-depth case report.

Statens Museum for Kunst

The Statens Museum for Kunst, aka the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, joined the Google Art Project in 2011. At this point, they realized they were giving use rights of images to a private visitor and could no longer justify charging the public for the same rights. As part of a pilot project, they initially released 100 educational videos and 160 high resolution prototype files (each equally large as 440 MB) of Danish, Nordic and European public domain fine art nether CC Past. Afterwards, they moved to CC0 for their images. Since their release, SMK's images and videos have been featured on Wikipedia. SMK staff found that their understanding of quality and command changed significantly after releasing the images: "[Our public domain collections] don't belong to the states; they belong to the public. Gratis access ensures that our collections continue to be relevant to users now and in the future. Nosotros're hither to look later on them and make them available and useful to the public. Use = value." Read the case report contributed directly by museum staff.

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library has long been the haven of researchers and bibliophiles alike. Map lovers can join the grouping with NYPL'south open up access maps initiative which has digitized and released more than than twenty,000 digital reproductions of cartographic works in the public domain. In the Lionel Pincus & Princess Firyal Map Partitioning's ain words, "To the extent that some jurisdictions grant NYPL an boosted copyright in the digital reproductions of these maps, NYPL is distributing these images under a Creative Eatables CC0 ane.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication." In addition to public domain maps, NYPL has also used CC0 to dedicate 1 million of its bibliographic metadata records into the public domain.

Europeana

We want to cease the mail service on Europeana, the digital library for all of Europe and a model for libraries in rights information mark-upward. Europeana has identified more than sixteen.5 million digital objects as being in the public domain (via CC0 or the Public Domain Marking) or under ane of the CC licenses, in add-on to dedicating 30 million metadata records to the public domain using CC0. Users tin can browse and search by re-use rights — including all 6 CC licenses and both public domain tools.

These four cases exemplify only a few institutions that are working to preserve our public domain. For uses of CC0 specific to information, see and add to our wiki page. For more than dandy uses of CC tools and licenses by cultural heritage institutions, bank check out these slides and add to our wiki page tracking uses by GLAM institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums).

Have a cracking use case to share about the public domain? Leave us a notation in the comments.