Public Domain, The: How to Find and Use Copyright Free Writings, Music, Art & More
Copywriter on March 18, 2010 in Copyright Law
- ISBN13: 9781413308587
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Need content? It’s free for the taking!
Even though you’ve always been told otherwise, writers and artists can copy other people’s work and get away with it. How? By dipping into the public domain, where everything is free for the taking.
The Public Domain is the only book that helps you find and identify what creative works are protected by copyright- and what’s not. The book provides specific information about:
The 4th edition is crisper, fresher and completely updated with new case law, and includes information on the emergence of the “copyright commons.” The book also provides hundreds of resources to help you find public-domain works.
Public Domain, The: How to Find and Use Copyright Free Writings, Music, Art & More
I probably had the wrong expectations for this book but I was hoping it would (quickly) help me validate whether info I’ve used required permission. I suppose it did this in an indirect way, however, the free use stuff included old songs etc. that were not appropriate for my topic.
Book is well written so long as it fits with what you need to validate.
Rating: 3 / 5
Amazon’s product description reads: “…writers and artists can copy other people’s work and get away with it…by dipping into the public domain, where everything is free for the taking.”
However, as The Public Domain makes abundantly clear, everything in the public domain is most certainly not free for the taking. In fact, much of this book spends it’s space detailing how a significant percentage of things you may find cannot be used, or explaining how many laws are unclear and therefore you dip in to the world of potential lawsuits at your own risk. By the way, if it’s really important to you, you $hould probably con$ider hiring a copyright lawyer. Perhaps you will think it’s a conflict of interest that the publisher, Nolo, is directly connected to a legal firm. They have a four pages describing their services at the very end.
The book does appear to be thorough and on the level, albeit often confusing to the lay person. There are some interesting examples of cases. There is a misspelling within the first five pages. Some of the graphics are plain cheesy. I suppose these are examples of what you can achieve if you dip into the public domain where “everything is free for the taking.”
Nolo, the book’s publisher, translated from Latin means “do not.” The name seems to have quite a bit to do with their philosophy on how you might want to treat a good deal of the information you find in the public domain. You may also wish to take the publisher’s name literally when deciding whether or not to purchase this book.
Rating: 2 / 5
I was expecting a book with numerous web links to public domain sites. Instead the book just talks about what public domain is, the legal laws around it, and other useless public domain information. There are very little public domain web sites mentioned in the book. Save your money.
Rating: 2 / 5
I was actually hope that this book would reference more sources for public domain writings and information. Instead it was a good refresher on the legal aspects of using public domain/copyright free material, once you have found it. It still doesn’t substitute for a good attorney, but it would give the general audience an overview.
Rating: 3 / 5
An exceptional source of information on what one can use, where one can find it and when to use it. As an author, I often ask myself the question of what type of sources I can cite in my work, how much of them I cite and what I may not know that can come to haunt me because of this lack of knowledge. And it is with great pleasure that I can say ‘Public Domain’ answered these questions. The book is a detailed guide to the types of materials and their copyright protection to make me feel safe one when I include a particular source in my writings.
I found especially interesting the section on the types of public writings I can use, especially whether the work have been properly published and is eligible for copyright protection, or whether the copyright has expired. Of course, the sections on music, art, photography and software are also very helpful with sufficient detail to make anyone aware of how and when to beware of plagiarizing of ideas.
Additionally, the book gives enough information on the international copyrights to satisfy any ambiguity that may exist in your mind. I highly recommend this book to any author, musician, software developer or architect who is search for answers to some of the most important questions of their work – is my idea unique.
Rating: 4 / 5