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Copyright & Fair Use: Public Domain

The purpose of this guide is to provide faculty, staff, and students at Mt. SAC with an understanding of copyright law and Fair Use.

What Is Public Domain?

A public domain work is a creative work that is not protected by copyright and which may be freely used by everyone.

More information available at:

University of Texas Libraries

Stanford University Libraries

When Is a Work in the Public Domain?

There are four common ways that works arrive in the public domain:

  1. the copyright has expired
  2. the copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules
  3. the copyright owner deliberately places it in the public domain, known as “dedication," or
  4. copyright law does not protect this type of work                  

- More

As a general rule, most works enter the public domain due to the expiration of copyright, typically based on the age of the work. This includes:

  • Any work published in the United States before 1929 (as of 2025, the current cutoff is 1929; this date advances by one year January 1st of every new year).

  • Works published between 1924 and 1963 for which copyright was not renewed (At that time, copyright had to be renewed after 28 years to retain protection; failure to do so meant the work entered the public domain.)

  • A smaller group of works that were published without a copyright notice. (A notice was required for works published in the U.S. before March 1, 1989.)

Use the Copyright Slider Tool to determine is a work is still protected by copyright.

For more information and guidance on the length of copyright protection, please visit the U.S. Copyright Office's website.

Public Domain Resources

Many public domain resources can be found on the web.

Check out The Public Domain Review's guide on finding public domain works online.