Copyright is just one type of intellectual property protection that empowers creators to restrict others from using their creative works. There are two others to be aware of, too:
Trademark: This protects the public from needing clarification about the source of goods and services. The trademark holder is allowed to prevent the use of its trademark by others. For example, McDonald’s is known for its “golden arches.” If another business used the arches but colored them green, this could confuse consumers about whether this is McDonald’s or something else. So, McDonald’s has trademarked their signature shape to mitigate confusion for consumers.
Patents: Patents give inventors a time-limited monopoly on their inventions, anything from mousetraps to cellphone technology. Patents typically give inventors the exclusive rights to make, have made, use, have used, sell, or import patentable inventions. For example, electric cars may have patents on their battery technology for a period, but eventually, that technology will be made available to other electric car manufacturers.
The Public Domain
Public domain means that the work can be used in nearly any way. However, this may depend on the country where the work is used. The person who applies a license (the licensor) is the only person that is covered by the licenses. It might sound obvious, but realize that employers may own employee-generated content. And the creator cannot grant permissions, only the employer can do that. In some cases, you may still need to provide attribution to the author. Creative works enter the public domain in one of four ways:
- Copyright expires (~70 years after the author’s death).
- The work was never entitled to copyright protection (ideas/facts). Government documents are not eligible for copyright protection.
- The creator dedicates the work to the public domain before the copyright has expired (use of CC0 [CC Zero]). This helps authors put their works into the worldwide public domain to the greatest extent possible. CC0 allows countries to share that do not allow public domain dedication.
- The copyright holder or creator failed to comply with formalities to acquire and maintain their copyright.
Things to Remember about Public Domain Tools:
- A public domain mark is not a legal tool like CC0. It is typically applied to very old works, where CC0 is when creators can give up their copyright and put their work into the worldwide public domain.
- CC0 (or CC Zero) is an option for those creators who want to take a “no rights reserved approach” and disclaim copyright entirely. There is still a three-layer design to it. There is also a “fallback” component, so the work can be used unconditionally, which is helpful for countries who do not allow an abandonment of copyrights.
- Creative Commons urges creators not to apply Creative Commons licenses and the public domain tool to software. There are many better options for software and Creative Commons urges developers to use those licenses.
Reference
- Creative Commons (n.d.) Creative Commons certificate for educators, academic librarians, and GLAM. Creative Commons. https://certificates.creativecommons.org/cccertedu/chapter/1-1-the-story-of-creative-commons/
