When it comes to determining whether a work is in the public domain or not, you need to pay attention to the country that the original copyright, if any, was acquired in. Each country has different copyright laws that determine when a work becomes public domain material.

International law is just what it says – International. In other words, the copyright laws of Japan apply to people in other countries who want to use work that was copyrighted in Japan. If the work is still covered by Japan copyright law, but would no longer be covered under United States copyright laws, the work is not in the public domain – in any country.

You must adhere to the copyright laws of the country where the work was copyrighted in the first place. This is true for all works copyrighted in all countries, no matter what country you may reside or use the work in.

The copyright laws are not the same in every country. It is important that you find out what the copyright laws are before you assume that a work is in the public domain, for the country where that work was copyrighted. Too often, people assume that copyright laws are the same internationally, and this is just not true.

If you do not take the time to ensure that a work is actually in the public domain, you may be infringing on someone else’s copyright. This can lead to large fines, lawsuits, and possibly imprisonment in some countries. If nothing else, it will most certainly damage your reputation!

Do not assume that nothing can happen to you legally if you use work that is copyrighted in a country that you do not reside in. People in other countries can instigate lawsuits in the country where you reside just as easily as they can sue in their own country.

Public Domain Works - How Does It Benefit Me?

Because works that are in the public domain are free for the public to use, however they see fit, those works can be used to create new products – or even sold as they are for profit.

As an entrepreneur, you can use public domain works to add to an existing product line, or to create one if you don’t already have any products of your own. If you do not change the work in anyway, the author of the work remains the same. In other words, you can sell it, but you can’t put your name on it.

If you edit the work, however, or include bits and pieces of public domain work to create a new product, your name goes on it, and you can copyright it. This is one of the absolute fastest ways, next to purchasing resell rights, to create a product of your very own. While purchasing resell rights to a product may be faster, works that are in the public domain and used to create new products may prove to be more valuable – meaning you can charge more.

Using public domain works not only saves the time that may be involved in product creation, but it will also save you money when it comes to product creation or development. The work has been done already. Furthermore, if you know where to look, there are millions of public domain works that can be obtained freely.

When it comes to information, there is one solid fact that will never change. Information is information. It rarely changes. It may become outdated, and no longer useful – but it doesn’t usually change. Furthermore, outdated information can be ‘freshened up’ easily enough, and information that is no longer useful may also be made useful once again.

Remember, also, that public domain works does not just pertain to written materials. Millions of films, music, photos, and even inventions are in the public domain – just waiting for some enterprising individual to come along, dust them off, and make them useful once again!

The Legal Aspects of Using Public Domain Works

There are many unanswered, hard to find answers pertaining to the legal aspects of using work in the public domain. However, the rules are really quite simple. If the work is in the public domain, you can use it however you wish to use it. The real trouble comes in determining if a work is in fact in the public domain.

However, you may use work that is in the public domain, without gaining permission from the author. If you change the work, you can become the author of it, and copyright it. If you do not change the work, you may sell it as is, but it is a good idea not to put yourself as the author of the work in this case.

That’s pretty much it. Other than this, you are free to do as you will with public domain works. You can use part or all of a work, you can convert printed work to digital work, you can use bits and pieces of public domain music or films, you can use public domain photos however you like.

When you change a public domain work, however, and make it your own, you do need to copyright it. For instance, if you use a bunch of old photographs to create a collection of photographs that collection is copyrightable material, even though each individual picture is in the public domain. Someone can still use an individual photograph from your collection – but they cannot use the entire collection.

Again, the most important thing to understand and know is how to determine that a work is in fact in the public domain. Take the time to verify that a work is in the public domain before you use it, and also make sure you understand the difference between public domain and fair use.

Turning Public Domain Works Into Digital Products

We’ve become a digital world. Since the advent of the Internet, the cost of computers has steadily dropped, enabling the majority of homes in the world to own personal computers. For this reason, it is always a good idea to have your physical products in digital format as well.

Often, you will find public domain works in the offline world, and need to convert them to digital products. If you want to convert film, music, or sound bites to digital format, this is easily done with the right equipment, and pictures can easily be scanned. However, converting written work to digital format takes a bit more work. It has to be re-typed!

Since typing hundreds of pages can take a great deal of time, you may want to hire a typist to convert the work to digital format for you. Typists usually charge by the page or by the word, but the prices are usually quite reasonable and affordable.

There are also services that will convert film, music, and sound bites to digital format if you do not have the necessary equipment. Costs for this type of work vary depending on the media that is being converted, and how much of it there is to convert.

If you do not intend to use an entire work for your product, you can also choose to just have particular parts of the written work converted to digital format. This will save both time and money. Any pictures from the work that should be included can easily be scanned to your omputer.

Once non-digitized work is converted to digital work, it can be edited and manipulated however you see fit. You can use word processors, graphics programs, and sound programs to make the changes that you desire, but if you don’t have such software, or you don’t know how to use it, you can also hire freelancing professionals to make changes for you as well.

Turning Public Domain Works Into Physical Products

While we have become a digitized world, people still like physical products – including products that they can use on their computers, such as CD’s and DVD’s. Marketers also know that physical products typically bring more profits than digital products as well, because they are conceived to be more valuable.

For editorial reasons, you will still need to convert non-digitized public domain works to digital work. Once the product is created and perfected, you will then need to convert it back to a physical product. You have many different choices in this area.

The work can be made into a physical book or manual. This is easier to do than one might imagine. You simply send the work to a printing company who will print out the work and assemble it for you as you specify. The work can then be sent directly to your fulfillment company for filling orders.

The work can be put on CD or DVD. If the work is in presentation format, a DVD will work well. However, if the work will be turned into software, a CD will be more appropriate. While you can usually make the master copy yourself on your own machine, you should definitely send the master to a replication company to have multiple copies made.

Often, you can find a company that does it all – printing, replication, and fulfillment. Usually, this will be the best value, since you can get all the work done in one place and then sent directly from there to your customers.

Having a digital and physical form of the same product is always a good idea. You can offer the digital product at a lower cost. Some will prefer the digital product since it can be accessed or downloaded right away, while others will prefer to wait for a physical product.