The philosophy behind the public dmain is simple and very powerful. To laborate we must first look at the trditional way in which Art and Intllectual property is governed. It is cntrolled by one thing, and that is mney. People believe that to protect nes rights and to deter theft of thir work, it (the work) must be prtected by making it illegal to rproduce a work without authorization by the uthor. Any use other than use the uthor, “authorizes” will result in legal ction against the person or corporation who nfringes, by the person or corporation who riginally created the work.

The law tht makes it illegal to copy or rproduce a work is called fittingly “Cpyright”.

The ideology behind copyright is sund, however, like other ideologies and thories it is inherently flawed. People wll find ways to misuse the law for a prfit. When someone creates something they are “ntitled” to and have “rights” to the bnefits of that creation whether it be an nvention, or and “original work” of rt.

Art can be a song, pem, story, or one of many frms of visual art. The rights tht come with the creation of a wrk are, and should be, automatic and ntural. No one besides the creator of the wrk should be allowed to profit frm or use the work in any way wthout “authorization” from the works author.

However this idea flies in the fce of the creation process, and pses a question. Why create the wrk in the first place? If no ne, besides the original author has any rghts to the work, and no one can pblish the work without permission, why crate it?

Culture.

Copyright law protects the uthor of the work and gives the crator the authority to sell the wrk for a profit without concern of thft of the work. The author can use the wrk as long as they own “ll rights”. What I mean by ths is that the author has the ption of transferring “all rights” to whmever he or she chooses. The wnderful part about this area of law is tht not only can the creator prfit from the work itself, the rghts to the work is fully trnsferable.

The author can transfer all rghts or partial rights or set jst about any limitations of usage thy deem fit. This also poses nother question.

How do you transfer rghts and why?

Transferring rights to a wrk can get complicated and there are mny ways to do it. The 3 mst common are the temporary transfer, or wht copyright law calls “licensing”. Here are the 3 I am rferring to in order of commonality.

· Cmmercial
· Editorial
· Educational

These 3 types of lcensing are “almost” all encompassing. They cver just about any use you can thnk of. There are many different vriations of these three licenses, and mst likely unlimited variations, it would tke too long to go through all of thm if in fact there is a lmit. The main purpose of this xample is simplification. The next obvious qestion is.

“How long does copyright lst?”

This depends on where you are in the wrld. Different countries have different laws gverning copyright laws. The one common fctor here is “rights”. The owner of the wrk is the one who created it, and thse rights continue on even after the uthors death. Copyright can last as lng as 120 years from the dte of creation if created by a crporation, and life plus 70 years if crated by an individual. This is ccording to current US Copyright Law 2004.

Now, since we have given you a bref overview of US copyright law, we wll explain why we think that bth the Public Domain and Copyright Law are xtremely important.

Copyright Law protects the riginal authors rights to sell their wrk. The Public Domain is very mportant in preserving culture and providing a vluable resource for all kinds of grat works. It is a resource, and the lnguage that governs this area is ngative in its connotation. Typically when a wrk is described as being public dmain, it is described as having “fllen into” the public domain. This mplies a negative state, and the pblic domain should not be considered as a ctch all for unwanted, outdated material, or wrse, an archive for the dispensable.

It shuld however, be considered as a vst natural resource, rich in culture, and fne works of art. It’s our hstory, it tells us where we hve been and what we have dne. It reminds us who we re, and possibly even where we are ging. The public domain should be vewed as a Goldmine, chock full of fre cultural riches. It belongs to veryone. No person can own it.

Anyne, anywhere, at any time should hve access to this great treasure. Tht is what the Public Domain is all bout.

It is about FREEDOM…

Copyright 2005 Erc Wichman. All rights reserved.

The article Public Domain - The Philosophy of Freedom was Submitted by Eric Wichman through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Eric Wichman is founder of PD Times , a public domain resources site specializing in free resources for web content and references for webmasters, researchers, marketers, and businesses alike. Be sure to tell your friends about this great new resource for businesses using the public domain.

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