The public domain refers to all material that is not under copyright protection, and can therefore be used freely and without restriction. This includes works that have exceeded the duration of copyright, works produced by federal or state governments, and works that have been dedicated to the public domain by their creators.
By the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain, a partial list of copyrighted works that entered the public domain in the U.S. on January 1, 2025
One of the best and most comprehensive resources for determining whether a work may be in the public domain, by Peter B. Hirtle at Cornell University.
Excellent set of questions to ask to determine whether a work is in the public domain.
The guide provides a general, and necessarily limited, discussion of various state laws, regulations, and cases. For each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, we've tried to identify the relevant laws and legal sources that affect the copyright status of government documents.
Information contained on this website is educational in nature and is not to be construed as legal advice.
This guide was originally designed by Cornell University under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
