Public
Domain Myths
From Yanik Silver, author of Public
Domain Riches:
Myth #1 - Everything on the Internet is free to use and is already
in public domain, right? Wrong! Some people mistakenly
believe if something is published online it is free for the
taking. No sir! There are very stiff penalties for violations
of copyrights.
Myth
#2 - Nothing good is in the public domain: That's definitely
not the case. First off, you should understand all works published
in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain. You'll
find timeless works from this period including classics by Shakespeare,
the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, Benjamin Franklin's autobiography
and much, much more…
However,
even more exciting is that anything published from 1923 - 1963
(and not renewed) has fallen into the public domain. In fact,
copyright experts believe 85% of these works were never renewed
(source: "The Public Domain" by Stephen Fishman, Esq)
so you're looking at an incredible bonanza of free material.
Heck,
the film "Little Shop of Horrors" is a quick example
of just the kind of gem I'm talking about that is now freely
available in the public domain.
Myth
#3 - Nobody would pay for public domain information since it's
available for free: Not so. Every year bookstores sell
hundreds of thousands of copies of works that are public domain
and simply reprinted. In fact, entire companies exist that publish
almost all public domain material. As long as the information
you find is still relevant and there is a market for it you
will find plenty of people willing to pay for this.
Okay
now with that out of the way let's quickly talk about…
What
Exactly Is Public Domain?
First
off, you need to know I am not an attorney so I am giving you
this information as I understand it. (As with any business dealings
it's a good idea to get appropriate professional advice.)
Public
domain is quite simply material the public (that's you) can
use (or exploit as the case may be ) anyway they want. Public
domain falls into 4 main categories:
A.
Generic information like facts, numbers, ideas, titles, blank
forms, etc.
B.
Works granted or donated to the public domain. (Yes, in some
cases copyright holders will simply make their work available
to anyone to use. Just one example is P.T. Barnum's autobiography.)
C.
Works by the government or its agents. (This is an amazing archive
by itself!)
D.
Formerly copyrighted works that have fallen into public domain
or lost their copyright due to a number of different situations.
Quite
simply, when you add all of this up it comes a veritable mountain
of incredible information (millions and millions of pages) sitting
right under your nose - all free -- and all yours for
the taking!
But
the BIG problem is finding this stuff…
Where
do you find high quality public domain information
that you can package together for free?
Click
Here to Continue ->
Public
Domain Archives
How to Find, Re-Package and Sell
Public Domain Content As Your Own Money-making Product!