The Lowdown On Content Licensing

Surfing the internet, I see a lot of questions regarding the use of the multitudes of content available everywhere. As writers and artists, it is important for us to understand some of the popular licensing structures applied to content so we know not only how we may use someone else’s creation as well as how we should license our own work in this atmosphere of open content.

Public Domain

When a body of work is in the public domain, it means that though it was created by someone, there are no legal restrictions on its use. For instance, a public domain photo may be used for both personal and commercial projects without being required to pay royalties to the creator of the image.

Scientific and creative works are put into the public domain when their copyright, patent or trademark has expired or has otherwise become null.