Definition of Public Domain

The various works of creation are subject to so-called copyright. When a novel, a musical score or any creation is not protected by copyright, it is said to be part of the public domain. It should be noted that copyright exists to safeguard intellectual property. In this way, intellectual property allows access and use of these goods to be restricted and protected in some way. When we talk about the public domain, we must not forget that there is the opposite concept, that is, the private domain.

Different reasons why a property in the private domain becomes the public domain

In all national laws it is stipulated that a property in the private domain ceases to be private property and becomes hands of the state after a number of years after the death of the author (the number of years depends on the legislation Of each country).

In some cases the authors themselves give up their rights to the public domain in a disinterested and altruistic way. If no one claims the copyright of an asset, it automatically becomes the public domain.

Intellectual property

The dichotomy public domain-private domain is based on the principle of intellectual property, which can be defined as the right that projects an individual, an entity or a state on a work that requires the creativity to be done.

Intellectual property has two forms: industrial property that protects trademarks and patents and copyrights that protect artistic creations. Laws protect creation by acknowledging the author and the I respect to the integrity of the work. All standards or principles intended to protect copyright are known by the term copyright. In this sense, copyright exists for an obvious reason: to prevent someone from profiting from something that he has not produced.

Goods in the public domain understood as public service or public use

The services offered by a city council, the streets or the rivers are not owned by anyone in particular, but are part of the public domain. Thus, everything that has been built by the state or is part of the heritage of a nation it is in the public domain. Consequently, everything that is not state-owned (in the public domain) is privately owned.

In short, something is part of the public domain when it is aimed at the entire community as a whole, whether in the form of public use or of public service.

Assets in the public domain are subject to a legal regime for their legal protection and are inspired by three basic principles: inalienability, imprescriptibility and non-seizure. The first means that these assets cannot be traded, the second implies continued use of the assets, and the third means that public domain assets cannot be seized.

Photos: Fotolia - _Ma / Tussik