Public Domain Laws. Tables modified from Cornell University's Copyright Information Center. Please note that these instances cover most cases of copyright but not all.
Never Published and Never Registered Works
| Type of Work | Length of Copyright | In the public domain in the U.S. as of 1 January 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Unpublished works
|
Life of the author + 70 years | Works from authors who died before 1952 |
| Unpublished anonymous and pseudonymous works, and works made for hire | 120 years from the date of creation | Works created before 1902 |
| Unpublished works when the death date of the author is not known | 120 years from the date of creation | Works created before 1902 |
Works Registered or First Published in the U.S.
| Date of Publication | Conditions | Copyright Term |
| Before 1927 | None | None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration |
| 1927 through 1977 | Published without a copyright notice | None. In the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalities |
| 1978 to 1 March 1989 | Published without notice, and without subsequent registration within 5 years | None. In the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalities |
| 1978 to 1 March 1989 | Published without notice, but with subsequent registration within 5 years | 70 years after the death of the author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
| 1927 through 1963 | Published with notice but copyright was not renewed | None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration |
| 1927 through 1963 | Published with notice and the copyright was renewed | 95 years after publication date |
| 1964 through 1977 | Published with notice | 95 years after publication date |
| 1978 to 1 March 1989 | Created after 1977 and published with notice | 70 years after the death of the author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
| 1978 to 1 March 1989 | Created before 1978 and first published with notice in the specified period | The greater of the term specified in the previous entry or 31 December 2047 |
| From 1 March 1989 through 2002 | Created after 1977 | 70 years after the death of the author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
| From 1 March 1989 through 2002 | Created before 1978 and first published in this period | The greater of the term specified in the previous entry or 31 December 2047 |
| After 2002 | None | 70 years after the death of the author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
| Anytime | Works prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties. | None. In the public domain in the United States, unless the employee was a civilian member of the faculty of one of 15 service academies and the work in questions is a literary work intended for scholarly publication. (17 U.S.C. § 105) |
A public domain work is a creative work that is not protected by copyright and which may be freely used by everyone.
Works fall into the public domain for three main reasons:
1. the term of copyright for the work has expired;
2. the author failed to satisfy statutory formalities to perfect the copyright or
3. the work is a work of the U.S. Government.
As a general rule, most works enter the public domain because of old age. This includes any work published in the United States before 1923. Another large block of works are in the public domain because they were published before 1964 and copyright was not renewed. (Renewal was a requirement for works published before 1978.) A smaller group of works fell into the public domain because they were published without copyright notice (copyright notice was necessary for works published in the United States before March 1, 1989).
Use the Copyright Slider Tool in the box below to determine if a work is still protected by copyright.