Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Louisiana

Works in the Public Domain

In general, when referring to a work of authorship, saying that it's in the "public domain" means that the copyright has expired. In that instance, it's "fair game" to republish it.

Good editorial practice suggests that one provide a citation and credit to the original source. And 9 years ago the U.S. sort of adopted the international concept of "moral rights" which provides some authors with the right to be identified with their works and to assure that they are publicly presented in an unadulterated fashion.

Sometimes, in the context of a confidentiality agreement, the term "public domain" is used in a strained sense to refer to a writing that might be copyrighted but is accessible to the public, rather than secret. I believe that's a confusing use of the term "public domain" and try to discourage it, substituting the term "publicly accessible" of the like.

Pretty liberal rights.

You can do whatever you want with the material if itis public domain or no longer copyrighted.

But don't both attribute the work to the original copyright owner AND make changes of some sort to it!

I think of public domain as works created, say, by the government, meant for the public's free use. You mean to say that the copyright has expired.

I can't help you to be certain that there are no copyrights left in that material, sorry. And I must warn, tha,, based on my limited knowledge, copyrights can now be extended for a very long time under certain conditions, so I can't tell you that you're safe based on what you told me. But I might be wrong on this point.

copyright searches

You can do limited copyright searches via the Web at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright. This takes you to the US Copyright Office and their telnet access. Also, you can do some copyright searching through Westlaw. Thomson and Thomson also does copyright searches. They can be reached at 800-356-8630.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance. Good luck!