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Davies, Gillian --- "The Public Interest in the Public Domain" [2007] ELECD 153; in Waelde, Charlotte; MacQueen, Hector (eds), "Intellectual Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Intellectual Property

Editor(s): Waelde, Charlotte; MacQueen, Hector

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845428747

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: The Public Interest in the Public Domain

Author(s): Davies, Gillian

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

5. The public interest in the public
domain
Gillian Davies

Copyright is a `tax upon the public' ... [it should] not last a day longer than is neces-
sary for the purpose of securing the good. (T. Macaulay)1



1 INTRODUCTION
The public domain in copyright parlance means all literary and artistic works
and other subject matter which are no longer protected by copyright or related
rights because the term of protection applicable to them has expired. When the
term of protection comes to an end, the works fall into the public domain, mean-
ing that they may be freely used in any form or manner by anybody, either for
private use or for public purposes, whether for commercial gain or otherwise.
There is no requirement to ask for authorisation from the authors of the works
or to pay any remuneration for the use. The protection of the international con-
ventions also falls away, as recognised by the Universal Copyright Convention
(UCC), which provides:

This Convention shall not apply to works or rights in works which, at the effective
date of this Convention in a Contracting State where protection is claimed, are per-
manently in the public domain in the said Contracting State.2

Works also fall into the public domain if they are not eligible for copyright
protection for any reason, such as lack of originality, and, in countries where
compliance with formalities is still required, if these are not complied with. It
is possible that a work as such ...


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