Public Domain (E-book)

What happens to works when the copyright expires?

The free availability of works as opportunity and challenge

From the Edition Digital Culture series

With essays by Leonhard Dobusch, Merete Sanderhoff, Martin Steiger, Wolfgang Ullrich, and others

Seventy years after the death of the originator, his or her works become public intellectual property; they are in the public domain and so belong to the public. This effects not just medieval texts, but also 20th century books and works. Thanks to digitization the treatment of these works has taken on a whole new dynamism. For museums, libraries, archives and galleries, the public domain is a challenge, but also an opportunity for the whole cultural sector.

This book explains the copyright fundamentals of the public domain and discusses the difficulties involved in implementing it in the everyday functioning of cultural institutions. Particular attention is given to the theme remix, which is presented from a theoretical and a practical viewpoint. The publication has an extensive glossary.

Die Texte sind bestens zu lesen. Kein Fach-Kauderwelsch und keine Endlossätze. Zudem sind die einzelnen Kapitel verhältnismässig kurz, dafür knackig. Man muss sich nicht erst durch viele Seiten wühlen, bis man endlich mal auf eine informative Aussage trifft. Am Ende jedes Beitrages dachte ich: «Wow, da hab ich echt was dazugelernt.» (Dorothee Haarer, www.der-puck.ch, 12.11.2015)