<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

What is public domain? What is copyright?

When a work is in the “Public Domain,” it means it is not protected by copyright law and may be freely copied or otherwise used by anyone. You should still provide SCIFIPEDIA with the source of your work if it consists of a copy, in whole or in part, of public domain material. A work can enter the public domain because the copyright has expired. For example, the books “Alice in Wonderland” or “The Wizard of Oz” are both now in the public domain. However, just because the original book is in the public domain, does not mean that works based on those works (which are known as “derivative works”) are also in the public domain, so that the MGM movie “The Wizard of Oz” is still protected by copyright, as is the Disney animated movie “Alice in Wonderland.” Works can also enter the public domain because the authors or owners choose not to have the work protected by copyright law.

Copyright protection has a limited term – in the United States, copyright for works written after 1978 now last for the life of the author, plus 70 years. So, if an author wrote a book in 1989, and died in 1990, the copyright would expire in the year 2060. The rules for older works are complex, and depend on when the work was written, and a number of other factors. As a general rule, works that were created in the United States prior to 1923 are now in the public domain in the United States.

What is considered fair use?

“Fair use” is a legal doctrine that limits the rights of a copyright holder to prevent the use of their works for certain types of uses, for example, criticism, research or commentary. The scope of “fair use” (known outside the United States as “fair dealing”) varies country by country. In the United States, the factors that determine whether the use of a work is a “fair use” are set out in Section 107 of the Copyright Act (link to site). It is not possible to provide any bright line rules about fair use, as each circumstance requires a separate analysis and weighing of the different fair use factors. SCIFIPEDIA is looking for original content, so we encourage you to limit your use of other people’s materials for that reason.

What about visual content in my articles?

Due to copyright concerns and restraints, SCIFIPEDIA at this time cannot allow the uploading of images or other visual / auditory or multimedia content without review. If you have material you wish to submit, you may send it to the Editor along with sufficient proof of either ownership, permission for use on SCIFIPEDIA, or evidence of it being in the public domain.

Besides copyright law, photographs and other visual content may also infringe other laws. For example, photographs of people taken without their consent, or photographs of people taken in private places may infringe their rights of privacy. You may also not have the right to take photographs in non-public places. Altering or digitizing photographs of people may also violate their rights if they are presented as doing things that they did not do. Photographs should be an accurate representation of their subject matter. As with other forms of copyrighted material, they should not be posted without the consent of the author or owner of the photograph.