Creative Commons has released a Public Domain Mark, a label that communicates the absence of copyright restrictions to the public and allows works to be easily discovered online.
“The Mark makes it clear to teachers and students, artists and scientists, that they are free to re-use material. Its release benefits everyone who wishes to build upon the rich and vast resources that are part of the shared public domain,” reads the organization’s statement.
Early adopters include Europeana, the digital library of all things Europe, which will use the mark to identify copyright-free works shared via its portal. Europeana says this plays an important role in ensuring the success of European Union’s efforts to ensure that all works shared online are marked with rights information.
Europeana estimates that the millions of out-of-copyright works—the main intellectual property category where the new mark will be used—made accessible via its searchable database will be labelled with the Public Domain Mark by mid-2011. Europeana has also worked with Creative Commons to develop a guide to define responsible usage guidelines for public domain works, such as crediting the provider, for example.
Going forward, Creative Commons is looking at ways to identify and mark works that are in the public domain in a limited number of countries. According to the company, the mark complements Creative Commons’ CC0 public domain dedication, which provides a way for adding new works to the public domain prior to the expiry of copyright.