Works in the public domain — and the limits few people notice
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The end of economic rights does not mean anything goes. Moral rights last indefinitely, and a new edition may carry its own layer of rights.
When the economic rights expire, a work enters the public domain: anyone may use it without permission or payment. But "public domain" does not mean "entirely ownerless", and three limits are routinely overlooked.
Limit 1 — Moral rights survive, permanently
The rights to title the work, to attribution and to integrity last indefinitely.
So even for a work from a previous century: you must still name the author correctly; you must not sign your own name to someone else's work; and you must not alter it in ways that distort or mutilate it to the prejudice of the author's honour and reputation.
Reprinting and selling The Tale of Kieu is entirely lawful. Reprinting it under your own name is not.
Limit 2 — A new edition may carry its own rights
The most common confusion. The underlying work may be in the public domain while a particular edition contains independently protected elements:
- Translations are derivative works with the translator's own copyright
- Annotations, introductions and critical editing are the editor's own work
- Cover design, illustration and typesetting are separate artistic works
- A recording of a classical work carries the producer's and performers' related rights, lasting 50 years
A Beethoven symphony is in the public domain; a 2020 orchestral recording of it is not. Using that recording as a music bed still requires permission.
The safe approach: when using a public domain work, go back to the original or an expired edition rather than taking a modern edition and assuming the age of the underlying work covers you.
Limit 3 — Folklore works
Folk literature and folk art have their own regime. Use must reference the type of work and the locality of the community where it originated. Not an economic right in the ordinary sense, but a legal obligation nonetheless when exploiting such material.
Determining whether a work is in the public domain
Three steps: identify the category (cinema, photography, applied art and anonymous works follow the 75/100-year rules; everything else follows life plus 50); find the relevant date (the author's death, or first publication and fixation); then add the years and round to 31 December of the final year. The work is in the public domain from 1 January following.
Run it through the term calculator.
For joint works the reference point is the death of the last surviving co-author — a detail that regularly puts calculations out by a decade.
Territoriality
Terms differ between countries. A work in the public domain in Vietnam may still be protected elsewhere and vice versa. If you publish internationally, check against the law of that market, not only Vietnam's.
Why the public domain is worth knowing
It is the largest lawful, free resource available to creators: classical literature and music, paintings by long-dead masters, historical material. When every image and audio clip online carries copyright risk, knowing how to identify and use genuinely public domain material is a practical skill worth having.