Spartan Daily, November 23, 1988

Volume 91, Issue 58https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7784/thumbnail.jp

Research Perspectives on the Public Domain: Digital Conference Proceedings

The public domain is a subject of vital interest to legal scholars, but its implications are far reaching – indeed, the public domain concept is germane to subjects as diverse as film and media studies, economics, political science and organisational theory. It was a central purpose of the workshop to arrive at a workable definition of the public domain suitable for empirical investigation. The traditional definition (1) takes the copyright term as the starting point, and defines the public domain as “out of copyright”, i.e. all uses of a copyright work are possible. A second, more fine-grained definition (2) still relies on the statutory provisions of copyright law, and asks what activities are possible with respect to a copyright work without asking for permission (e.g. because use is related to “underlying ideas” not appropriating substantial expressions, or because use is covered by specific copyright exceptions). A third definition (3) includes as part of the public domain all uses that are possible under permissive private ordering schemes (such as creative commons licences). A forth definition (4) moves into a space that includes use that would formally be copyright infringement but is endorsed, or at least tolerated by certain communities of practice (e.g. machinima or fan fiction)

Spartan Daily, March 21, 1990

Volume 94, Issue 38https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7968/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, November 5, 1980

Volume 75, Issue 47https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/6683/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, April 30, 2001

Volume 116, Issue 60https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/9694/thumbnail.jp