The public domain is the realm of material—ideas, images, sounds, discoveries, facts, texts—that is unprotected by intellectual property rights and free for all to use or build upon. Our economy, culture, and technology depend on a delicate balance between that which is, and is not, protected by exclusive intellectual property rights. Both the incentives provided by intellectual property and the freedom provided by the public domain are crucial to that balance. But most contemporary attention has gone to the realm of the protected. The Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School is the first university center devoted to the other side of the picture – the material that may be used, repurposed, reshaped, and built upon without permission or fee.
Founded in September of 2002, its mission is to promote research and scholarship on the contributions of the public domain to speech, culture, science, and innovation, to promote debate about the balance needed in our intellectual property system, and to translate academic research into human-readable forms, making the information about this vital aspect of our legal system accessible to the public, rather than merely to specialists. The Center’s Director is Jennifer Jenkins. Its founder and co-Director is James Boyle.
Sample Projects
- Public Domain Day: In the pursuit of its mission, the Center conducts an annual study of “Public Domain Day”: the material entering the public domain each January 1st because its copyright term has expired.
- Scholarly Comic Books: Most people view intellectual property law as abstruse and impenetrable, yet it affects us all every day, particularly those of us who are artists. Boyle and Jenkins have produced two scholarly comic books that aim to demystify the subject. Bound By Law is an accessible guide to “fair use” in American copyright law – a vital privilege necessary for both creativity and free speech. Theft: A History of Music explains the role of the musical commons and musical borrowing through a 2000-year long history of music, from Plato to rap. Like everything the Center produces, they are available for free download under Creative Commons licenses and in inexpensive paperback versions.
- Free Textbooks and Materials: Legal textbooks are far too expensive. Boyle and Jenkins’ Intellectual Property textbook is available for free download.