Materials in the Public Domain

Determining if something is in the public domain is sometimes difficult.

The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill has a chart that can help you with the basic determination: http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

The Public Domain Information Project is another very useful site. It includes lists of songs that have moved into the public domain, a list of resources that can be used to prove something is in the public domain, Links to legal and copyright-related sites for further research, and an extensive list of sites with materials that are copyright free.