public domain

1. Land owned and controlled by the state or federal government.

2. The condition of not being protected by a patent or copyright and therefore being available to the public for use without charge.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

public domain

1. (Law) US lands owned by a state or by the federal government

2. (Law) the status of a published work or invention upon which the copyright or patent has expired or which has not been patented or subject to copyright. It may thus be freely used by the public

3. (Law) in the public domain able to be discussed and examined freely by the general public

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pub′lic domain′

1. the legal status of a work or invention whose copyright or patent has expired, or for which there never was such protection.

2. public land.

[1825–35, Amer.]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

public domain - property rights that are held by the public at large

property right - the legal right of ownership

Translations

Gemeinfreiheit

dominio público

domaine public

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

In those branches of administration which the king did not himself direct, such for instance as the "fermes" (the public domains throughout the country on which a revenue was levied), the clerks were to their superior what the clerks of a business-house are to their employer; they learned a science which would one day advance them to prosperity.

View in context

Whilst this marks a significant milestone in the campaign to bring politicians' asset declarations into the public domain, we also hope that this step will encourage other public representatives to recognise the unquestionable public interest that is served by disclosing this information'

Five MPs reveal details of their assets to the public

The rift between the RBI and the government has spilled into the public domain after Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said last month that undermining central bank independence could be "potentially catastrophic", indicating the authority is pushing back against government pressure to relax its policies and reduce its powers ahead of a general election due by May.

Govt trying to capture RBI

The books, all in the public domain, range in date from very early materials to imprints as late as the 1990s.

NYU Arabic digital library receives $1.34 million grant

In fact, this so-called "hacked" information was already available in public domain as he being a public servant for decades and was easily available on Google and other sites," UIDAI said in a statement.

TRAI chief's details weren't accessed using Aadhaar credentials: UIDAI

He said no less than the high court had previously declared in its landmark decision in Chavez vs PEA and Amari that 'inalienable lands of the public domain embrace the foreshore and submerged areas of the Manila Bay.'

Solon asks SC to void sale of reclaimed land

He anchored his arguments on Section 2, Article XII, of the 1987 Constitution, which requires all lands of public domain to remain state-owned and not to be alienated-unless classified and declared otherwise by the government.

SC declares sale of 41 has. of land in Paranaque 'null and void'

Finally, in the case of the public domain there is no common ownership because there is no owner at all of these resources.

Common property redux

information in the public domain, such as global positioning data.

The valuation of unprotected works: a case study of public domain images on Wikipedia