This policy document highlights the importance of the public domain by establishing Europeana’s views for a healthy public domain and recommendations for preserving its function.
It states that Europeana, Europe’s digital library, museum and archive, belongs to the public and must represent the public interest; that the Public Domain is the material from which society derives knowledge and fashions new cultural works; that having a healthy and thriving Public Domain is essential to the social and economic well-being of society; and that digitisation of Public Domain content does not create new rights over it: works that are in the Public Domain in analogue form continue to be in the Public Domain once they have been digitised. It offers principles for a healthy public domain, and guidelines for preserving the function of the Public Domain.
The principles include:
– Copyright protection is temporary.
– What is in the Public Domain needs to remain in the Public Domain.
– The lawful user of a digital copy of a Public Domain work should be free to (re-) use, copy and modify the work.
The guidelines include:
– Any change to the scope of copyright protection needs to take into account the effects on the Public Domain.
– No other intellectual property right must be used to reconstitute exclusivity over Public Domain material.
The Public Domain Charter has been translated into 18 languages; most translations available have been kindly provided by volunteers, and the only version whose accuracy the Europeana Initiative can guarantee is the English one. If you wish to give feedback to a translation, please contact copyright@europeana.eu.
