What does 'public domain' mean?

Here are some good and quick answers....[25nov08]

In its "Help File" section, the International Herald Tribune website, owned by The New York Times Company, publishes a reader question: "What does it mean when a Web site says a picture or document is in the 'public domain'? Does that mean I can use it for my own purposes?"

Along with few useful links, the answer is quite clear and informative:

The public domain is a category of works made up of text, images and documents that are not protected by an active legal copyright. On the Internet, material in the public domain can be freely downloaded, copied and reused.

Creative material usually ends up in the public domain in one of two ways. Some creators relinquish their copyright and donate their work to the public domain.

Works can also fall into the public domain if their copyright has expired. In general, books published before 1923 in the United States are considered in the public domain.

Read the full column here.