Public Domain & Creative Commons, Explained

“Public domain” and “Creative Commons” both describe work you might be able to use without paying a license fee — but they are not the same thing, and confusing them gets creators into trouble. One means copyright is gone entirely. The other means copyright is very much alive, and a creator has handed you a permission slip with rules attached. Here is how each works, and how to use them without stepping on a landmine.

What “public domain” actually means

A work is in the public domain when it is not protected by copyright at all — so anyone can copy it, adapt it, sell it, or build on it freely, without permission and without payment. There is no owner left to ask. Works land in the public domain a few different ways:

• Copyright expired. This is the most common path. Copyright lasts a long time, but not forever, and once the clock runs out the work belongs to everyone.
• It was never eligible. Facts, ideas, titles, short phrases, and works by the U.S. federal government (in their official capacity) generally are not protected by copyright in the first place.
• The owner dedicated it. A creator can formally give up their rights and place a work into the public domain (more on the CC0 tool below).

The current cutoff. For works published before 1978, U.S. copyright lasts 95 years from publication. As of January 1, 2026, that means everything published in or before 1930 has entered the public domain in the United States — the 1930 works hit their 95th year at the end of 2025. (Each January 1 is informally called “Public Domain Day,” when the next year’s batch opens up.) For newer works, the term is generally the life of the author plus 70 years, or 95 years from publication for anonymous and corporate works.

Two cautions. First, sound recordings run on a separate, older-leaning schedule — recordings from 1925 entered the public domain in 2026, not the 1930 batch. Second, public-domain status is country by country. A work that is free in the United States may still be protected elsewhere. Before you rely on a specific work, verify its status rather than guessing from its age.

For how copyright fits alongside trademarks and patents, start with the Creator copyright pillar.

Creative Commons: permission, with conditions

Creative Commons is not a copyright-free zone. CC-licensed works are still under copyright — the creator simply used a standardized, free public license to tell the world, “You may use this, if you follow these conditions.” Think of it as permission granted in advance instead of one-by-one. The conditions are built from four interchangeable elements:

• BY — Attribution. You must credit the creator. Every CC license except CC0 includes this.
• SA — ShareAlike. If you adapt the work, you must release your adaptation under the same (or a compatible) license.
• NC — NonCommercial. You may only use the work for non-commercial purposes — not primarily for commercial advantage or payment.
• ND — NoDerivatives. You may share the work as-is, but you may not distribute a modified or adapted version.

These elements combine into six licenses, plus a public-domain tool:

• CC BY — use it any way you like, including commercially, as long as you give credit.
• CC BY-SA — credit, and share adaptations under the same license (this is the license Wikipedia uses).
• CC BY-NC — credit, non-commercial use only.
• CC BY-NC-SA — credit, non-commercial, and ShareAlike on adaptations.
• CC BY-ND — credit, commercial use allowed, but no modified versions distributed.
• CC BY-NC-ND — the most restrictive: credit, non-commercial, and no derivatives. This is essentially “share the original, unchanged, for free.”
• CC0 — not really a license but a public-domain dedication. The creator waives essentially all rights, so you can use the work freely with no conditions, not even attribution (though crediting is still polite and often expected in academic settings).

How to use a CC work correctly

The single most common mistake is grabbing a CC image and ignoring its conditions. Each element imposes a real obligation:

Attribution (BY). Give credit the way the license expects — typically the T-A-S-L habit: Title of the work, Author/creator, Source (a link back), and the License (named and linked). “Photo via Google” is not attribution. If you adapted the work, say so.

NonCommercial (NC). This trips up businesses constantly. CC defines “non-commercial” by the nature of the use, not who you are. A nonprofit can still violate NC, and not every use by a company is automatically commercial — but if your use is primarily aimed at commercial advantage or monetary compensation (selling a product, running ads, promoting a paid service), an NC license does not cover you. When in doubt on an NC work, get a separate commercial license from the creator.

NoDerivatives (ND). You can reproduce and share the work in its original form, but you cannot publish a cropped, recolored, remixed, or otherwise altered version. Format-shifting (e.g., PDF to ePub) is generally fine; creative editing is not.

ShareAlike (SA). If you remix or adapt an SA work, your new version must carry the same license. You cannot lock down a derivative of an SA work behind your own restrictive terms.

Also check the license version and whether the work was correctly licensed in the first place — someone can only CC-license work they actually own, so a CC tag on stolen content gives you nothing. And remember CC licenses cover copyright, not other rights: a photo of a recognizable person or a branded logo may still raise right-of-publicity or trademark issues even if the photo itself is CC.

The “free online” myth

Here is the belief that creates the most lawsuits: if I found it online and there was no price, I can use it. That is wrong, and it is wrong in an expensive way.

Under U.S. law, copyright attaches automatically the moment an original work is fixed in tangible form — a photo taken, a song recorded, an article written. No copyright notice, no registration, and no © symbol is required. So the absence of a watermark, a price, or a copyright line tells you nothing about whether the work is free to use. The vast majority of images on Google Images, songs on streaming platforms, and videos on social media are fully protected, owned by someone, and not licensed to you.

“Free to download,” “royalty-free,” and “free to view” are also not the same as “free to use however I want.” Downloading is not a license. And copying something for your own commercial project is exactly the kind of use an owner controls. If you cannot affirmatively point to a reason the work is usable — it is in the public domain, or it carries a license that covers your specific use — the safe assumption is that you need permission. (Editing or commenting on someone else’s work raises a separate question; see fair use explained.)

Where to find safe-to-use work

You do not have to gamble. Plenty of sources are designed to give you usable material:

• Dedicated public-domain collections — the Internet Archive, the Library of Congress, museum open-access programs, Project Gutenberg (books), and Wikimedia Commons (filter for public domain or CC).
• CC search tools — Creative Commons’ own search and platform filters (Flickr, Wikimedia, YouTube, Vimeo) let you filter by license. Always click through and confirm the actual license on the source page rather than trusting a thumbnail label.
• Stock libraries with clear licenses — paid stock sites and reputable free-stock sites grant you an explicit, readable license. Read it, because terms vary (and “editorial only” images can’t be used commercially).
• Buy or commission it — when the project matters, a direct license or a commissioned original removes the guesswork entirely.

Whatever the source, keep a record: save the URL, the license, the date, and a screenshot of the license terms. If a dispute ever arises, your proof that you had permission is your best defense. For the specific case of putting third-party material on something you sell, see using a song, font or image.

The bottom line

Public domain and Creative Commons are two different doors to using creative work without buying a one-off license. Public domain means copyright is gone — and as of 2026, that covers U.S. works published in or before 1930. Creative Commons means copyright is alive but the creator has pre-authorized use on conditions you must actually follow — credit, non-commercial limits, no-derivatives, or share-alike. The myth to bury is “found online = free,” because nearly everything online is protected automatically, symbol or no symbol. When you stick to verified public-domain works and properly licensed CC material — and you keep your records — you can create with confidence. Explore more in /topics/copyright/.

This article is general education about U.S. copyright concepts, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright terms, public-domain status, and license interpretation can turn on specific facts and can differ by country. For guidance on your particular situation, consult an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.