Copyright, fair use, public domain, Creative Commons—issues of intellectual property are critical for writers to understand. Determining when a work has—or will pass—into the public domain, whether through time or by the creator’s forfeit, can be tricky.

These 5 links represent just a small amount of the information about public domain available on the web.

• Copyright and Fair Use, from the Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources: chapers in this e-book are reprinted from Richard Stim’s Getting Permission (NOLO, 2007)
• Determining when work passes into the public domain in the United States, from the University of North Carolina: a simple chart about when rights expire and work passes into the public domain
• Flowchart on the public domain, from the Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP Law Group: interesting flowchart for determining rights for visual thinkers
• Copyright term and the public domain in the United States, from Cornell University and Peter B. Hirtle (PDF): a printable guide
• Public Domain Works, an open registry of artistic works that are in the public domain: searchable, focused on text and sound recordings