public domain
noun · Gemeinfreiheit
Gemeinfrei describes a work whose protection has expired, and that is the only ordinary route into the German public domain. An author cannot place a work there by declaring it free, because the copyright itself cannot be given up, so the American formula of dedicating a work to the public domain has no German counterpart and is replaced in practice by a very broad licence.
Which translation, when
Why
Public domain is rendered in German with the adjective gemeinfrei and the noun Gemeinfreiheit, and the translation needs a caution the English term does not carry. In German law a work becomes free in the ordinary case only by the passage of time: once the term of protection has expired the work may be used by anyone, without permission and without payment. A second route exists for texts that were never protected in the first place, since statutes, ordinances, official notices and decisions are excluded from protection by their nature. What German law does not offer is the third route English and American practice takes for granted, the deliberate dedication of a work to the public domain by its author. Copyright itself remains with the author and cannot be given up, so a declaration that a work is placed in the public domain does not extinguish the right; the German answer is a licence granting the widest possible use to everyone, which produces a similar practical result while the right continues to exist, and the underlying rule of non-transferability is held by the copyright entry. Three traps complete the picture, and each of them regularly catches users who believe they are working with free material. A photograph of an unprotected painting may itself be protected by a neighbouring right. A modern critical edition of an old text may be protected as a scholarly arrangement. And a translation is an independent work, so the expiry of protection in an original says nothing about the version actually in front of the user.
Typical mistakes
- German copyright cannot be given up, so a dedication to the public domain does not free the work as the English formula assumes.
- A photograph, an edition or a translation of free material may carry its own protection, so the freedom of the original does not free every version.
- Gemeinfrei describes the expiry of protection, so using it for material that is merely freely available online misstates the position.
What matters
Checking whether German material may be reused without a licence: the analysis should ask whether the term has expired or the text is an official work, treat any dedication clause as a licence question, and test photographs, editions and translations separately.
What the machine misses
The engine translates public domain as öffentliche Domäne or öffentlicher Bereich, phrases German copyright law does not use, and the term is gemeinfrei or die Gemeinfreiheit, reached in the ordinary case only by expiry of protection; the calque also suggests that an author may place a work there by declaration, which German law does not allow.
Examples
| the work is in the public domain | das Werk ist gemeinfrei |
| protection has expired | der Schutz ist abgelaufen |
| official works | amtliche Werke |
| a licence granting the widest possible use | eine Lizenz mit weitestgehender Nutzungsfreigabe |
More notes on these sections
term of protection Schutzdauer