Tools for translating works into the public domain

Putting your work in the public domain is a good contribution to the development of social forms of ownership and to the development of the possibilities of social production as such. After all, after that, any person will be able to freely use your work to create a new one. Perhaps he will be inspired by your example and also put his new work in the public domain. By replenishing the treasury of the public domain, we are thereby expanding the possibilities of using the created works and accelerating progress by minimizing legal obstacles.

This short article will tell you exactly how you can translate a work into the public domain.

On the formalities of transferring to the public domain

Generally speaking, a work in the public domain does not require any licenses. Any license is a limitation, and the public domain implies the absence of any restrictions on the use of a work. But still there is one limitation: no one has the right to appropriate such a work into exclusive ownership, that is, to restrict the rights of others to use this work.

The legal systems of modern countries are often "by default" considered the owner of the property copyright to the work created by the person whose creative work the work was created. Therefore, for the correct release of his work - for transferring it into the public domain - formal tools are needed with which you can "notify" the legal systems of countries of their waiver of copyright and other related rights to the work in favor of society.

CC0

The CC0 (CC Zero) tool, developed by Creative Commons, is the most popular and most sophisticated tool for relinquishing copyright and transferring a work to the public domain. It is a universal, worldwide operating tool. Only the copyright holder can use it. To use it, it is enough to indicate the connection of your work with CC0. You can also place a special tag on the work’s webpage informing users and search engines that your work is in the public domain.

You can read more about CC0 on Creative Commons: About CC0 - “No Rights Reserved . ”
You can also generate the HTML code for the CC0 tag there: Applying CC0 to your work.

The Free Software Foundation recommends using the CC0 tool to transfer programs into the public domain.

Unlicense

Unlicense is another popular tool for translating a work into the public domain. To use it in conjunction with your work, instead of the usual COPYING or LICENSE files, you need to place the UNLICENSE file containing the special text “unlicensed”, informing you of the transfer of the work to the public domain and the waiver of rights and responsibilities.

The text of Unlicense and a list of some of the works that use it are available on the official Unlicense page: unlicense.org

Public domain mark

Additionally, it is worth mentioning the Public Domain Mark. Public Domain Mark is a special label that is put on other people's works that are already in the public domain. It cannot be used to free up its own works, but it can be marked on the works of other authors, which are reliably known that they are in the public domain. Thanks to this tag, such works can be easily found through special search engines, for example, advanced Google search.

Learn more about the Public Domain Mark at Creative Commons: About the Public Domain Mark - “No Known Copyright” .

Other ways to notify the transfer of a work to the public domain

You are not limited in the forms of expression of your decision to transfer the work to the public domain. Although they may not always comply with legal regulations. For example, you can use a brief notification from Creative Commons , a special Wikipedia template, or the following message:

This product is a PUBLIC DOMAIN and can be used AS IS, with all the advantages and disadvantages, in whole or in part, by anyone and for any purpose WITHOUT ANY LIMITATIONS.

This product is PUBLIC DOMAIN and may be used AS IS, with all advantages and faults, in whole or in part, by anyone for any purpose, WITHOUT ANY CONDITIONS.

Which fully applies to this article.