“Public Domain Dedication” sounds like the type of thing you do when you’re about to ask your life-long partner to marry you in front of tens of thousands of people at a New York Yankees game…except its not. It’s not even a karaoke phrase you shout before you belt out that tune you think you can sing or a late night phone call to that easy-listening radio disc jockey.
It’s a dedication to the world of intellectual property. It’s the antithesis of copyright…not to be mistaken with copyleft which has conditions attached. See my essay about the model train hobbyist and the physics professor to learn more about creative commons and associated licences [or hit up a search engine for a much abridged version].
I digress…public domain dedication or CC-Zero is as close as you can get to ‘free’ in the true sense of the word. It’s free to do anything you want with, as if you alone are the creator…except…of course there has to be an exception because you didn’t actually create the work. The catch is that the law of the land…pretty much no matter where on this amazing planet you’re from…doesn’t actually allow you to give away your own copyright absolutely. Weird huh? Seems a bit strange that you can’t actually do anything you like with your own creation.
It’s because copyright subsists in any original work that has been created, and in most cases, automatically. The powers that be, since about a hundred years ago when Walt Disney copied an idea and technique from doujinshi cartoons to create Mickey and the gang, put in place laws that create intellectual property rights [I should add that I’m no historian]. On the whole these rights work in the creators favour but in reality those who have the power and resources to actually enforce their copyright are few and wealthy. Throughout the twentieth century and during negotiations of international trading agreements, these intellectual property laws have become wide spread and almost ubiquitous.
The idea of protection in your creation should exist for your benefit until such time when you want to share that benefit; but within reason. The issue arises when you consider an intellectual property right as a monopoly, basically meaning a right created to the exclusion of all others. Many say that there is a real possibility nay probability that this monopoly stifles innovation and derivatives that lead to bigger and better and more advanced ideas and techniques, which have the potential to lead to creations that make our world an even better place, are in some ways discouraged by the law.
There are a plethora of resources out there where you can read arguments for and against. There are entire organisations advocating for the right to dedicate creations to the public domain and equally as many governments that create laws that are designed to create the very antithesis of public domain.
Whichever side of the fence you sit, when you come across sites like this [and there are plenty of them!], it reminds us all that the value in creation is not just monetary. It can be simply the act of giving, sharing, inspiring, rewarding…a value that can never be represented by money.