What is meant by public domain?
Public domain means that the creator of the work has given up all rights to the work. Anyone can record, copy, publish or transfer the work to another medium such as CD or DVD without having to clear copyright. Copyright protection generally lasts for 50 years after the death of the author (or the last surviving author). Materials published by the Queen’s Printer are public domain; out-of-print materials published by an author who has been dead fifty years are also public domain. A work (including a song or images) falls into the public domain when the copyright has expired. Material found on the Internet is not public domain.
