Public Domain Content Disclaimer
1. Multilayered and Embedded Works
Please be aware that an audio or video recording of a performance of musical, choreographic, dramatic, or literary work is considered to include two distinct works (and thus potentially covered by two distinct copyrights):
1. The underlying musical, choreographic, dramatic, or literary work, and
2. The recording of the performance of such underlying work.
So, if the underlying work is considered to be in the public domain (e.g., a Vivaldi concerto), that does not necessarily mean that the recording of the performance is in the public domain.
The converse may apply to a recording of a copyrighted musical, choreographic, dramatic, or literary work (e.g., a speech by a public figure who is not a government official – although editorial use of the speech may often qualify as fair use).
Likewise, there have been cases of films that were considered to be in the public domain but were pulled from the public domain because the film contains a musical soundtrack that was later discovered to not be in the public domain.
2. Background IP
Please also be aware that if the content contains or depicts any third-party intellectual property, such as a background trademark, trade dress, picture, artwork, background music, or reading, etc., the owner of that intellectual property may have the right to claim that the use of the content infringes the owner’s intellectual property rights.
3. Depicted People
In addition, if the public domain content contains or depicts the image, voice, or other recognizable features of a person, because public domain content generally is not accompanied by model releases, that person may have the right to object to the commercial exploitation of the content as a violation of their privacy or publicity rights.
4. Editorial Content
For those reasons, any public domain content that contains or depicts any such third-party intellectual property or the image, voice, or other recognizable features of a person should be considered to be “Editorial Content” – meaning it is generally available for editorial use only.
5. Differences in Laws or Different Countries
A work that is deemed to be in the public domain in one country may not necessarily enjoy the same status in another jurisdiction.
6. Moral Rights
The creator of a work may have “moral rights” in a work even if the copyright has lapsed, and the work is thus in the public domain. Moral rights, a widely acknowledged concept, exhibit variations among countries; for instance, they hold more substantial influence in Germany and France, where the concept originated, compared to the relatively weaker recognition in the United States. But at its core, moral rights are the right of the creator to object to treatment of his/her work that he/she judges to be derogatory and to attribution.
7. Sources/No Endorsement
We have endeavoured to show our source of Public Domain Content on our Website as an aid for our customers. However, those sources do not endorse and have no responsibility relating to our representation of content obtained from them or your use of the same.
8. Drone by Nature®️ Disclaimer
We have endeavoured to mitigate the possible but, we believe, unlikely risk of use of our public domain content in our collections by limiting the sources we used for our public domain content to sources that we believe are reputable and to content that has been presented as public domain for enough time that we judged that any issue with the public domain status would have already been surfaced.
However, although we believe that all Content that we have designated as “Public Domain Content” is, in fact, in the public domain, we assume no responsibility, and you are solely responsible, for reviewing the Content Information and if necessary confirming that the Public Domain Content is, in fact, in the public domain in the Country where your project will be used, copied, distributed, transmitted, displayed, or performed and obtaining any rights that are legally required with regard thereto.
