Official term
Public Domain Mark 1.0
The mark says that a work is believed to be free of known copyright restrictions worldwide; it is a status label, not a license or waiver.
Version 1.0
Open the official termFor visitors
The mark records a worldwide public-domain finding. The work may ordinarily be displayed, copied, adapted, and reused, including commercially, while separate rights in a modern photograph, edition, person, mark, or agreement still deserve attention.
Museum practice
These readings describe how the Museum normally presents, studies, publishes, and cares for a lawfully acquired work. The exact rights record, artist agreements, and applicable law continue to govern each object.
- Display the work
Ordinary museum practice
The marked work may be displayed as part of the public domain, with an accurate credit and a link to the Museum's supporting rights evidence.
- Publish online
Ordinary museum practice
The Museum may publish the work online and offer useful access copies, while identifying the mark as a status finding rather than a license.
- Publish in print
Ordinary museum practice
The work may be reproduced in scholarship, education, and paid print publications. Check whether a modern photograph, scan, or edition carries separate rights.
- Make preservation copies
Ordinary museum practice
The Museum may copy, migrate, restore, and emulate the work. Preserve the evidence supporting the worldwide public-domain conclusion.
- Share an adaptation
Ordinary museum practice
The work may be translated, remixed, and otherwise adapted. Credit the source and distinguish the adaptation from the historical work.
- Make commercial use
Ordinary museum practice
Commercial reuse is available on the copyright record, subject to any trademark, privacy, publicity, cultural, contractual, or other non-copyright limits.
What the Museum can do
- Tell visitors that a documented copyright review found no known copyright restriction on the marked work.
- Reuse the work on the basis of its public-domain status while continuing to check other applicable rights and restrictions.
What remains outside the term
- The mark should be used only for a work already free of known copyright restrictions around the world.
- It does not clear trademark, privacy, publicity, cultural heritage, contractual, or other non-copyright restrictions.
- It does not place a copyrighted work into the public domain; CC0 is the Creative Commons tool for a rights holder seeking that result.
Exact English legal code
This entry is a status, mark, or case description rather than a public license. Its official definition is linked above.