Common Domain FAQ

What is the Common Domain?

The Common Domain is a way to make your creative work ("intellectual property") freely available for others to use and build upon, while maintaining your ownership of that work. We call it Common Domain (with capitals) in order to distinguish it from the "public domain", or works without copyright. The license is a form of Open Content license, originally devised for software manuals, that allows anyone to reproduce ("copy") the document or item in question, so long as certain conditions are met.

What are the conditions placed on a Common Domain document?

It may be reproduced only in its entirety. All reproductions of the work must contain or link a Common Domain Document License, as well as the traditional copyright notice ( Copyright © 2001 Your Byline ). Distribution of "substantively modified" versions of a Common Domain document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. Substantive modification means a change to the semantic content of the document, and excludes mere changes in format or typographical corrections, including translation to other languages. Appearance of a Common Domain work within a collection of works, electronic or otherwise, does not constitute an endorsement by the author. A Common Domain document is supplied as-is, without warranty of any kind, which may seem kind of silly for a religious article, but could prove to be invaluable should someone get hurt trying to duplicate a carft project, for example..

Why are these conditions important?

As the owner of a creative work, it is in your interest to maintain control over that work. You wouldn't want someone to simply copy your material, and claim it as their own. Nor would you want someone to twist your words while maintaining your byline, in order to make your work say something different than you intended.

Can I sell an article in the Common Domain?

Yes. As a matter of fact, so can anyone else, if they can find a buyer for such a thing. But as the copyright holder, your ability to sell your work remains inviolate, and you could, in fact, make substantive modification and sell the item on an exclusive basis (not placing the new version in the Common Domain), if you so desired.

Can I remove a document for the Common Domain at a later date?

It's your copyright, and you can do with it as you will. Be aware, however, that once an article in placed in circulation in the Common Domain, it will be well-nigh impossible to recall all the copies that have been made, each including the license text or link. So, as a practical matter, the answer would have to be no, you really can't pull an item from the Common Domain.

Why should I place my work in the Common Domain?

By placing your creative efforts into the Common Domain you insure that those works will survive you, and will not be forgotten. People tend to take things that are free (as in beer ...) pretty liberally. If an item has an actual cash cost to it, however, they're usually a little more careful. A large part of our religious imperitive deals with ancestors. Guess what? With any luck, someday you'll be one! The songs, stories and research that you accomplish now can live on - if it is widely distributed and freely available. The Common Domain insures that your intellectual legacy will not be forgotten.

How do I place my work in the Common Domain?

See our tools page - it has a complete set of templates as well as clear examples.

What are the drawbacks to the Common Domain?

There are really very few. The earlier version of the Common Domain Document License did not contain the disclaimer provisions - some material could have been used by others in such a way as to make the author appear to support the entire content in which his work appeared. This has been corrected by the requirement to reproduce the entire license with republished material, rather than the simple copyright notice. And the text of the license has been modified to insure that there can be no misunderstanding about what the material is and where it comes from.

Is the Common Domain just for Asatru documents?

No. You can place anything you like into the Common Domain. We only link to Asatru related materials here, but the Common Domain could be a useful tool for many different subjects. One way to think of the Common Domain is as Open Source for content other than computer code.

What is the public domain?

The public domain contains the intellectual property for which copyright has either expired or been abandoned. This is usually very old material - the Eddas and Sagas (in Old Norse) are examples of documents that have passed into the public domain. The public domain has no restrictions on use whatsoever - for example, you could take a document in the public domain and change the wording substantially, republishing it as your own. You could display, for example, material by well known (but long dead) authors in a context that makes them.appear to support something they would probably be completely appalled by. We do not reccommend placing documents in the public domain - graphics, especially clip art, are pretty much the extent of the public domain material we currently have in our archive.