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Business Copyright Basics Fair Use and Public Domain Public Domain

Posted by Ricky Zhuang
Ricky Zhuang
734 Points

So what prevents someone from claiming copyrights on something that's already in the public domain?

For example, what if someone claims that they wrote Romeo and Juliet and prevents everyone else from using it?

1 Answer

Mark VonGyer
Mark VonGyer
21,239 Points
Mark VonGyer
Mark VonGyer
21,239 Points

It has happened before... Some people have attempted to claim they created works that were in the public domain. Unfortunately if it's already classed as in the public domain you cannot later reclaim ownership.

I mean you could try, but you would have to take it to court and spend an awful amount of dollars with little chance of success.

In relation to Romeo and Julliet, this would not happen, as it already has an established author who has long since deceased.