Public Domain Work

A public domain work is a work that is not protected by copyright laws, and can therefore be used by anyone for any purpose without requiring any license or agreement. Works commissioned by the government are often in the public domain, and other works enter the public domain when their copyrights expire. Many traditional folk songs and hymns, such as “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain” and “We Shall Overcome,” as well as all pre-modern classical works, are in the public domain.