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Contributing to PublicDomainian

Thanks for helping grow the Republic. Adding a work is a one-file change to data/works.json.

Add a citizen (a work)

Append an object to the works array:

{
  "id": "unique-kebab-case-slug",
  "title": "Title of the Work",
  "creator": "Author / Director / Composer",
  "category": "book",
  "published": 1930,
  "enteredPD": 2026,
  "status": "free",
  "country": "US",
  "notes": "One or two sentences on what it is and any caveats.",
  "venture": "One concrete way to make money from it.",
  "playbooks": ["adaptation", "audiobook"],
  "source": "https://a-URL-that-proves-the-copyright-status"
}

Field rules

Field Rule
id Unique, lowercase, kebab-case.
category One of: book, film, cartoon, music-composition, sound-recording, art, character, other.
published Original publication/release/recording year (number).
enteredPD Year it entered (or enters) the US public domain, or null if it's been free for many decades.
status free if it's public domain in the US now, or upcoming if it's still counting down.
playbooks Any of the playbooks[].id values already in the file (e.g. print-on-demand, sync-recording).
source Required. A URL backing the copyright claim.

The bar for accuracy

  • Cite a real source. Prefer the Duke CSPD, Wikipedia's "YEAR in public domain" pages, or the U.S. Copyright Office.
  • Compositions ≠ recordings. A 1930 song can be free while a specific recording of it isn't (and vice-versa under the Music Modernization Act). Pick the right category.
  • Watch trademarks & later versions. If a name or character is still a live trademark, or a later version is still protected (Mickey, Pooh, Betty Boop), say so in notes.
  • US status. This register tracks US public-domain status. Note other jurisdictions in notes if relevant, but don't change the schema.

Make a good Venture

The venture is the point of difference for this project. Keep it concrete and honest: name a specific, legal way to add value and sell it. "Sell the free PDF" is not a venture; "produce a full-cast audiobook you own the recording of" is.

Open the PR

  1. Fork, edit data/works.json.
  2. Make sure it's still valid JSON (most editors will flag errors; python -m json.tool data/works.json checks it).
  3. Open a pull request describing the work(s) you added and linking your source.

That's it. No build, no framework, no ceremony.