Essential Reading

Did You Just Get Slapped With A Trademark Violation?

Fruit crate label for Sunkist California Oranges

This will set you back on your heals… and may give you a sick feeling in your belly.
All of us have to be so very careful when it comes to Trademark Violations… which is a totally different animal than public domain.
Read the entire article… if you are smart and pay attention – you won’t have [...]

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US Government PD Works in UK

After I released my new Government Public Domain Content book I received an email from John:

Hi Debra,
Thanks for the manual re US Government PD works – very impressive and comprehensive.
Being UK based and taking the advice in your manual, I sent off a question regarding my use of this information to the UK [...]

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Don’t Try Using Copyright Protected Images On Zazzle or CafePress

Logo used until 2008.

I hope this helps to clear up a few problems that those of you who use (or plan to use) Zazzle or CafePress as an income stream. These are sites that allow you to upload images and they will produce really cool products for you to sell or give.
The problem is this – these [...]

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Don’t Try Using Trademark Protected Images On Zazzle or CafePress

A green registered trademark (®) logo.

Image via Wikipedia

I go into a huge rant about copyright protected images here:
Copyright Protected Images On Zazzle
So let’s talk a bit about Trademark Law.

I have a really nice customer (this guy is one of those people that “gets” public domain and doesn’t try to abuse the privilege)  that was a little upset that some of [...]

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Why Would Anyone BUY Something From Me That That They Could Get For FREE Somewhere Else?

A friend asked me a question yesterday that really made me stop and ponder a few things…
This question reminded me of some issues I had to deal with very early on in my career as an information marketer. As someone with an interest in using Public Domain content to create products, you may have pondered the answer [...]

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WorldCat – A Simple Yet Very Effective Tool For Tracking Down Public Domain Books In Your Niche

I was helping a friend track down some Public Domain books for what at first appeared to be an elusive niche (for Public Domain stuff anyway) when I asked her if she had been to WorldCat yet to start compiling a list of relevant Public Domain suspects.
She kind of gave me a puzzled look and said, “World what? [...]

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Plagiarism, Ethics, And The Public Domain

I’ve had a few questions regarding plagiarism and the use of Public Domain material over the past few weeks. The question of whether republishing Public Domain material without giving credit to the original author (or even claiming authorship of the material yourself) constitutes plagiarism is certainly worthy of being the topic of its own article.
As examples [...]

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Hybrid Content Theory & The Joy of Republishing Public Domain Cookbooks

Last week, we discussed “The 5 Modes of Public Domain Publishing” and how knowing what “mode” you are working in can help guide you in properly positioning your products in your target market.
In summary, the five common basic modes we as Public Domain Publishers usually work in when creating products using content from Public Domain books and other [...]

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The 5 “Modes” Of Public Domain Publishing

This discussion comes after a question I recieved last week on my Feeding America: The Historic American (Public Domain) Cookbook Project post where I made the statement that, “Reproductions of Vintage Cookbooks are hot,hot, hot when positioned and marketed correctly…”
After reading the above post, my friend Marg asked, “how do you position and market them [...]

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A Guide To Brainstorming Topic Ideas To Build Your Public Domain Business Around

I often get asked by friends first starting out online how I seem to be able to come up with new ideas for markets to pursue or products to create.
I usually find that this question is being asked because the person doing the asking is “stumped” as to where to begin their online venture.
Generally, I [...]

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