What is Public Domain?
In creating a work, a creator goes through various kinds of creative processes that can vary depending on the creator himself. The creative process cannot be completed overnight. Sometimes a creator can be inspired by the environment around him, or he could also be inspired by works that have existed before.
Regarding the creation of works that are inspired by previously existing works, of course, a creator must pay attention to the provisions of intellectual property law concerning the work. The creator does not want to get into legal trouble because his work violates the rights of other creators, therefore transforming existing works into their own works is a process that requires caution.
Public Domain (PD) can be one of the things that help creators in their work. The public domain refers to all creative and intellectual works that have become common property because they are not protected or are no longer protected by exclusive copyright thus making it usable for the public.
How does a work become public domain?
A work can become public domain by several reasons, including:
Expiry of protection period – The protection period for the work varies from country to country. In Indonesia, the regulation of the validity period of the protection of a work is regulated in Law number 28 of 2014 concerning Copyright, specifically in Chapter IX regarding the validity period of copyright and related rights.
A work is not protected by copyright – Article 41 of Trademark Law stipulates types of work that is not protected by copyright. Such as works that has not been realized in real terms, any ideas, procedures, systems, methods, concepts, principles, findings or data even though they have been disclosed, stated, described, described, or combined in a work, and tools, objects or products that are created only to solve technical problems or whose form is intended only for functional needs.
Apart from that, if the use of the public domain is such that it produces a new work that falls into the category regulated in Trademark Law, then the work can have intellectual property rights because the work is a new work of the creator.
Source:
https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf202/domain-publik-di-indonesia.pdf