Public Domain Registry

A great new project has been announced by Access Copyright and Creative Commons Canada, the Public Domain Registry.

The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency and Creative Commons Canada, in partnership with Creative Commons Corporation in the US, today announced the development of a Canadian public domain registry. The ground-breaking project – the most comprehensive of its kind in Canada – will create an online, globally searchable catalogue of published works that are in the Canadian public domain.

The Wikimedia Foundation, developers of the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, will supply software that will allow the public to contribute information to the registry. “The public domain is our shared cultural heritage, and the best ground for the great new ideas of the future,” said Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. “Without access to the public domain, we are cut off from our past, and therefore cut ourselves off from our future.”