Paying public domain

Paying public domain (Domaine public payant, dominio público pagante) is a copyright regime where copies, presentations or performances of a work that has entered the public domain are still subject to royalties, which are payable to the state or to an authors' association. The principle is that revenue from the work of long-dead artists should be used to support creativity of living artists. It may apply only to certain types of work, such as folklore or traditional cultural expressions. However, communities that wish to control their traditional knowledge or cultural expressions may perceive the royalties as an unwelcome tax. Paying public domain regimes have been introduced and withdrawn in several countries. They are still in place in several countries in South America and Africa. Victor Hugo, who also played an important role in developing the Berne Convention, was one of the earlier supporters of the concept of domaine public payant, under which a nominal fee would be charged for copying or performing works in the public domain, and this would go into a common fund dedicated to helping artists, especially young people. There was no post-mortem protection of works, but a period of exploitation that started from the date of publication and could expire during the author's lifetime. A 1949 UNESCO report said that the normal sense of the term was that "after the expiration of the normal period of protection, that is, when the work falls into the public domain, the work cannot be freely used, as it could in the case of normal free public domain. Instead, the user must pay a royalty, generally to the authors' societies, who utilize such funds for cultural purposes or to aid needy authors or their families. In some cases, the state also participates in such fees." A 2010 WIPO report said that under these regimes "a fee is imposed for the use of works in the public domain. Generally, the system works like a compulsory license: the use is conditioned on payment of the prescribed fee but not upon the securing of a prior authorization.