A copyfraud is a false copyright claim made by an individual or institution over content that is actually in the public domain. Because material with no valid copyright is free for anyone to use, modify, and reproduce, such claims are unlawful under at least United States and Australian copyright law; the term also covers overreaching claims by publishers, museums, and others who claim rights beyond what the law allows, whether knowingly or through constructive knowledge that the claim exceeds the true scope of ownership.
Facts
Typical PenaltyUnder 17 U.S.C. 506(c), falsely claiming copyright, such as placing a false copyright notice on an article, publicly distributing articles bearing a false copyright notice, or importing such articles for distribution, is punishable by a fine of up to 2500 dollars 1 Notable ExampleBridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp., a 1999 United States case in which a court ruled that skill, labor or judgment merely in the process of copying a public domain artwork cannot confer originality, though the library continued to assert copyright in its reproductions afterward 1 Jurisdiction VariationA 2023 United Kingdom Court of Appeal judgment clarified that no new copyright is created in making a photographic reproduction of a two dimensional public domain artwork 1 Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
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Sources
1. Copyfraud (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section, Copyfraud
A copyfraud is a false copyright claim by an individual or institution with respect to content that is in the public domain.
Legal issues, False claims of copyright subsection
punishable by a fine of up to $2,500.
Types of material, Digital libraries subsection
skill, labor or judgment merely in the process of copying cannot confer originality
By jurisdiction, United Kingdom subsection
no new copyright is created in making a photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain artwork.
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