Any work in which copyright has expired or been forfeited or works which are ineligible for copyright protection are considered 'public domain'. Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and can be used freely without permission. Generally, the term for which copyright subsists in a work is the life of the author, up to the end of the year in which the author dies, plus fifty (50) years. So in 2012 works published by an author who died in 1962 will enter the public domain.
