Public domain

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Please note that the IMSLP makes no guarantee whatsoever that the information appearing on this page is legally accurate and assumes no liability or legal responsibility therefor.

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Note that Canada extended copyright non-retroactively to 70 years p.m.a. starting in 2023 for people who died in 1972 and later, so information on this site is STILL BEING UPDATED and information found elsewhere may be outdated.


'Public Domain' means a work is no longer protected by copyright and can be freely distributed.
For an Introduction to copyright and the public domain, see: Copyright Made Simple

Contents

Basics of Canadian Copyright Law

IMSLP follows Canadian copyright laws because the main IMSLP servers are physically hosted in Canada.

To simplify, Canadian copyright expired 50 years after the death of the composer or other author for authors who died in 1971 and earlier, and will expire 70 years after death for those who died in 1972 and later. Only works first published in countries that are members of the WTO or Berne Convention are subject to copyright in Canada. In most cases this applies retrospectively, unless the work was already public domain in the country where it was first published when either treaty was signed.

Works published before 1928 are public domain in the US, but may not be in Canada and other countries. These US-only public domain works are hosted separately by IMSLP-US, but are searchable from this site. Users cannot upload these files through the normal upload forms as as all normal uploads are uploaded to the main servers (located in Canada). To add a file to the US server, switch to the Classic Skin (link at the bottom of the page if you are using the Modern Skin), go to upload a file on the work page and follow the link in the expanded explanatory text to get the US upload form.

The copyright expiration year depends on the death year of "last surviving contributor" (composer, arranger, editor, author of text, etc.).

  • Example 1: Henle published a re-engraved edition of Beethoven sonatas in 1985, with an editor who is still living.
- The work is not public domain because the editor is still living, and the new engraving is copyrighted.
  • Example 2: Dover published a reprint of an old (public domain) edition of Beethoven sonatas in 1995.
- The work is public domain (except for the new title page and cover) because reprinting of public domain works does not qualify for copyright.

Some groups will re-print public domain editions with no new editing and write "copyright 20XX" even though the work does not qualify for copyright protection. This is known as copy-fraud, and despite the claim, the work is in the public domain. The copyright claim can usually be found on the bottom of the first page of a score.

Legal Uploading

While works in the Canadian public domain that remain protected in the US are allowed for inclusion in the archive, it is possible that scanning and uploading such a work could constitute a violation of the US law for those who reside in the US.

Determining Copyright Term

The following tables apply to 2023. The term "author" refers to either the composer, an orchestrator or arranger, an editor of a non-urtext edition, or an author of text which was set to music by the composer. Under nearly all life-plus XX years statutes, this refers to the last surviving author.


Copyright on the composition and publication if author known, first published before 1928
Author's death Canada life+50 countries United States EU, Russia,
life+70 countries
Template to be used on IMSLP
< 1953
public domain
public domain (life+50)
public domain†
public domain (life+70)
 None: always public domain


1953-1971
copyrighted
 Work:
Template:WorkNonPD-EU


1972
copyrighted
Composer: Template:Copyright
Work: Template:WorkPD-USonly
File: Template:FilePD-USonly
(Must be hosted on US Server!)
> 1972
copyrighted
Composer: Template:Copyright
Work: Template:WorkPD-USonly
File: Template:FilePD-USonly
(Must be hosted on US Server!)
† Extremely Rare Potential Exception: certain foreign works published after 1909 might be protected in the western US states under the jurisdiction of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Copyright on the composition and publication if author known, first published after 1927
Author's death Canada life+50 countries United States EU, Russia,
life+70 countries
Template to be used on IMSLP
< 1953
public domain
public domain (life+50)
copyrighted
unless proof of non-renewal is provided for US-published works‡
public domain (life+70)
 Template:WorkNonPD-US
 Template:FileNonPD-US


1953-1971
copyrighted
Composer:
Template:ComposerNonPD-USandEU
Work:
Template:WorkNonPD-USandEU
File: Template:FileNonPD-USandEU


1972
copyrighted
Composer:
Template:ComposerNonPD-USandEU
Work:
Template:WorkNonPD-USandEU
File: Template:FileNonPD-USandEU
> 1972
copyrighted
Composer: Template:Copyright
Work: Template:WorknotPD
File: Template:FilenotPD
‡ US only: Proof of non-renewal and US publication status status applies mainly to works published 1928-63. All works published 1964-77 had their copyright renewed automatically and enjoy a full term of 95 years after first publication provided notice and eligibility requirements were met. Works published 1978 and later are under copyright for life-plus-70, though notice requirements applied through March 1, 1989, though lack of notice could be cured in some cases from 1978–89. However, Non-US works — defined as works that were first published in another country, and not published, i.e., made available licitly, in the US within 30 days of that foreign publication, had their copyrights restored under the URAA, unless they were in the public domain in their source country on the URAA date (generally January 1, 1996). Despite what some sources say, a lack of a public NIE (Notice of Intent to Enforce) does not indicate a lack of restored copyright or change anything with relation to IMSLP, because IMSLP did not exist before the URAA date.
Corporate copyright on the publication, no author identified*
Year Published Canada,
life+50 countries
United States EU, Russia,
life+70 countries
Template to be used on IMSLP
before 1928
public domain (pub+50)
public domain
public domain (pub+70 in most countries)
 None: always public domain
1928-1952
copyrighted (pub.+95), unless public domain in country of first publication in 1996
File: Template:FileNonPD-US
1953-1972
Copyrighted
File: Template:FileNonPD-USandEU
> 1972
copyrighted
File: Template:FilenotPD
* In Canada and most other countries, the term changes to that governing known authors when an anonymous author is identified.


Author known, Unpublished works
Author's death Canada,
life+50 countries
United States EU, Russia,
life+70 countries
Comments
< 1953
public domain (life+50)**
public domain (life+70)
In EU and UK: first disseminator has editio princeps rights if really never previously published
 Possible Editio princeps claims
(25 years from 1st publication)
1953-1972
copyrighted
copyrighted
**Canada considers any "performance, recording, or delivery" as the equivalent of publication for works of authors who died between 1948 and 1963. Works which have never been performed, recorded or delivered are eligible for a term of first publication plus 50 years.
> 1972
copyrighted


Editions of Public Domain Works

Determining Type

There is no copyright in Canada purely in the act of publication itself. Thus any non-edited reprint or re-engraving of a public domain edition is also public domain. The term "edition" or the credit "edited by" has been liberally applied by publishers for items ranging from serious re-arrangements and re-orchestrations of the original work to completely unaltered reprints of older, public domain scores.

Insignificant editorial contributions have no copyright in themselves. Significant ones often do. The editor's contribution to the work must be of a significant and original nature, meeting a "threshold of originality," to qualify for copyright protection. Some examples:

  • Most Significant: Transcriptions, orchestrations, arrangements, creative realizations of continuo or figured bass parts.
  • Less Significant: Articulations, slurs, dynamic and tempo markings, routine chordal realizations of figured basses.
  • Insignificant: Adding original (new) fingerings, transposition, error correction, translation of common expressions and instrument names.
  • Insignificant: Adding fingerings, articulations, slurs, dynamic and tempo markings from other public domain sources.

Collections can count as original compilations in Canada (Life + 50) and the EU (Life + 70) from the complier (usually an editor) of the edition. Because these are selected by the complier of the works that are republished or published in a new edition from a composer or various composers, the "intent" of the complier to compile these works together can be original (usually in a selected manner but the works themselves are not original to the collection) and adds another layer of copyright on top of the existing claims of the composers of the works (if the works are still under copyright themselves).

In the USA, there have been a few cases where fingerings came under scrutiny, where the courts ruled that "mere 'editing', 'fingering' or 'phrasing' are not provided for in the Copyright Act.". Cases cited in Los Angeles Copyright Society: Copyright and Related Topics: A Choice of Articles (page 10). University of California Press, 1964.

Urtext or Critical Editions

The EU, and others, have special provisions for a limited copyright term (generally 25 years) for scholarly editions, including critical, urtext, or "scientific" editions (Bärenreiter, etc). It is unlikely that this type of edition, apart from text passages, contains sufficient original material to qualify for copyright status in Canada. However, as a courtesy, IMSLP voluntarily prohibits the posting of critical or urtext editions first published less than 25 years ago (i.e., in 1998 and later), with the exception of those issued by government entities.

Government Works

In some, but not all countries, works created by officers of the government are not subject to copyright. This is notably the case in the United States; works created by the US Federal Government (but not most state governments) are in the public domain. This applies for instance to the works of United States Military musicians created in the course of their official government employment.

Posthumous Publication (Editio princeps)

Works first published after the death of the composer, and before or after the composer's copyright term had expired are known as "posthumous works" and have a limited copyright term in most countries. In the case of long-dead composers, a public performance might count as the first publication for the purpose of determining which works qualify for editio princeps in some countries.

Canada

  • Posthumous works of composers who died before December 31, 1948 are now public domain (since December 31, 2003 at latest).
  • Posthumous works of composers who died on or after December 31, 1948 retain copyright from the date of first publication* plus 50 years.
If unpublished* on or before December 31, 1998, such works retains copyright until December 31, 2049
  • Posthumous works of composers who after December 31, 1998 are protected for the author's lifetime plus 50 years

*The works of composers who died before December 31, 1998 which were "performed or delivered" during a composer's lifetime or later counts as being "published" upon the date of the first performance or delivery.

From Wikipedia....

Before the 1999 reform of the [Copyright] Act, works that were published after the death of the author were protected by copyright for 50 years after publication, thus granting perpetual copyright to any work not yet published. This was revised so that protection is limited as follows:

Duration of copyright with respect to posthumous works
Where a Composer/Author dies... with an unpublished work
that is posthumously published...
Term of copyright Relevant copyright law
before December 31, 1998 before December 31, 1998 50 years from date of publication Section 7 (Subsection 1 and 2)
before 1949 after December 31, 1998 protected until December 31, 2003 Section 7 (Subsection 4)
1949-1998 protected until December 31, 2048 Section 7 (Subsection 3)
after December 31, 1998 protected until 50 years after the end of the year of death  ?

European Union

  • The duration of copyright is 25 years after lawful publication or communication to the public, when first published after expiration of the author's copyright [1]

USA

  • Posthumous works first published between 1928 and 1977 with the proper copyright notice, registration and renewal are protected for 95 years.
  • Works first published from 1978-2002 are protected until Jan. 1, 2048.
  • Works of authors dead more than 70 years first published after 2002 are not subject to any copyright protection themselves, but only as a new edition or other derivative work.

Reprint Editions

Reprint editions of publications that are in public domain are not subject to copyright in Canada, the USA, the EU, and most (if not all) of the world. No copyright can be claimed on the scanning of a public domain work regardless of whether the original scanned is in printed or manuscript form.

Composers who will enter the public domain in the next few years

International Copyright Treaties

See also:



In Berne signatory countries

This rule basically states that if a work is in the public domain in the country of origin, it is also public domain in any country that signed the Berne Convention. This rule has not been adopted by the USA or Canada.

The European Union applies the Rule of the Shorter Term for works whose country of origin is outside the EU. Thus, a work by an American composer which entered the public domain in the USA, is public domain in the EU. Under the Berne treaty, the Country of Origin is defined as the country of first publication of a given work.

In NAFTA Parties (U.S.A, Canada, Mexico)

North American Free Trade Agreement: Article 1703: National Treatment

  • 1. Each Party shall accord to nationals of another Party treatment no less favorable than that it
    accords to its own nationals with regard to the protection and enforcement of all intellectual
    property rights.

Copyright Laws by Country or Territory


Australia

Any work published in the lifetime of an author who died in 1954 or earlier, is out of copyright. The term for authors who died in 1955 or later is 70 years.

European Union

The 93/98/EC Copyright Directive, consolidated in the 2006/11/EC Directive, harmonized copyright terms for EU countries at life-plus-70 years. It also restored copyright status for works which had entered the public domain in member countries with life-plus-50 terms at the time.

  • Article 5 states that member states may protect "critical and scientific publications of works which have come into the public domain" for a maximum of thirty years after publication.
  • Article 4 grants copyright to the publisher of a public domain work which was previously unpublished for 25 years after the date of first publication (Editio Princeps), provided that the work in question is "legally published."


Czech Republic

All Czech government publications are in the public domain. This notably affects Artia/Orbis/SNKLHU/Supraphon, which was a government organization from 1948 to 1989. See the Czech Republic copyright act (file hosted by WIPO; see also OSA, Czech author's rights organization).


France

As from January 1, 1995, the basic copyright has a duration of life of the last surviving author +70 years. Anonymous editions enjoy a copyright of 70 years after publication, or if not published, 70 years after creation. Under a provision entitled Prorogations de guerre there is 30-year extension of term for authors who 'died in action' (like Jehan Alain). In addition, posthumous works are copyrighted 25 years from the year of publication. However, protection of musical works enjoys special time extension compensating for the war period (WWI and WWII). For composers who died before January 1, 1995, the time protection after death is 78 years and 120 days for works published between January 1, 1921 and December 31, 1947 and 84 years and 272 days for works published until December 31, 1920. This is why none of Ravel’s work is Public Domain in France in 2009 while it is so in many European countries. [2],

Germany

The basic copyright has a duration of life of the last surviving author +70 years. Anonymous editions enjoy a copyright of 70 years after publication, or if not published, 70 years after creation. Posthumous first-time publications are protected for only 25 years after publication.

As per Article 70 of the German Urheberrechtsgesetz (copyright law), scientific editions, which is to say editions which are produced as a result of scientific analysis (i.e. scholarly or critical editions and urtext), have a copyright length of only publication + 25 years, meaning that all such scientific editions published in Germany before 1994 are in the public domain there. However, arrangements, transcriptions, orchestrations, continuo realizations, and interpretative editions enjoy a full term of protection of life-plus-70 years.

Hungary

  • Basic protection: 70 years p.m.a.
  • Posthumous publication: 25 years post-publication
See also: Franz Liszt: Neue Liszt-Ausgabe

Italy

  • Basic protection: 70 p.m.a.
  • Scientific and critical editions: 20 years [3]
  • Rights belonging to the State, the provinces, the communes, the academies or public cultural organizations, or to private legal entities of a non-profit making character: 20 years

Portugal

Portugal's basic copyright term is only 50 years after death of the last surviving author (even in the case of posthumously published works), or 50 years after publication if no author is identified. Portuguese copyright law reserves a separate article for Translation, arrangement, instrumentation, dramatization, filming and, in general, any transformation of a work but does not clearly specify a copyright protection for these works. (Law text at WIPO)

This 1985 law has been superseded by the EU's term of life-plus-70 years.


Russia / USSR

Russian Copyright Laws are fairly complicated and confusing. Basically, works of authors who died before 1943 are in public domain, whereas authors died 1943 or later are protected for life plus 70 years. This is the present interpretation found at Wikipedia. According to the Wikipedia article on the Russian Federation Copyright Law as amended in 2004, the change of term from 50pma to 70pma was not retroactive. The Russian Federation enacted the first post-Soviet copyright law in 1993, establishing a term of life-plus-50 years of the last surviving author, which established protection for authors who died in 1943 and later. The 2004 revisions, which came into force in 2006, were retroactive to the enactment of the original law (1993), making the 1943 date correct. To make matters more confusing, there is another provision of the law (article 1256) which holds that any works published before the November 7, 1917 in the Russian Republic of the Russian Empire and not republished within 30 days of the revolution are not subject to copyright protection. It is not known if works by authors who died later than 1942 which were published before 11/7/1917 are considered to be in this category.

The Copyright Law of Tsarist Russia was very similar to that of Germany, where works were granted a copyright term of life plus 50 years. However, Russia was not a signatory to the Berne Copyright Treaty (1888) and works of Russian composers were protected in Europe only via co-publication agreements between Russian publishers like Jurgenson and Bessel with firms in the West like D. Rahter, Bote & Bock, and Breitkopf & Härtel. With the communist revolution of 1917, this situation changed drastically. Individual copyright was initially abolished along with all other forms of property ownership. This change was disastrous for the copyright status of Russian composers - even those living in the West like Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky. Since all works - whether Soviet or foreign - effectively became the property of the state in the USSR, all Soviet works were held to be public domain in Western countries, even those of expatriate Soviet citizens. In order to comply with treaties to secure Western copyright status for works of Soviet authors, the Soviet goverment finally introduced a limited term of life plus 25 years in 1928, amended to life plus 15 years in 1961. However, the Soviet state (USSR) completely controlled publication of all works of living or deceased persons on which the state claimed copyright. Although the original works of Soviet composers have been given copyright status elsewhere thanks to several treaties, editions of public domain works issued by Muzyka, the Soviet state music publishing agency, are generally considered to be in the public domain, as they were prepared by state employees working for a government agency, and the copyright owner (the USSR) ceased to exist in late 1991.

United Kingdom

The basic copyright has a duration of life of the last surviving author +70 years. Anonymous editions enjoy a copyright of 70 years after publication, or if not published, 70 years after creation.

The UK has a special law regarding "typographical arrangement" ("typographical arrangement" essentially means re-engraving). A "typographical arrangement" is only copyrighted for the length of publication + 25 years.[4] This would affect many of the originally German publishers who relocated to the UK (ex. Eulenburg).

United States

Here is a very good chartflow from Cornell University on the statuses of the when a work would expire in the USA.

  • If a work was published before 1928, or first published in the U.S. from 1928-1963 without copyright renewal, it is almost certain to be public domain.
  • Works published by an individual after 1927 with proper copyright renewal are protected for life plus 70 years.
  • Works published by a corporation after 1927 with no author listed are protected for 95 years from publication.

Currently, the only way to ascertain renewal status for works published before 1950 is to conduct a formal search of the US Copyright Office records in person or pay for a formal search by the copyright office itself. Later records are available online at the US copyright office website. This database indexes only records from 1978, which include the renewals for works first published in 1950. Non-music records from 1928-1977 are indexed at Project Gutenberg.

Restoration for Foreign Works published 1928-1978 Some foreign works from this period that were formerly public domain due to failure to comply with notice and renewal provisions of the US law have been restored to copyright status due to the provisions of the GATT/TRIPS amendments (effective Jan. 1, 1996) provided the work in question was not already public domain in its country of origin. Works that were public domain in their country of origin as of 1 January 1996, are not eligible for restoration of U.S. copyright.

Recordings

Copyright in recordings consists of two levels:

  1. The musical work being recorded.
    This is very important as it overrules the status of older sound recordings otherwise in the public domain (see below). In the EU and Canada, a recording of a Shostakovich (died 1975) work which was released in 1940 is not in the public domain because the music contained therein in not yet public domain.
  2. The sound recording itself.
    The length of terms referred to below are for only the sound recording itself. If the musical work is not also public domain, the recording cannot be public domain.

EU

A sound recording copyright lasts for 70 years after lawful release (or 70 years from fixation if not published).

This provision was not retroactive, so recordings released (or fixed) before November 1, 1963 are still public domain in the EU.

Canada

A sound recording copyright lasts for 70 years after lawful release (or 70 years from fixation if not published).

As with the EU changes, this was not retroactive, so recordings released (or fixed) before January 1, 1965 are still public domain in Canada.

USA

Recordings were not covered by US Federal Copyright law until 1972. All recordings made before that date - even those published before 1923 - are potentially under copyright until February 15, 2067. This is due to the fact that such recordings might be protected under the common-law copyright and trade statutes of individual states. Recordings published without the required notice between February 15, 1972 and March 1, 1989 are possibly public domain, especially those issued between 1972 and 1977. After January 1, 1978, a notice omission or error was correctable if application was made to the copyright office within 5 years of the omission or error. The status of sound recordings in the various states is quite complicated, with contradictory court decisions. California and New York explicitly include sound recordings in state laws, with California even specifying protection until 2047.

On October 11th, 2018, the Classics Act or Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, and Important Contributions to Society Act (H.R. 3301), was consolidated into the Music Modernization Act (H.R. 5447) but renamed as the Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act, was signed into law by U.S. Former President Donald J. Trump. This legislation was designed to clarify the end date on when a sound recording goes into the public domain and add more federal protection (the recordings are still covered by copyright by the state however and are still partially covered federally) for early recordings made before 1972. The terms below are not a copyright term but a "performance right". Additional time periods were added on as a clever way to designate a "performance right" of all these recordings even though the copyright in the recording itself might not exist, depending upon the state in which one resides where the recording was done. IMSLP will be following the terms set forth by the additional time the performance rights that were given that are established below. These terms are as follows (see the copyright.gov website for more details):

  • For recordings first published before 1923, the additional time period ended on December 31, 2021.
  • For recordings first published between 1923-1946, the additional time period is 5 years after the general 95-year term.
  • For recordings first published between 1947-1956, the additional time period is 15 years after the general 95-year term.
  • For all remaining recordings first fixed prior to February 15, 1972, the additional transition period shall end on February 15, 2067.

The recordings recorded from 1957-1972 uploaded on IMSLP, will end its protection on January 1st, 2067.

Public Domain Dedications

Some works, such as those found on other websites, may be marked as "dedicated to the public domain." These files, when explicitly dedicated to the public domain by their author or (would-be) copyright holder, may indeed be in the public domain but possibly not in all jurisdictions (unless released under Creative Commons Zero or a similar dedication with a backup waiver of rights and public licence). In part due to the fact that this tag is often used with reengravings of works that are in the public domain, the topics of threshold of originality will be covered here as well.

Canada

  • Copyright.
In Canada, a copyright holder may relinquish their rights to a work; according to York University, "Works can also be in the public domain because ... the copyright owner has forfeited copyright in the work to the public." Even so, moral rights might come into play for works meeting Canada's fairly high threshold of originality (see below)
  • Moral Rights.
Moral rights last for the length of the duration of copyright (50 years from the death of the author) in Canada, and potentially are unable to be relinquished. For new and original works, this may pose a minor issue (see the sections in the E.U. section about express and implied licences); however, where the music is a reengraving of an existing work, it may not be original enough to be copyrightable in Canada (see the next section).
  • Originality.
The threshold of originality in Canada is quite high, and new engravings of older works are not regarded to qualify for new copyright or moral rights (although IMSLP has some rules regarding new urtext editions which are stricter than Canadian law). If an edition does not qualify for Canadian copyright anyway, then there is no issue regarding moral rights or copyright for such works explicitly dedicated to the public domain.

United States

  • Copyright.
In the United States, a copyright holder may relinquish their rights to a work, for example, by using this deprecated CC tool. Such public domain dedication has been a longstanding feature of US law.
  • Moral Rights.
Unlike Canada, the E.U. and most other countries, the U.S. does not recognize a specific set of moral rights associated with copyright (instead, the government says, libel restrictions etc. fulfil this requirement of the Berne convention). When dealing with U.S. waivers, moral rights are irrelevant.
  • Originality.
While a number of court cases have established a high threshold of originality in the U.S. (both with regards to sheet music editions and other works), the U.S. Copyright Office has granted registrations liberally for new engravings of older works. Even if the editions would probably be public domain if taken to court, IMSLP acts as if the copyright is valid in all cases, both as a matter of caution and because such a legal battle would be prohibitively expensive and drawn-out.

European Union

  • Dedication of Copyright and Moral Rights.
It may or may not be possible to relinquish copyright per se (according to the laws of each E.U. country). Even when it is posssible to do so, the issue of moral rights remains in play; these rights are not subject to the same expiration terms as copyright and in fact may not be able to be relinquished, even voluntarily. However, it is possible that moral rights may only apply when originally explicity exercised, depending on jurisdiction (in the U.K. for example: "Under UK law, the Right of Attribution must be asserted. This requires a positive action to let others know that you wish to exercise the right."). It should be noted that moral rights laws vary wildly by country (and are not harmonized as copyright laws have been in the E.U.).
  • Express and Implied Licences.
Some dedications may include a listing of rights, noting that the public are able to reproduce, use, etc. the work (see the specific dedication for details). In this case, this may be taken to be a form of express licence from the copyright holder. On Wikimedia projects, for example, this licence is made explicit and total; on Mutopia, it is less complete and explicit, but still there is a listing of the user's rights. Even where there is no listing of rights, there may be taken to be a strongly-implied extremely liberal licence for use in jurisdictions where the dedication to the public domain may not be applicable.
  • Originality.
While the threshold of originality generally can vary between member states, EU copyright directives allow (but does not require) countries to grant up to 30 years of protection from date of publication for critical editions ("typographical arrangements," in U.K. parlance, termed "scientfic editions" in the EU copyright directive). Currently, Germany and the U.K. recognize this copyright for 25 years and Italy for 20 years. The other EU countries do not currently protect these editions but could with the passage of new legislation.

Advice to IMSLP editors

Where the file is your own work, be sure to release it under Creative Commons Zero if you would like to guarantee the PD status of your file; this will lead your file to be dedicated to the public domain in jurisdictions where this is possible; where it is not, there is an extremely liberal licence applied which allows your work to be used as if it were in the public domain.
Where the file is NOT your own work, mark the file as whichever status it was assigned by the original creator.

More information

See Also