PublicDomainBlog.com

Creative Commons^TM is in the third public beta of a new licensing designation called CC0. CC0 is a protocol that enables people to WAIVE to the fullest extent possible under applicable copyright law all rights they have and associate with a work so it has no (or minimal) copyright or neighboring rights restrictions attached to it. To the extent the waiver is not legally effective in any jurisdiction, then the protocol takes the form of a nonexclusive worldwide license to exercise all copyright and neighboring legal rights in the work. (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0)

Here is the legal code waiver as proposed by the Creative Commons^TM site (http://labs.creativecommons.org/licenses/zero/1.0/legalcode)

CC0 Waiver

1. To the fullest extent permitted by (but not in contravention of) applicable law, Affirmer hereby fully, permanently, irrevocably and unconditionally waives, abandons and relinquishes all of Affirmer’s Copyright Related Rights and associated claims and causes of action, whether present or future, vested or contingent, in the Work, (such waiver, abandonment, and relinquishment, the “Waiver”). Affirmer makes the Waiver for the benefit of each member of the public at large and to the detriment of Affirmer’s heirs or successors.
2. Should the Waiver for any reason be judged legally invalid or ineffective under applicable law, then the Waiver shall be preserved to the maximum extent permitted and Affirmer hereby grants to each such affected recipient of the Work a worldwide, royalty-free, non exclusive, perpetual (for the duration of the applicable copyright), non transferable, non sublicensable, irrevocable and unconditional license to exercise Affirmer’s Copyright Related Rights in the Work, which license shall be deemed effective as of the date this CC0 Waiver was applied by Affirmer to the Work.
3. No trademark or patent rights held by Affirmer are waived, abandoned, relinquished, licensed or otherwise affected by this CC0 Waiver.
4. Affirmer hereby fully and completely disclaims responsibility for clearing rights of other persons that may apply to the Work or any intended use thereof, including without limitation any such person’s Copyright Related Rights (including privacy and publicity rights). Further, Affirmer hereby fully and completely disclaims responsibility for obtaining any necessary consents, permissions or other rights required for such intended use.
5. Affirmer understands and acknowledges that Creative Commons is not party to this CC0 Waiver and has no duty or obligation with respect to this CC0 Waiver or use of the Work.

Essentially, CC0 works very much like the current laws regarding the Public Domain with one huge exception: CC0 is regarded as a global license and not country specific, and that point alone could make it superior to simply releasing a work into the Public Domain. Another key difference between CC0 and the Public Domain is how related rights are addressed. With CC0, moral rights retained by the original author(s), publicity and privacy rights pertaining to an individual’s image or likeness depicted in a Work, rights protecting against unfair competition in regards to the Work, and any rights protecting the extraction, dissemination and reuse of data in the Work (such rights all, collectively, the “Copyright Related Rights”) are also waived. The only exceptions I could think of (and I’m sure there are more) are when a work involves more than one contributor or includes individuals other than the copyright holder (such as a photograph that pictures another person. That person’s publicity and privacy rights would not be waived without their consent).

I’m curious to see how the final draft turns out and whether content creators will adopt CC0. As new developments arise, I’ll keep you up-to-date!

For additional reading on the topic:

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0

http://labs.creativecommons.org/licenses/zero/1.0/legalcode

The Open Knowledge Foundation Wiki has been collaborating with other organizations to create an algorithm to determine whether or not a certain work was in the public domain, given certain details such as date of publication, date of death of author, and so on. What’s so amazing about this project is that they are not just focusing on United States Public Domain works, but for other countries as well. Below is a current list of the countries where Public Domain Calculators are in process:

• Argentina
• Canada
• Chile
• Italy
• Norway
• Philippines
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States

For more information, feel free to visit the OKF site at: http://okfn.org/wiki/PublicDomainCalculators

Using Public Domain content is a waste of time…there, I said it! Unfortunately, it’s true…in some cases. So does this mean that I’ve led you astray over the past several years? Did I lie to you about the true effectiveness of Public Domain content? I’ll answer those questions in a minute. Let’s just put it this way…I’ve had an epiphany of sorts in how I approach product development and it’s changing everything I do.

If you have followed this blog for very long, or if you’ve been on my list for very long, you’ll know that I normally write a LOT. I enjoy it. I love helping people succeed in their business. You’ve probably also noticed that for the past few months, my writing and product development has dropped to almost zero. There are a few reasons for that. Personally, I’ve been going through a divorce and my father’s health has not been good. Dad has brain cancer and probably will not be with us much longer. Those personal struggles have understandably taken some of the “wind” out of my sails, but they have also (thankfully) forced me to re-evaluate everything else I’ve been doing in my business. The experience has been somewhat humbling, and in some cases, shocking.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that there is actually a lot of worthless crap out there on the market…especially in the Internet Marketing community. There are very few NEW ideas (in spite of what you’ve been told), and quite honestly, a lot of the new products are just rehashed ideas, either with a slightly different spin on it, or as just a blatant ripoff of other’s hard work. But the biggest “discovery” I made in the past few months is just how few “how-to” products actually tell you how to do anything. Sure, they make the promises of “how to do,” but in most cases you just learn “what to do,” and trust me, it’s not the same (in case you haven’t noticed).

This revelation was really brought home to me thanks in part to one of my business partners, Simone Blum. Simone has the innate (and sometimes annoying) ability to ask “how” questions with regard to selling online that really force you to break a strategy down to its simplest forms–and that can actually be harder than you think. Her constant challenges were one of the motivators for my re-evaluating what I’m selling and doing online. It is amazing how a simple question like, “Where do I really start and how do I do it?” can force you to think differently. The truth of the matter is that the “real” answer to that question demands action, not BS, which is what we’re used to getting (and in same cases giving).

The result of my interaction with Simone over the past few months has resulting in a few promising and sometimes scary decisions. First, I realized that, in light of her questions, I needed to make changes in my business and products (in some cases, significant changes). Over the next several months, I am going to be making a LOT of changes with my products…I can’t go into details now, but trust me, you’ll LOVE the end result! Why? It’s simple…I want my products to be the best they can be to provide maximum usability…and I DON’T want to sell false hope.

Just recently, I purchased a new product that promised to teach you how to make money with Public Domain content. I buy ALL products that teach on the Public Domain for two reasons…I like to learn and I want to make sure people aren’t selling crap in my niche. Unfortunately this product did exactly that…it was a bunch of crap. It was cheap enough…only $7…but absolutely worthless for teaching anyone “how-to.” What’s worse is that large portions on the text were plagiarized from article sites without the proper credit being giving. The e-book also offered “strategies” that were downright unethical, not to mention illegal. Apparently the law means different things to different people. I was so frustrated with the product that I think I would have rather just taken out a five dollar bill and two ones and just burned them rather than having spent them on this product. The experience also got me thinking about my own products and led me back to the questions I asked at the beginning of this article…have I (personally) lead you astray concerning the Public Domain? The answer is both yes and no! Let me explain…

You can have all the content in the world, but if it isn’t content that people want, need or are looking for, then it’s a waste of time…it’s crap! Unfortunately, a lot of the information that’s presented about the Public Domain leads you to crap. It’s one of the reasons why I picked up the Public Domain torch to begin with. While I don’t want to limit your creative innovation with using Public Domain content to create new products that actually sell, I’m also not too proud to admit that, except in rare cases, some currently taught Public Domain strategies just will NOT work for the average person. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

In some of my products, and certainly other products, I have talked about creating compilation CDs or DVDs of Public Domain content to sell. I don’t necessarily encourage it, but I do present it as an option. While there are a few people who ARE making money using this strategy (and there is even an e-book out there that teaches this strategy with Public Domain content), the truth is that YOU will likely NOT make a lot of money doing it. It’s a lot of work for a little money. Of course, there will be exceptions and I’m sure that someone will challenge me on this, but I’d like offer the challenge to prove it. As a matter of fact, a new phrase challenge just came to me as I’m writing this and I may just use it from now on. Simply put, the challenge is this:

Does your product pass the “prove it with a newbie” challenge? And I offer that challenge to myself. Can a newbie take your strategy or business model and actually make money with it? Interesting challenge…let’s get back on track…

The primary purpose of Public Domain works is simply to provide content for your products, whether they are e-books, audios, videos, physical products, etc. But I realized that if you don’t pick the RIGHT content, you’re wasting your time, and a LOT of people, including myself, have been wasting a LOT of time with little or no results. So the REAL question becomes, “How can I EFFECTIVELY use Public Domain content for product creation?” Honestly, the answer has nothing to do with the Public Domain and EVERYTHING to do with understanding the power of picking the right niche. Let me repeat that in a different way…

The true key to success with Public Domain content (or any other content for that matter) is to know HOW to pick the RIGHT NICHE! Period! A fantastic, high-quality product in the wrong niche will NOT sell, while a mediocre product in the right niche can sell like crazy. That’s why I’ve decided that my time needs to be refocused and spent doing two things (as should yours):

1) Becoming a MASTER at identifying trends and hot niches; and
2) Effectively identifying and find the RIGHT Public Domain content.

Yes, there are 85 million books and over 200,000 different magazines worth of content in the Public Domain…not to mention the millions of photographs, illustrations, patents and more. But out of ALL that content, how much of it is REALLY usable…seriously? Twenty percent? Ten percent? One percent? I don’t honestly know. But I DO know this, I am committed to not teach or write about Public Domain content in ways that are little more than filler and have no place in real-world business success. I’m also committed to learning and teaching HOW to identify the best niche markets to sell in, which is why my FIRST teaching venture after my “epiphany” is to partner with Eric Farewell on sharing Expert Niche Strategies. Listen, in the Great Depression, a LOT of businesses went under and tens of thousands of people lost their jobs, but not all of them did. There were a few businesses that GREW during the Depression! How did they do it? They understood the buying habits and trends of the American Public and then gave thepublic what they wanted. That exact same strategy will work today, and that’s why you NEED to learn and understand it!

Eric is a MASTER at identifying hot niches…he’s an expert! I am an expert at finding the right content for those niches, so together, we are going to deliver a one-two punch that will economy-proof your business! Are you interested? You should be! Discover what Eric and I are up to here => http://www.expertnichestrategies.com

Join us…it will change your business as it has his and mine!

There is an area of my life that has remained constant for years. And even though I endured hardship and ridicule, frustration and loss, I was committed and invested in the continuance of this one unchanging, huge area of my life. Over the years, I’ve been called crazy, old-fashioned, out-of-touch and worse for my choice. I’ve secretly envied friends who chose differently than I, but that envy STILL wasn’t enough to sway my decision…until now. And so, after many. many years of faithfulness, of staying the path and remaining committed to a single relationship, I have finally chosen the unthinkable…a choice that will number me in a minority group of risk-takers. And in case you’re wondering what it is that I’ve done…

I bought a Mac Book Pro! Goodbye PC!

I’ve always been excited about change. Many people are not. For me, it’s what living is all about because “LIFE” is constantly evolving, constantly vibrating, constantly changing. Change drives discovery and forces new perspectives.
Back in May of 1997, I had a very “enlightening” experience with regard to perspective in the form of a vision. I don’t know what you think or believe about visions, but for me, this was a first and it was rather profound. The core message that came through loud and clear was simply this: “I am going to teach you new ways of seeing things…new perspectives…and you will understand concepts in ways that others have not considered because you’ll be viewing them from a different perspective.”

Eleven years later, I can say with certainty that I have seen things from new perspectives. As a matter of fact, that initial experience was a defining moment in my life and has ultimately resulted in MUCH change for me personally—from my personal views of God to business approaches and relationships. Finding that new way to “see” something has become a driving force in my life, which also means that change has been a driving force in my life.

Of course, the latest change has been my wife’s and my decision to part ways. Lots of change and new perspectives with this decision…and scary as hell. But I have to admit that I am intensely curious as well to see how it goes. In the end, I really hope I “get” the lessons the universe has for me…that’s my goal…because I’ve also learned that, just because we’re presented with change, doesn’t always mean we’ll learn the lessons or benefits from it. That’s important!

So, don’t waste your moment of change. Embrace it, no matter how difficult, and evolve into the next stage of who you are meant to become. And one last thing…if you are not changing…if things are mostly the same with you, it’s time to begin asking “WHY.” The truth is that you can’t keep doing the same things over and over and expect different results. Don’t happen! If you want a result that’s different than the one you’re currently experiencing, you need to change something…period!

What does this have to do with the Internet Marketing business and with the Public Domain? Everything!

Successful product creation and selling is always a delicate balance of mixing the proven with the constantly changing. Ecclesiastes 1:9 states that, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. There is nothing new under the sun.” It’s true…there IS nothing new under the sun, even in business, but “change” requires us to consider “perspective” and “context.” Our perspective and context is what makes our current experience unique…it’s what separates the men from the boys, so to speak.

Consider “Perspective” this way: Perspective is the interrelation in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed; whereas “context” is the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs. So in a sense you could say: Context is “what” it is and perspective is “how” it is, with “it” being whatever you’re referencing (a product, a niche, etc.). The genius behind truly successful sales is in understanding the context and perspective in ways that are different from those who are failing, which is why you can have one person be wildly successful at selling a product online in a certain fashion and another copy that system and fail.

I love the Public Domain because it represents the brilliance of those who lived before us, and while it’s sometimes easy to conclude that the content is old and outdated, nothing could be further from the truth. The real key…the real secret…to succeeding with Public Domain content is simply this…present it within a new context and from a new perspective. That’s where the money is, and in future posts (as I get back into writing since this new change in my life), I’ll be discussing those perspectives.

A few months back, I hosted a Public Domain Q&A Teleseminar series where I answered questions from my subscribers. The experience was amazing! Between two calls, I shared for nearly 5 hours, brain-dumping all my knowledge on how to use the proven content of the Public DOmain effectively in your business. Here is what a few of the attendees had to say:

“As I write this, I’m listening to the teleseminar. It is without a doubt one of the best I’ve ever listened to. Listening to the conversation between you and Mike is like all three of us sitting in the den or living room having a conversation. Well, OK, you guys are having the conversation and I’m the wide-eyed kid sitting, quietly, listening and absorbing every word. Right now you’re speaking of content. And “content” is what this seminar is. Period. My sincere thanks to both of you for an enjoyable and extremely useful experience.”

 “We were able to join the replay of your fantastic teleseminar. The ten questions you answered were loaded with valuable information. It certainly was the best, most informative teleseminar that we have ever attended, and we thought the one in which Jim Edwards interviewed you was pretty solid. You really unloaded all or maybe most of your secrets to the giant Pandora’s box of public domain.”

“I listened to the whole seminar and yours was the best seminar with the most information that I have ever attended, and I have attended many.”

As you can tell, we had a great time! Ultimate Public Domain Q&A Teleseminar normally sells for just $97…an extremely low price for all the insights you receive, but I decided that, as a way of saying THANKS to you, I am going to offer a 40% discount on the series. Simply follow the link below…it will take you to the salesletter for Ultimate Public Domain Q&A Teleseminar. Click the ORDER button, and on the Checkout Page, enter the coupon code: TELECALL-1 in the space provided and click “Apply.” That will reduce your price by 40% and give you access to amazing content at an even MORE amazing price! Thank you! Here’s that link:

http://www.thepublicdomainexpert.com/teleseminar

Hey Everyone…I’m an uncle once again, thanks to my sister, Tanya and her husband, Justin. Saw the new edition last night and she’s a cutie!

Introducing Hayden Rose Martin!

I just uploaded a new, FREE report to my Yard Sale site titled, “Niche (and Public Domain) Research With a Spin.” I share some powerful ways to use Twitter to connect more effectively with your niche audience and to conduct some pretty cool, covert research (nothing illegal of course). You can download the free report now by visiting:

Tony’s Yard Sale

See you there!

Back in the office after a whirlwind weekend at Ken McArthur’s Impact Bootcamp where we learned about and put into action the powerful ways we can use the different streams of Internet Marketing to get our message to the masses and make a huge impact. The project that was launched as the focus of our efforts was to raise awareness and funds to fight teen suicide…a vital message that is the passion of Deremiah…using every means of media, including Publicity, Motivation, Publishing, Internet, Newspapers, Television, Magazines, Social Media, Corporate Sponsorships, Non-Profit Sponsorships and Joint Ventures. It’s a powerful, ongoing project that is literally going to save the lives of many, many teens. This is what marketing is really all about…making a difference in the lives of others.

The Impact Bootcamp was  a bit of a defining weekend for me personally as well. I always enjoy spending time with friends, many of whom spoke Saturday, including Carrie Wilkerson (the Barefoot Executive), Donna Fox, Warren Whitlock and Mary Mazzullo. I love these guys (and gals) and we had a blast together. If you’re not following what these amazing marketers are doing, you need to be. Each one has changed my personal and business life and they can do the same for you as well.

I also re-connected with my marketing friend, Kim Burney, who I met at Pat O’Bryan’s UnSeminar5. Kim is a mover and shaker. She takes action (A LOT). I like that. At any event, there is always the new friendships and networking that happens, and this event is no exception. Many of my “new” friends and marketers, I actually had already “met” thanks to Twitter, so it was cool to see the people behind the posts.

If you’re wondering why I’m talking about who I connected with at the event, it’s for a good reason. If you really want to succeed in whatever you’re doing, you have to build relationships. Business is ALL about relationships. That’s where the JV’s come from…that’s where the brainstorming and mentoring comes from. You NEED to get to events! AND you need to Twitter. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/tonylaidig.

I loved meeting Ken McArthur. It was my first time at any of his events and I was blown away by the largeness of his heart. He cares…a lot. It was evident. Even last evening after the event was finished, he made sure he was available to talk with everyone who wanted access to him. You could literally see his passion for people in his eyes. More marketers need to follow his example.

There were two highlights from this weekend that really impacted me. The first was listening to and meeting Brendon Burchard. As I listened to him speak on Sunday morning, his love of life and passion to make a difference in the world around us really affected me at a deep level that I don’t think I fully even understand yet. Even now, just writing about it, tears are welling up in my eyes and I’m not even sure why…that’s what I mean. Brendon has an amazing message that I’ll write more about from my notes at a later time. Meanwhile, do yourself a huge favor and buy his book, Life’s Golden Ticket. It will challenge you personally and professionally in ways that will make your life soar.

My second highlight from the weekend was getting to spend more time with my good friend, Simone Blum. Simone is an amazing girl, originally from South Africa. We met at Pat O’Bryan’s UnSeminar 5 event as well (seeing the pattern? Get to seminars!) and immediately hit it off. She’s totally new to internet marketing (4 weeks and counting) but she has already taken more action than many people I know who have been at it for years. Simone is a rising star and you’re going to want to pay attention to her. You should definitely follow her on Twitter (www.twitter.com/simoneblum) as well! As a part of Simone’s ongoing experience of learning Internet Marketing, she is going to begin blogging daily all her experiences, frustrations, triumphs and setbacks from learning the processes. As she works through learning about autoresponders, she’ll write about it. When she gets her webpages up, she’ll write about it. She has a passion to bring everyone who is struggling to be successful online along with her as she learns, and it would serve you well to pay attention. You can find her blog at www.simoneblum.com.

I’ll finish this post with a photo that, appropriately enough, pictures me with the two individuals who impacted me the most this weekend, Brendon and Simone:

I’m always on the lookout for new ways to find Public Domain content, so I’m always researching and testing new strategies and tactics. When I find something I like that works well, I tell you about it, and in this post, I want to tell you about one of the new websites I’ve been experimenting with. It’s producing some promising results for locating Public Domain images.

TinEye does for images what Google does for text. Simply put, TinEye helps you find images that are the same or similar to an image you upload or link to on the site by using sophisticated pattern recognition algorithms. TinEye searches for your image on the web by comparing its fingerprint to the fingerprint of every single other image in the TinEye search index, which currently includes around 701 million images.

There are some obvious benefits with this service if you are searching for people who might be infringing on your image copyright, but I’ve been experimenting with ways to use it for parallel searches. What I mean by that is I upload a known Public Domain image at the TinEye website and then see if it shows up on other sites. I figured that it could be a great way to find Public Domain image repositories of which I was previously unaware. Seems to work…grin.

Let me give you an example of the types of results it can produce for you. I recently uploaded a classic Edward Curtis photograph at TinEye. You’ll see it pictured below.

Then, when TinEye finished analyzing the image, it returned results like the ones below.

You can see that it’s obviously the same image but in a variety of forms. Very cool. Anything interesting trait I found with the searches is that by using similar versions of the same image, you will often achieve different search results. I tried color variations, size variations, etc., and I’m still testing possibilities.

In summary, TinEye is still a new service and they have a ways to go in being viable for the average user The site does have a LOT of potential, especially once they increase their image database, which is currently kind of small (even at nearly a billion images). So I plan to continue to experiment with it to see what’s possible to discover with it in the Public Domain.

Tony