By Stephen Bucaro

Copyright law goes back to founding fathers who, in order "to promote progress of science and useful arts" in Article I, Section 8 of Constitution, secured for authors, artists and inventors exclusive right to their work for 28 years. In 1909, Copyright Act allowed that after 28 years, protection could be renewed for another 28 years. In 1978, law was revised to provide protection until 50 years after creater's death. The 1978 law also extended previous unexpired copyrights for another 47 years.

To put it in simple terms, anything created before 1923 is now in public domain. Anything created between 1924 and 1963 is in public domain unless copyright was renewed. Most of time these copyrights were not renewed because either owners weren't making any money off work, or they just forgot deadline.

Have you noticed a lot of TV commercials using rock music written in early 60's. Why be creative when you can steal somebody elses work who didn't renew copyright?

Another question - can we profit from material in public domain? Yes, but you may need to be a little creative to do so. And guess what? Once you modify something in public domain, you automatically have a copyright on modified version - until 50 years after your death! Unless you're a corporation, then it's 100 years!

And some of that public domain material is high quality - from authors like Shakespeare, Poe, Dante, as well as well-loved favorites like Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Tarzan and Mars books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Alice's adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and thousands of others.

Add to this fact that you can use anything created by Federal Government or its employees in course of their duties. You paid for it with your taxes. This gives you access to millions of great photographs, including those taken by NASA.

By Stephen Bucaro

I'm serious. Not only are people selling rocks on Web, but they are getting good money for them, and they are going fast! If you want to purchase a rock, you better hurry because a lot of good ones are already sold!

It all started with Lin Wellford's book, "The Art of Painting Animals on Rocks". She was frustrated with high cost of canvas, matting, and framing. One day while walking in Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, she saw a rock that looked like a rabbit. She painted eyes, ears, and a fluffy tail on rock, and it "came to life".

I know what your thinking: "I'm not a professional artist". But you CAN trace outline of a butterfly, can't you? Then check out Ann's Painted Rocks http://www.geocities.com/painted_rocks/ Here you'll find rocks painted with butterflies, dragonflies, and flowers. Prices range from $12.00 to $20.00 with many sold signs.