I believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther … And one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I’m talking, of course, about public domain and the intricacies of copyright law. A few years ago, a 20-year moratorium on published works entering the public domain in the US ended, and now, every January 1 a new collection of previously uncopyable, unmodifiable works is made available to anyone to use, monetize, or turn into something new — including The Great Gatsby.

For people like me, who came of age witnessing the rise of alternatives to traditional intellectual property frameworks like Open Source and Creative Commons, Public Domain Day has become a real holiday. And at some point, every December, I find myself on the website of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, reading the latest essay by its director, Jennifer Jenkins, about what new works will be entering the commons.

Jenkins isn’t just an expert in copyright and the public domain. She’s a practitioner: She’s co-written an intellectual property law textbook, as well as two comic books about copyright in music and film, all of which are available to download for free. Much to her chagrin, her new book, Music, Copyright, Creativity and Culture, costs $80. I interviewed her for The Highlight podcast, where Vox journalists shine a light on people doing interesting work. The following conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness. But as always, there’s a lot more in the actual episode.

Jorge Just

Will you start us off with a definition of public domain, and set up the world we’re talking about for people who are not thinking about it?

Jennifer Jenkins

The public domain is the realm of material that is not covered by intellectual property rights and is therefore free for everyone to use and to build upon. You could think of the public domain as public land — like a public park or all of those beautiful public beaches in Hawaii that by law everyone can enjoy.

It consists of facts and ideas and discoveries that our intellectual property system deliberately leaves free so that citizens,........

© Vox