• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

Info Marketing Blog

  • Info Marketing Blog
  • About Lawrence Bernstein
  • Direct Mail SMASHES Censorship

Ready-Made Public Domain Products Via the Freedom of Information Act

by 4 Comments

First, the general disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and can’t offer legal advice.

Second, if you plan on creating Public Domain products, you must have this on your bookshelf: “The Public Domain: How to Find & Use Copyright-free Writings, Music, Art & More.“

An interesting source of public domain info is the FBI’s Electronic Reading Room via the Freedom of Information Act.

There, you’ll find dozens and dozens of declassified files ranging from famous persons to espionage to unusual phenomenon in the form of conveniently packaged PDFs.

Since these reports were declassified and paid for US tax payer dollars, they are part of the public domain and you can bundle or package them as you wish and sell as your own products.

As an example, a seller on Amazon has bundled the lot of FBI files on The Beatles and turned them into a product.

Mind you, some of these PDFs are extremely hard on the eyes as well as appearing convoluted due to cross outs, fading, signatures and stamps. But they are an original source of data on many popular people and topics.

One approach is to hire a competent transcriptionist/editor to clean them up for you. If you’ve edited or bundled them in a unique way, you can claim a copyright for yourself.

Filed Under: Public Domain Product Creation

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. NJ Paust says

    August 24, 2012 at 9:36 am

    Too bad the FBI reading room link doesn’t work any more. Great idea though.

  2. Lawrence Bernstein says

    August 24, 2012 at 9:51 am

    Hey NJ, I like your Facebook photos. 🙂 Hope life is treating you well!

  3. Alan Fendrich says

    August 29, 2012 at 11:12 pm

    Lawrence,

    One of the best blogs on the Internet.

    Halbert had written that the best way to learn to write persuasively was to retype a classic ad every day. I did it for years when I was building my business, then got away from the habit only to see my productivity slide.

    Deciding to restart the habit, I found your site. Thanks for your outstanding work!

    Here’s a good link to the FBI reading room: http://vault.fbi.gov/reading-room-index

  4. Lawrence Bernstein says

    August 30, 2012 at 7:21 am

    Thanks Alan!! I’ll be spending time @ the reading room!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

YOURS FREE...
Money making marketing secrets from Bruce Lee!

Recent Posts

  • Interview with an Under-the-Radar SUPER STAR Who Sold 200,000 Books a Year
  • Copy That TRANSCENDS the Product for Sale Part 2 (“Your Silver Passport to Travel the World”)
  • All Time Top 10 Ad in Education (“How to Become a Straight-A Student”)
  • One of the Greatest U.S.P.s You’ll Ever See
  • Jeff Paul’s Greatest Story Selling Ad… and What’s Become of Him
  • From RED HOT Lead Gen that Rocked Response in the Silver Market… to a 3,300 Word Double Page Spread (Dan Rosenthal Dynamite)
  • The Power of Demonstration… During a SEISMIC WAVE of Demand
  • In Memory of a Marketing Legend (Joe Sugarman 1938-2022)
  • SMASHING 800-Pound Gorilla Objections in Your Headline
  • Copy Test: “Write If You Want Work” (UPDATE)
  • Charlie Allen’s AMAZING Golf & Fishing Advertorials
  • “525 Castles & Palaces $15” (“Ogilvy Orchestration” Travel Advertising)
Your Christmas Present?
MAGIC HEADLINES Vol. 2
 

Secondary Sidebar

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Interview with Ogilvy & Mather CEO, Ken Roman

 
 
 
 
 

Breakthrough Business Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. 6890 E. Sunrise Ste. #120-118, Tucson, AZ 85750 USA 866-863-4850
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Earnings Disclaimer