The question of whether baseball cards are in the public domain is a complex issue with reasonable arguments on both sides. On the one hand, it could be argued that basic information and statistics about baseball players and their performance on baseball cards should be considered facts and therefore in the public domain. The copyright status of the visual artistic works depicted on the cards themselves is less straightforward.
To begin, it’s important to understand what is meant by the term “public domain.” Works are considered to be in the public domain if they are not protected by intellectual property rights like copyright or trademark. This means anyone can use, modify, or distribute public domain works without permission from the original creator or copyright holder. Works enter the public domain when their copyright has expired or the author failed to secure copyright. In the United States, for works created after 1978, copyright typically expires 70 years after the death of the creator or author.
Now some key factors to consider regarding baseball cards:
The basic facts, statistics, and performance information about players that appears on cards, such as batting averages or career highlights, would likely be considered facts not protected by copyright. As such, this factual information would generally be available for anyone to reuse without restriction.
The selection, coordination and arrangement of these facts and statistics into a format appearing on a baseball card could potentially be protected by copyright as a compilation. So simply copying lists of player stats from cards would not be in the public domain.
The visual artistic works depicted on cards, such as original illustrations or photographs of players, are usually protected by copyright. This includes elements like team logos, uniforms and card designs. Copyright for works created after 1978 generally lasts until 70 years after the death of the creator.
For early baseball cards produced in the late 1800s and early 1900s, copyright has clearly expired by now if it was ever secured at all. Making digital copies of visual designs on these antique cards for one’s personal collection would likely constitute fair use.
But for modern cards from the last several decades, most visual elements are almost certainly protected by active copyrights still owned by the various card companies like Topps, Upper Deck, etc. Simply copying the photos and artwork from recent cards for commercial purposes without permission would violate those copyrights.
Trademarks associated with player names, likenesses, signatures and jersey numbers could also present an obstacle. Major League Baseball and players associations strictly enforce trademark protections of player identities commercially exploited on memorabilia.
Based on this overview, a reasonable summary is that while factual information about players featured on baseball cards may be in the public domain, the copyright status of visual artistic works and compilation selection/arrangements associated with cards gets murkier:
Visual works on early antique cards from over 100 years ago are likely public domain, but newer card photos/artwork still carry active copyrights.
Trademarks must also still be respected, so direct copying of modern card fronts/backs or using player identities without permission could infringe.
Non-commercial uses like displaying scans of old cards for personal collections or citing career stats in fan articles may constitute fair use. But direct commercial exploitation of card images definitely requires copyright permission.
There are good-faith arguments on both sides of whether baseball cards in totality are or are not within the public domain. Ultimately, the answer depends on balancing the public domain status of older factual information against the continued copyright and trademark protections still attached to more modern visual artistic works and player identities featured prominently throughout the long history of baseball cards. A nuanced case-by-case analysis is usually required.
