The Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School is the first university center in the world devoted to the realm of material unprotected by intellectual property rights.  Founded in September of 2002, as part of the school's wider intellectual property program, its mission is to promote research and scholarship on the contributions of the public domain to speech, culture, science and innovation, to promote debate about the balance needed in our intellectual property system and to translate academic research into public policy solutions.