Why do so few know about the public domain?

"This is the inaugural article of a short series examining intellectual property frameworks in the Middle East and North Africa. These laws permit or prohibit free, open and lawful sharing of information, data and creative works. In this first piece, we center on the public domain. According to most intellectual property frameworks, the legal protection of an artwork starts when the work is published. Then it extends throughout the author(s) lifetime(s) and can be prolonged for a limited period of time after the death of the author(s). Once the copyright expires, the artwork enters the public domain ..."