The rights of copyright owners are time-limited - they expire.
Also, it is possible for the copyright owner to make their works available for anyone to use, for free.
In both cases, it is common to say that copyright does not apply to such works.
So, a “copyrighted work” means a work for which the exclusive copyright has not expired and has not been waived; and the work exists in “public domain” when exclusive copyright has expired or been waived.
