I see how you would think that but that s not how it works Copyright isn t limited to art or fiction things like non fiction textbooks dictionaries encyclopedias including Wikipedia and such are also copyrighted Copyright applies to all original works and this definitely qualifies as an original work the trash analogy doesn t fit because there is no element of an original work in trash on the sidewalk As I ve said in a few other places public distribution isn t the same as public domain and we can t speculate on whether she would ve liked to release it into the public domain without an explicit statement from her in the affirmative Court testimony and its evidence may itself be public domain the work of any US federal employee made in the course of their duties is public domain but only because the US government explicitly and automatically releases it as such but I m pretty sure the pre existing copyright of a work isn t invalidated if it s entered as evidence