Public domain makes more sense in copyright for obvious reasons.
Such a definition regards work in copyright as private property subject to fair use rights and limitation on ownership.
For that purpose, ownership in copyright includes exclusive licenses of rights.
Secondary liability in copyright has come about with case-by-case decisions.
In Soviet copyright, publication included ephemerally making available a work, such as through a performance, a speech, or a broadcast.
About this time began Mark Twain's long and active interest in copyright.
Though, there are a few of us that believe in copyright.
Specifically, for works published before January 1, 1978 and still in copyright on October 27, 1998, the term was extended to 95 years.
More important, millions of books that are in copyright but out of print (and hard to find) will get another chance.
In that case it removed many works from the public sphere and put them back in copyright.