The Public Domain Manifesto has been produced within the context of COMMUNIA, the European Thematic Network on the digital public domain. The members of COMMUNIA Working Group 6, starting from an idea expressed during the 1st COMMUNIA Conference, worked for many months during 2009 to prepare a draft text, which was later circulated among COMMUNIA members, until a final version was completed (and publicly launched on January 25, 2010). The Nexa Center for Internet and Society at the Politecnico di Torino, coordinator of the COMMUNIA project, curated the Manifesto between 2011 and 2019.

The views expressed by the Manifesto represent only the views of the signers.

The work on the recommendations continues with the Communia international association on the digital public domain.