On January 1st each year, Public Domain Day marks the entry of a new batch of works into the public domain as they lose copyright protection.
In the current year, thousands of copyrighted works from 1928 are set to enter the public domain in the United States. This means that these works, spanning various forms of creative expression, will be freely accessible for copying, sharing, and remixing by the public. Public Domain Day is a significant event for fostering broader access to cultural and creative works, allowing them to be utilized and enjoyed without the restrictions of copyright.
This year, long-awaited works entering the public domain include Disney’s “Steamboat Willie,” featuring the first drawings of Mickey Mouse, “House at Pooh Corner,” introducing the Tigger character, and J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan.” Public Domain Day marks
Among the notable literary contributions are works by authors W.E.B. Du Bois, Agatha Christie, D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, and Robert Frost, joining the public domain alongside thousands of others. Film classics like “Lights of New York” and Charlie Chaplin’s “The Circus” are also on the list.
Musical compositions encompass Broadway songs, jazz standards, early blues, and pop music, including Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love).”
Once a work enters the public domain, it can be legally shared, performed, reused, repurposed, or sampled without requiring permission or incurring costs.
Originally slated for the U.S. public domain in 1984, the copyright term for these works was extended until 2004. Subsequently, Congress added another 20-year extension, prolonging the copyright term to 95 years, as per the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain.
This year, sound recordings from 1923 will also become part of the public domain. The Music Modernization Act passed in 2022 facilitated the release of decades-old sound recordings, with this year marking the availability of sound recordings from 1923.
While more than a century old, the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox will make the recordings available to download for users to remix or use in soundtracks.
The Center highlighted notable works entering the public domain in 2024, but it is just a fraction of the books, movies, musical compositions and song recordings that will be released.