On Public Domain Day, January 1, 2023, works published in 1927 entered the public domain. What is “Public Domain” and Why 1927? The public domain consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, or waived. Therefore, anyone can legally use or reference those works without permission.
With the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, copyright was extended an additional 20 years, from 75 to 95 years. So, these works that were originally to enter the public domain in 2003 are now entering the public domain in 2023. These materials are open to all and can now be used in class, performances, and projects in any way, shape, or form, without fear of copyright infringement. Some of these titles include:
Books
- The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (The character of Sherlock Holmes has been in the public domain for quite a few years, but this is the final Sherlock Holmes book by Doyle to enter the public domain)
- The Big Four (a Hercule Poirot novel) by Agatha Christie
- The Tower Treasure (the first Hardy Boys book) by Franklin W. Dixon
- To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
If you can’t find a book yet, check back at Project Gutenberg, as it may take a few weeks to a couple of months for them to be readily available.
Movies
- Metropolis (directed by Fritz Lang)
- The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Alfred Hitchcock’s first thriller)
- Wings (directed by William A. Wellman and the first Academy Award winner for Best Picture)
- The Jazz Singer (directed by Alan Crosland and the first “talkie,” marking the beginning of the end of the silent film era)
Musical Scores
Note: Only the sheet music, not the recordings of these songs are in the public domain. For example, “Irving Berlin’s words and music to Puttin’ on the Ritz were registered for copyright in 1927 and are now free for anyone to copy, perform, record, adapt, or interpolate into their own song. But the 1930 recordings by Harry Richman and by Fred Astaire are still copyrighted (Jenkins, 2023).”
- I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream (Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, Robert A. King)
- Funny Face and ‘S Wonderful (from the musical Funny Face by Ira and George Gershwin)
- Backwater Blues,Preaching the Blues, Foolish Man Blues (Bessie Smith)
- Billy Goat Stomp, Hyena Stomp, Jungle Blues (Ferdinand Joseph (Jelly Roll) Morton)
- Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man and Ol’ Man River (from the musical Show Boat by Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern)
Sadly, no audio recordings are entering the public domain this year. However, many entered last year (an estimated 400,000!) and you can see a list of some of those titles here.
The public domain is important as it allows enthusiasts, scholars, researchers, creators, and educators to legally share, adapt, and perform these works. Online repositories and cultural centers can preserve these works and make them available online for everyone to access. As the Director of Duke Law
School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain Jennifer Jenkins notes,
“The public domain is also a wellspring for creativity. The whole point of copyright is to promote creativity, and the public domain plays a central role in doing so. Copyright law gives authors important rights that encourage creativity and distribution [and ideally, allow them to make a living at their craft]—this is a very good thing. But it also ensures that those rights last for a limited time, so that when they expire, works go into the public domain, where future authors [and creators] can legally build on the past—reimaging the books, making them into films, adapting songs and movies. That’s a good thing too!”
On January 2, 2024, Steamboat Willie (aka Mickey Mouse) will be entering the public domain! “The law is clear that the original version of the character enters the public domain at the same time as the work that contained it, even if subsequent installments or episodes are still under copyright” (Jenkins, 2023). This is why the character of Sherlock Holmes was already in the public domain years before The CaseBook of Sherlock Holmes entered the public domain, and new characters like Winnie-the-Pooh (public domain 2022 entry), and now the Hardy Boys are in the public domain, even if some of their stories and/or adaptions are not.
If you’re interested in this topic and want to know more about the public domain, Assistant Librarian of Access and Technical Services Beth South highly recommends the Center for the Study of the Public Domain website. We also recommend this excellent guide about Copyright Term and the Public Domain by Cornell University Library. If you have any questions about copyright or including or adapting any work into your OER projects or publications, contact Beth South at eabrockm@iue.edu. If you need any assistance in locating material for your classes, just Ask Us! iueref@iue.edu or click this button:
The content of this blog has been adapted, including adding links to materials, and summarized by Beth South from “Public Doman Day 2023” by Jennifer Jenkins, Director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain and is licensed under CC BY 4.0.