2024 in American public domain
One of the most notable works that entered the public domain in 2024 is the Steamboat Willie depiction of Mickey Mouse. The Walt Disney Company had previously lobbied for the extension of copyright length in the United States in order to prevent Mickey Mouse and other characters from entering the public domain, resulting in the Copyright Term Extension Act.[1]
NicknamePublic Domain Day
Date(s)January 1, 2024 (2024-01-01)
FrequencyAnnually
CountryUnited States
Previous event2023 in American public domain

Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1928, films released in 1928, and other works published in 1928, enter the public domain in 2024. Sound recordings that were published in 1923 enter the public domain.

The most famous work to enter the public domain in the United States in 2024 is Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks's animated film Steamboat Willie, which was the debut of Mickey Mouse. Prior to January 1, 2024, the short film was owned by the Walt Disney Company. Other famous character's original iterations such as A. A. Milne's Tigger and J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan also entered the public domain.

Notable films such as Charlie Chaplin's The Circus and Harold Lloyd's Speedy and notable literature such as Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence also entered the public domain. Notable songs entering the public domain included I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby; Makin' Whoopee; and You're the Cream in My Coffee.

Background

The Copyright Term Extension Act provides that works published in 1928 enter the public domain on January 1, 2024.[2] Works that are published in 1928 and then translated in a later year may still be copyrighted.[3] Sound recordings are treated differently and sound recordings from 1923 entered the public domain in 2024.[4]

Films

The earliest incarnation of Mickey Mouse as well as Minnie Mouse entered the public domain in 2024. The most notable media featuring these characters is Steamboat Willie, but both The Gallopin' Gaucho and the silent version of Plane Crazy also entered the public domain that year.[3] The sound version of Plane Crazy, released in 1929, does not enter the public domain until 2025.[5]

Notable films that entered the public domain in the United States in 2024 include The Cameraman,[3] Lights of New York,[3] Charlie Chaplin's The Circus,[3] The Passion of Joan of Arc,[3] The Singing Fool,[3] Harold Lloyd's final silent theatrical release Speedy,[3] In Old Arizona,[3] The Man Who Laughs,[3] Should Married Men Go Home?,[3] The Wind,[3] The Wedding March,[3] The Crowd,[3] The Last Command,[3] Street Angel,[3] and The Docks of New York.[6]

Literature

The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, introducing the character Tigger, entered the public domain in the United States in 2024,[3] as did Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie.[3] The original German language publications of The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and Urformen der Kunst by Karl Blossfeldt also entered the public domain in the United States, but translations published after 1928 may remain copyrighted.[3][7]

Additional notable works entering the public domain in the United States in 2024 include Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence,[3] Orlando by Virginia Woolf,[3] Dark Princess by W.E.B. Du Bois,[3] Home to Harlem by Claude McKay,[3] The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall,[3] Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág,[3] Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh,[3] The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie,[3] West-Running Brook by Robert Frost,[3] The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur,[3] Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon,[7] Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle by Edgar Rice Burroughs,[6] Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead,[6] The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers,[6] Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley,[6] The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly,[6] Last Post by Ford Madox Ford,[6] The Tower by W. B. Yeats,[6] and Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island by H. G. Wells.[6]

The original editions of The Missing Chums, Hunting for Hidden Gold, and The Shore Road Mystery of The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon also entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.[6]

Music

Musical compositions

The Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain list of musical compositions entering the public domain included:[3]

Sound recordings

The Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain list of sound recordings entering the public domain included:[3]

Art

See also

References

  1. ↑ Reed, Rachel. "Harvard Law IP expert explains how Disney has influenced US copyright law to protect Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh". Harvard Law School. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
  2. ↑ "Copyright and the Public Domain". Public Domain Information Project. Archived from the original on 2014-08-01. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Jenkins, Jennifer. "January 1, 2024 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1928 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1923!". Duke University School of Law – Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain.
  4. ↑ Hirtle, Peter B. (3 January 2020). "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States". Cornell University Library Copyright Information Center. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  5. ↑ Jenkins, Jennifer. "Mickey, Disney, and the Public Domain: a 95-year Love Triangle". Duke University School of Law – Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  6. 1 2 Fine, Camille (December 19, 2023). "Disney's early Mickey Mouse, Picasso, Tolkien and more art now in the public domain". USA Today. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
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