Copyrighted Works are Entering Public Domain for the First Time in Over 20 Years

Woohoo! The drought is over!

For the first time in over 20 years, on January 1, 2019, published works will enter the US public domain.1 Works from 1923 will be free for all to use and build upon, without permission or fee. They include dramatic films such as The Ten Commandments, and comedies featuring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. There are literary works by Robert Frost, Aldous Huxley, and Edith Wharton, the “Charleston” song, and more. And remember, this has not happened for over 20 years. Why? Works from 1923 were set to go into the public domain in 1999, after a 75-year copyright term. But in 1998 Congress hit a two-decade pause button and extended their copyright term for 20 years, giving works published between 1923 and 1977 an expanded term of 95 years.

Duke Law School Center for the Study of the Public Domain,
Public Domain Day 2019

This probably doesn't seem like a big deal in general. But to people who love LibriVox where you can get free audio books, Project Gutenberg where you can read or download free books, and the many podcasts which read books aloud this is big news. Those places, and many more, all depend on public domain books and that source has been shut off for a long, long time.

At my podcast, Forgotten Classics, there were many times when a book was just shy of that cut off date and it was terribly frustrating knowing that no one cared about it but me. And that I still couldn't share it with others.

I admit it gives me a certain gleeful feeling to know that Steamboat Willy's Mickey Mouse is now in the public domain.

We can blame Mickey Mouse for the long wait. In 1998, Disney was one of the loudest in a choir of corporate voices advocating for longer copyright protections. At the time, all works published before January 1, 1978, were entitled to copyright protection for 75 years; all author’s works published on or after that date were under copyright for the lifetime of the creator, plus 50 years. Steamboat Willie, featuring Mickey Mouse’s first appearance on screen, in 1928, was set to enter the public domain in 2004. At the urging of Disney and others, Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, named for the late singer, songwriter and California representative, adding 20 years to the copyright term. Mickey would be protected until 2024—and no copyrighted work would enter the public domain again until 2019, creating a bizarre 20-year hiatus between the release of works from 1922 and those from 1923.

Smithsonian Magazine

At any rate, we will now add to the public domain year by year as each January 1 rolls around. And that makes it a Happy New Year for me!