Happy Public Domain Day 2024!

Each year on January 1st, while most people are sleeping in after a night of celebrating, a new crop of intellectual property enters the Public Domain. Simply put, a bunch of art, music, literature and more become freely available and are no longer protected by copyright. Public Domain Day 2024 is a VERY interesting one, as some of the most iconic images, films, music and literature are now free to use however you’d like, including a very well known mouse.

Here are some of the notable works entering the public domain this year:

• Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy (the silent version) (directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks) - film

• The Circus (directed by Charlie Chaplin) - film

• The Passion of Joan of Arc (directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer) - film

• Animal Crackers (musical starring the Marx Brothers; book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind and lyrics and music by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby) - musical composition

• Mack the Knife (original German lyrics by Bertolt Brecht and music by Kurt Weill; from The Threepenny Opera) - musical composition

• An American in Paris (George Gershwin) - musical composition

• Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) (Cole Porter; from the musical Paris) - musical composition

• When You're Smiling (lyrics by Mark Fisher and Joe Goodwin and music by Larry Shay) - musical composition

• I Wanna Be Loved By You (lyrics by Bert Kalmar and music by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby; from the musical Good Boy) - musical composition

• Makin’ Whoopee! (lyrics by Gus Khan and music by Walter Donaldson) - musical composition

• I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby (lyrics by Dorothy Fields and music by James Francis) - musical composition

• Charleston (recorded by James P. Johnson) - sound recording

• Yes! We Have No Bananas (recorded by Billy Jones; Furman and Nash; Eddie Cantor; Belle Baker; The Lanin Orchestra) - sound recording - sound recording

• Who’s Sorry Now (recorded by Lewis James; The Happy Six; the Original Memphis Five) - sound recording

• Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (recorded by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra) - sound recording

• Dipper Mouth Blues and Froggie More (recorded by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, featuring Louis Armstrong) - sound recording

• D.H Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover - literature

• Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera (in the original German, Die Dreigroschenoper) - literature

• Virginia Woolf, Orlando - literature

• Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front - literature

• A. A. Milne, illustrations by E. H. Shepard, House at Pooh Corner (introducing the Tigger character) - literature

• J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan; or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up (because it was not "published" for copyright purposes until 1928) - literature

Whew! That’s a TON of well known intellectual property! Now in the specific case of Mickey Mouse - he won’t enter the Public Domain for quite some time as the modern version of him wasn’t introduced until 1940. Beginning January 1, 2024, the following rules apply to Public Domain.

• Works by people who died in 1953 for countries with a copyright term of “life plus 70 years” (relevant in UK, Canada, most of the EU, and South America)

• Works by people who died in 1973 for countries with a term of “life plus 50 years” (relevant to most of Africa and Asia);

• Films and Books (incl. artworks featured) published in 1928 (relevant solely to the United States).

So what does it mean when something enters the public domain? Works that are in the public domain may be used freely, without obtaining permission from or compensating the copyright owner. That means that you might start seeing Steamboat Willy hocking products, An American in Paris used to underscore commercials and movies, and The Threepenny Opera on Ice!

Happy New Year everyone, and freely enjoy all of this new content!