Thousands Of Creative Works Have Entered The Public Domain For Free Use In 2020
Image via Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Since 2019, 1 January has been christened as Public Domain Day. This is when works published 95 years before conclude their copyright terms, which means artworks, literature pieces, films and music from 1924 are now freshly in the US public domain for use and remix. With thousands of creations now available, you might be spoilt for choice.
Notable book titles include Agatha Christie’s The Man in the Brown Suit, A. A. Milne’s When We Were Young, Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, and E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India.
Film buffs might enjoy watching, as well as building upon, Buster Keaton’s Sherlock, Jr. and The Navigator, the first movie adaptation of Peter Pan, and Dante’s Inferno.
If you’re looking to incorporate free music in your work, consider using George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Fascinating Rhythm, Louis Armstrong’s Santa Claus Blues, and Nobody’s Sweetheart by Billy Meyers, Elmer Schoebel, Gus Kahn and Ernie Erdman.
While many of these creations were supposed to enter the public domain in 2000, Congress amended their copyright terms and extended them to 95 years. In addition, owners of some of these books, films and music titles neglected to renew the works’ copyright, to the unintended benefit of everyone in the future.
To help you access this extensive collection, the Internet Archive will upload the 1924 works to its online library, and HathiTrust will add tens of thousands of them online. Google Books will also reveal the full text of books that have just entered the public domain.
Now that the titles are in the public domain, you can view and use them however you wish without legal complexities or having to pay any fees. Build upon the past as you wish; the internet—and US lawmakers—welcome it. The recently-added artworks, books, musical works and films can be perused here.
Welcome to the public domain, 1924! A fine year for films! My personal favorite for the year: THE SEA HAWK pic.twitter.com/2qW1UmrMiT
— Movies Silently (@MoviesSilently) January 1, 2020
Finally, "Mademoiselle Midnight" & "Flapper Wives" will be in the public domain!! Along with Sherlock Jr., The Signal Tower, Thief of Baghdad, Manhandled, Forbidden Paradise, and He Who Gets Slapped! https://t.co/O765LsBJoF
— Maggie Hennefeld (@magshenny) December 31, 2019
Also leaving copyright and entering the public domain in 2020: Edith Wharton's 1924 quartet of novellas Old New York, which includes False Dawn, The Spark, New Year's Day, and The Old Maid, the basis for the 1939 Bette Davis movie. https://t.co/5reTVDjo8Y pic.twitter.com/flGt3rhgAq
— Donna M. Campbell (@dmcampbellwsu) December 31, 2019
Among the works entering the public domain today is Diego Rivera's 1924 mural, Day of the Dead pic.twitter.com/LR6YqTuOS0
— Barbara Waxer 🏳️🌈 (@barbarawaxer) January 1, 2020
Happy Public Domain Day! We're celebrating with two 1924 issues of the Weekly Ledger, the successor to the Chicago Ledger. https://t.co/w3wXvFWeev pic.twitter.com/IidIP9LZKu
— DimeNovels.org (@DimeNovelBiblio) January 1, 2020
[via Boing Boing, cover image via Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain]
