On January 1, 2024, copyrighted creative works first published in 1928 (plus sound recordings from 1923) enter the public domain in the United States. Are you ready?
Oh Mickey, you’re so fine—but you’re not alone: An avalanche of copyrighted works will enter the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2024. Here’s what it all means.
Yes, yes, Steamboat Willie will enter the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2024—and that’s a shame. Before you accuse me of being some sort of Disney shill, I’m not advocating for longer copyright terms. It’s just that the liberation of Mickey Mouse 1.0 has been sucking up so much media oxygen that we risk overlooking hundreds of other prominent creative works that will become copyright-free when the clock strikes twelve on December 31, 2023.
It’s a good book, but I only counted 982,343 cats.
Happy Public Domain Day 2024
Millions of Cats will be joined by thousands of other popular books, movies and musical compositions first published in 1928 that are nearing the end of their 95 year U.S. copyright terms. For the first time in two years, sound recordings (those first published in 1923) will also enter the public domain.
One of the most notable films entering the public domain on January 1, 2024, is Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc. Dreyer shot harrowing close-ups of star Renée Jeanne Falconetti to reenact Joan’s trial for heresy, which ended with her burning at the stake in 1431.
“It may be the finest performance ever captured on film,” wrote critic Pauline Kael about Renée Jeanne Falconetti’s work in The Passion of Joan of Arc.
Ironically, the film’s original cut was destroyed in a fire just six weeks after its 1928 premiere and was thought lost to history until 1981, when someone discovered a print in a janitor’s closet at a Norwegian mental institution. Echoing the film’s resurrection, the copyright in The Passion of Joan of Arc once lapsed, only to be revived in 1996 by the Uruguay Rounds Agreements Act. That law restored copyright protection for foreign works that were still protected by copyright in their source countries, but which had fallen into the U.S. public domain for failure to comply with the various formalities (e.g., notice, registration, and renewal) formerly imposed under U.S. law.
“Lights of New York,” the first “all-talking” motion picture
I’ve listed dozens of other notable works entering the public domain at the end of this article. However, as always, Public Domain Day 2024 will be accompanied by lots of caveats, asterisks and traps for the unwary. Here’s what you need to know to celebrate responsibly.
Derivative and Foreign Works
Charlie Chaplin’s silent comedy TheCircus
Remastered, rescored, translated, or otherwise revised editions often present a challenge for those looking to use public domain works without inadvertently stepping on subsisting copyrights.
For example, while The Passion of Joan of Arc will re-enter the U.S. public domain on January 1, director Dreyer never chose a definitive musical score for the film. As a result, several versions are floating around that feature later-added scores, and they may still be protected by copyright. Likewise, while the original 1928 Charlie Chaplin silent comedy The Circus will enter the public domain in 2024, the film was re-released in 1969 with a new score by Chaplin, and that version is still protected.
Can’t read German? Wait until 2025.
Erich Maria Remarque’s classic 1928 anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Frontwill enter the public domain on January 1, 2024—but only the original German version. The U.S. translation by A.W. Wheen will remain protected until January 1, 2025. All Quiet on the Western Front also continues to be protected in Germany and other countries whose copyright terms last for 70 years after the author’s death, which includes most of the world. The United States now uses a life + 70 copyright regime, but only for works created on and after January 1, 1978. Confused yet?
D.H. Lawrence’s salacious 1928 novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover presents another example of the long and winding journey foreign works may face on the road to the public domain. Explicit sexual descriptions and profanity prevented Lawrence from publishing the uncensored version of his book in his native England; the author instead privately published one thousand copies in Italy, which he then distributed to his subscribers in the U.K.—and likely to the U.S. as well.
However, as these copies were published without a copyright notice, they immediately fell into the public domain in the United States. Meanwhile, by 1929, the U.S. government had declared the novel legally obscene, with the Post Office confiscating any copies found circulating in the mail.
A censored version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was published in 1932, but the original unexpurgated 1928 version wasn’t legally published in the U.S. until 1959, when a federal district court ruled that the novel was not, in fact, obscene.
Still, the public domain status of the uncensored edition has been the subject of confusion as a result of retroactive extensions to the length of U.K. copyright terms, coupled with questions over the applicability of the URAA’s Copyright Restoration Act on the book’s U.S. copyright. The confusion will end on January 1, 2024, when the original unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover will fall firmly and finally into the U.S. public domain.
IMPORTANT Public domain is country-specific. Just because a work is in the public domain in the United States doesn’t mean it’s not protected by copyright elsewhere—and vice versa. For more information, check out the Copyright Myth Project.
The Copyright That Wouldn’t Grow Up
J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan presents another interesting example of the often thorny and byzantine copyright issues involving older works. While Barrie’s 1911 novel is in the public domain, the original play on which it was based (Peter Pan; or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up) wasn’t officially published until 1928. Never mind that the play had been performed thousands of times dating back to 1904; this didn’t constitute a “publication” that triggered early twentieth-century U.S. copyright formalities. As a result, the play’s U.S. copyright is only now expiring—120 years after its first performance.
J. M. Barrie’s original Peter Pan play enters the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2024.
Barrie’s decision to withhold publication of the play was serendipitous for London’s Great Ormond Street, a hospital for sick children to whom Barrie unconditionally assigned his Peter Pan copyright in 1929. The hospital has collected royalties for U.S. performances of the play for nearly one hundred years, even though the novel’s U.S. copyright expired in 1967. Because the play’s publication was delayed, it was still protected in 1978 when Congress extended the terms of existing copyrights from 56 years to 75 years.
The play’s trip to the public domain was further delayed by 1998’s Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), which extended the term of copyright protection for subsisting copyrighted works by an additional 20 years. Works copyrighted before 1978 had their terms extended from 75 years to 95 years.
On January 1, 2024, Peter Pan will finally enter the public domain in the United States—but not in Barrie’s native United Kingdom. You may wonder how this is possible, given that Barrie died in 1937—over 86 years ago. Well, the U.K. copyright actually did expire in 1987, but one year later, the British Parliament introduced a unique exception to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988 in favor of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. The law gave the hospital the continued right to collect royalties from performances and publications of Peter Panin perpetuity—ensuring, at least in the U.K., a copyright that will never fully grow up.
Trying to determine the public domain status of music can present another trap for the unwary. As I’ve explained before, every piece of recorded music is comprised of two different copyrights. There’s a copyright in the underlying composition, which protects a song’s lyrics and musical arrangement. There’s also a separate copyright in a particular sound recording of that composition as performed by a recording artist. When you listen to music on the radio or a streaming service, you’re technically hearing both the composition and the sound recording of the composition.
Bessie Smith’s recording of “Down Hearted Blues” enters the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2024.
Effect of the Music Modernization Act on Public Domain for Pre-1972 Sound Recordings
The distinction between compositions and recordings is important to remember because these two types of copyrighted works won’t enter the public domain at the same time. The copyright in a musical composition, like most other pre-1978 works, expires after 95 years. However, as a result of 2018’s Music Modernization Act, pre-1972 sound recordings were brought within the scope of federal copyright for the first time. Depending upon when a particular recording was published, Congress added an additional period of protection to the end of the term:
For recordings first published before 1923, the additional time period ended on December 31, 2021.
For recordings first published between 1923 and 1946, the additional time period is five years after the general 95-year term.
For recordings first published between 1947 and 1956, the additional time period is 15 years after the general 95-year term.
For all remaining recordings first fixed before February 15, 1972, the additional transition period ends on February 15, 2067.
Barney Google, with his Goo Goo Googly eyes. The sound recording will enter the public domain on January 1, 2024.
This means that sound recordings first published in 1928 are protected for an additional five years, so they won’t fall into the public domain until 2029 (95 years + additional 5 years = 100 years total). But don’t fret: sound recordings first published in 1923 will enter the public domain on January 1, 2024, as they pass the 100-year mark.
A (Hopefully) Simple Example
As an example, take the classic song “I Wanna Be Loved By You” from the 1928 musical Good Boy. The composition was properly registered and renewed, and will expire at the end of 2023 (95-year term). But the original sound recording embodying the composition (performed by Helen Kane of “Betty Boop” fame) will receive an additional five years of protection per the Music Modernization Act; that copyright won’t expire until 2028. The most well-known version of the song was performed by Marilyn Monroe in 1959’s Some Like It Hotand was released as a sound recording the same year. That copyright won’t expire until February 15, 2067, 108 years after its release. Now are you confused?
Sound recordings won’t enter the public domain at the same time as their underlying musical compositions.
Character Counts
One of the most interesting issues involving older content involves characters that first appear in a public domain work but which then evolve or change over the course of later works still protected by copyright. And yes, now it’s time to talk about Mickey.
Mickey Mouse
Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound.
Over time, Mickey’s eyes were enlarged (and pupils were added), his ears became more pronounced, and his nose was shortened. Following a visit from the ASPCA, he became devoted to animals.
These later versions of Mickey will still be protected by copyright even after the character’s original iteration enters the public domain:
The earliest version of Mickey Mouse will enter the U.S. public domain in 2024, but later iterations remain protected.
The House At Pooh Corner: Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger too—but no red shirt yet. And still no pants.
In a case involving the now-public domain Sherlock Holmes, the court in Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. held that a copyrighted character begins to fall into the public domain when the first published story featuring that character enters the public domain. At this point, “story elements—including characters covered by the expired copyright—become fair game for follow-on authors.” Importantly, however, aspects of the character’s evolution that don’t appear until later works may still be eligible for copyright protection.
Extending Rights in Public Domain Works
There are a few recognized methods that publishers and other rightsholders use to retain market share even after a work has entered the public domain.
New and Improved
First, “special editions” tend to proliferate a year or two before copyright is set to expire, filled with annotations, prefaces, and essays that are still protected by copyright. Films are remastered and repackaged, often with extras not found in the original versions.
Remastered and special editions of films entering the public domain on January 1, 2024.
Trademark Rights
Another more controversial approach involves using trademarks (which can be perpetual) in characters to extend protection in public domain works. The Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on the precise question, although in 2003, Justice Scalia, writing for the Supreme Court in Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox, warned that allowing these types of restrictions on a public domain work could effectively create “a species of mutant copyright law” that would limit the public’s right to copy and use expired copyrights.
A few years ago, Disney began using a clip of early Mickey in the intro of its films, presumably to bolster its trademark rights.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or on social media @copyrightlately. Meanwhile, here are just some of the notable works that you can copy, distribute, or adapt starting on January 1, 2024:
Interesting, I had no idea about the specifics of public domain use, and exceptions such as Peter Pan. I had wondered for a while why films come out a year or two before copyright expires when surely it is cheaper to wait, but it makes more sense now.
Perhaps this is the biggest character yet to enter the public domain. I’m very curious to see how Disney will deal with this situation and how it will be used now. So which comics will enter public domain in 2024? I don’t see much talk about comics
Thanks for the detailed run down on copyright complexities!
You inspired a Public Domain Day episode of our Accordion Noir Radio show up here in Vancouver, Canada. All squeezebox records from 1928 (except a 1924 harmonium tune from The Texas Blues Destroyers because it’s great).
We did a similar show last year. Thanks for the reminder!
3 comments
Interesting, I had no idea about the specifics of public domain use, and exceptions such as Peter Pan. I had wondered for a while why films come out a year or two before copyright expires when surely it is cheaper to wait, but it makes more sense now.
Perhaps this is the biggest character yet to enter the public domain. I’m very curious to see how Disney will deal with this situation and how it will be used now. So which comics will enter public domain in 2024? I don’t see much talk about comics
Thanks for the detailed run down on copyright complexities!
You inspired a Public Domain Day episode of our Accordion Noir Radio show up here in Vancouver, Canada. All squeezebox records from 1928 (except a 1924 harmonium tune from The Texas Blues Destroyers because it’s great).
We did a similar show last year. Thanks for the reminder!
You can hear this years episode (and last years too) with an annotated playlist at:
https://accordionuprising.wordpress.com/2024/01/04/accordion-noir-radio-playlist-2024-01-03-public-domain-day-1928-2024/