Works from 1929 and sound recordings from 1924 are now open to all in the U.S. This means all books, films, songs and art ...

A new year means a new start, and for some pieces of media, it means entering the public domain. In 2024, one of the most famous additions to the public domain was the first iteration of Mickey Mouse, ...

According to the Duke University School of Law's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, that list includes a number of iconic characters. The very first appearance of Popeye the Sailor ...

There are a ton of new characters, books, films, and songs joining Mickey Mouse and Winnie The Pooh in the public domain grab-bag this year. Copyrights for creative works typically last 95 years, ...

This latest in a “Twisted Childhood Universe” of cash-ins preying on copyright expirations ekes genuinely unsettling mileage ...

But as we saw with the litigation around the character Sherlock Holmes in the mid-2010s, just because a first instance of a work enters the public domain does not mean a character is free game.

Screamboat”—“Terrifier” star David Howard Thornton’s horror movie featuring the public domain character Steamboat Willie—is ...

Some works enter the public domain the moment they are created, such as the AI-generated images below. Others take their ...

a new batch of previously copyrighted works have entered the public domain. People can publish, modify, and adapt these works and their characters without needing to clear rights or pay royalties.