Happy Public Domain Day

Midnight at the end of December 31 marked the passing of countless works into public domain. Copyright laws vary by country around the world. Most countries observe passage into public domain at death of the creator plus fifty years. In other words, the works of authors and artists who died in or before 1957 are now in the public domain. Some of the artists in this category include

• Miguel Covarrubias
• Diego Rivera
• Constantin Brancusi
• Gabriela Mistral
• Dorothy Sayers
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Alfred Döblin
• Malcolm Lowry

So as long as you distribute only in life+50 countries you are free to publish these works as you wish.

Another group of countries — about half as many, including much of Europe — observe the life + 70 years definition of public domain. A few of the creators who died in 1937 are

• George Gershwin
• Jean de Brunhoff (“Babar”)
• Amelia Earhart (probably)
• J.M. Barrie
• Horacio Quiroga
• Edith Wharton

Thanks to the power of Disney, however, in the U.S. works published after 1923 will most likely be bound by copyright virtually forever (via the “Steamboat Willie Rule”), until our legislators develop spines. (When will that happen?)

I wish someone would ask a question about intellectual property rights in one of the presidential “debates,” instead of rehashing the same tired seven or eight issues.

LINKS:

• Public Domain Day post at CopyrightWatch.ca (source for above)
• Is copyright corroding our society?